Changing Beliefs
When an elephant is taken from the wild to be trained for the circus the training begins by driving a long steel stake deep into the ground. The elephant is then affixed to the stake with a thick steel chain. For the first while, the elephant will frequently pull on the chain and test it to see if he can get free, he believes he is still wild and free. But over time he tests the chain less frequently until he accepts the fact that the chain is just too strong to break.
Once he accepts this, he has changed his belief from one of being wild and free to simply being
captive…
Once the elephant makes this decision, the trainer can remove the heavy chain and replace it with a light rope and a steel stake that is only a couple feet into the ground. He knows that the elephant will no longer try to get free, he knows that it is no longer the Rope, the chain or the stake that imprisons the elephant. It is the elephant’s belief that he is captive that imprisons him…even though it’s not true!
Despite the fact that the elephant could easily break the rope and run away, he never does. As long as he feels the rope around his leg, He accepts his restriction.
This belief is so strong that in 1967 in Mannheim Gemany, 6 elephants died in a tent fire…still tied to their stakes, despite the fact that they could have easily made a decision to break free and run to safety.
What do you believe that isn’t true?
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