Jumbo Can'T JumP

2009-04-02T02:57:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago, I had a unique experience of being with my family to the Kullu Circus. It was a fascinating one. My nephews, Neeraj and Mayank, and i went in the morning to buy the tickets for evening show. The counter was crowded and the kids got restless and wanted to see the animals in cages.

I went over to the circus gatekeeper and got permission provided we didnt feed them. Walking along side the tents the kids were exitedly looking at the animals in their cages - camel, horse, mule. variety of birds. In the last tent there were elephants. We peeped in to the tent and saw three elephants and a calf. I was surprised to see that each of them was tied with a rope - with one end to their front leg and other to a stake in ground. No chains and no cages for the Mighty Beasts. It seemed peculiar that birds had a cage but elephants didnt.

Neeraj innocently asked me... " Deepak, why are the elephants tied up?" I replied, "to stop them from running away". he contemplated & continued, "But they are so big and can break logs wont it be easy for them to break and run away. Why dont they?" I noticed an animal trainer nearby, went to him and asked him why the elephants made no attempts to escape?
"Well," he said, "when the elephants were very young and much smaller we used the same kind of rope to tie them. By the time the elephants grow to full size, they are conditioned to believe the ropes are unbreakable. They think rope can still hold them, so they have given up trying to break free."

The explanation satisfied neeraj's curiosity but i was astonished. The scene was typically ironic. The ropes were no more than Obsolete relics. A firm pull and the ropes would snap. But the elephants did not seem to care for a tug. In fact, I think the elephants were not even conscious of ropes any more. It would seem the animal had no desire to test their boundaries. Jumbo's couldn't jump their own ropes; they were prisioners of a self-limiting belief.

If drawn parallels between the Jumbo's and us, Such self-limiting beliefs prevent all of us from fully realising our full potential. These dream stealers impose boundaries even on our desires and imagination. How many such Relics are we unconsciously burdened with? How many of us go through life holding a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once earlier?

There are no limits for human potential. It's we who limit our own growth

I, Choose to live up my full potential. I will consciouslyfind such self-limiting beliefs and challenge them.

BETTER A BROKEN ROPE THAN A WITHERED SPIRIT

Think beyond whats obvious ... dj

húìyǒu.búhuò - To make friends free from doubts

Jumbo Can'T JumP