Thursday, February 01, 2007

The Mindset

As I was passing the elephants, I suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not.

I saw a trainer near by and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.

"Well," he said, "when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free."

I was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before? We need to change our Mindset, and then we can definitely do, what we want!

1 comment:

  1. sir, phenomenal observation. belief i think is what sets people who make something of themselves aprt from those who just meander along.

    been thinking and observing these things around me these days.
    with each such evet, it becomes increasingly clear that the only real bondages we need to emancipate ourselves from are those in the mind.

    i salute u sire.

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