AUGUST 7, 2020
I once read a story about a baby elephant. Think of a young elephant tied to a stake in the ground. When it’s a baby, the elephant isn’t strong enough to pull the stake up so it eventually stops trying because it learns the effort is futile. As the elephant grows, it gains more than enough power and strength to pull out the stake, but it remains tied up by something inconsequential as a rope and a flimsy piece of metal because of what it learned as a baby. In psychology, it is called “Learned Helplessness.” (I learned early in life that I became helpless once Ms. Teri asked me to do some cleaning. HA!)
“What is possible for you?” I am certain many of you don’t even think about “What is possible” in your life because of your underlying beliefs. If you grew up in a home that said you were not good enough or that you were never going to amount to much, then you probably believe it. You become the victim and everyone else is against you. These insecure feelings will carry you into adulthood and you may only go as far as you have been taught by others. What is possible? What do you dream about? What talents do you have that might change your life? You had better find them out early so you don’t spend a lifetime “NOT believing in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself then it will become very difficult to believe in others.
What have you learned in your lifetime? Is it that life is unfair and that it only will provide opportunities to the richest and brightest among us? You had better think differently because living in America, we have SO MANY opportunities to become successful, (if that is what you are looking for). I love reading biographies of young Americans that come from poverty. (Abe Lincoln comes to mind). Besides being a very homely looking guy, this boy didn’t have much going for him. But he read everything he could get his hands on until he became one of our country’s greatest leaders. Always looking for a debate and finally learning in life that it “Wasn’t about him.” It was always about others. Thanks Abe, for your leadership and possibility thinking.
Back to our baby elephant. After growing to a full adult capable of easily pulling out the stake and moving on with his life, it doesn’t even try. Why? It learned helplessness. The elephant has limited itself and will constantly rely on others to survive. What is the answer to its problems? (The Stake) Try a bit of optimism. We all can learn optimism and we can also learn to be limitless. If you are like the majority of the people out there, you are entertaining ideas about yourself that define you as something less than what you truly have the potential to achieve. You give these ideas energy and allow them to take up a home in your mind. They’re really nothing more than B.S. (Not what you think) “Belief Systems.” These belief systems imprison you to act in a certain way and seek approval from people we don’t even like. My HOPE is that you can recognize those limiting beliefs in yourself and begin to act on more empowering beliefs.
Here are a few to think about. What do you believe about your faith, your family, and your career? (That ought to keep you busy for a lifetime) Try thinking this way in growing your mind:
- Intelligence is NOT fixed. “Knowledge is light but wisdom is power.”
- Mistakes are NOT failures. Albert Einstein said: A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”
- Genius is NOT born. “It’s made.”
God wants us to see the possibilities of growing ourselves. (“If you are not growing you are dying”) Not just in our minds or our bodies but with our hearts and our soul. It’s never too late. Begin today. What is possible for YOU?
Elevator Guy