Limiting beliefs can even paralyse an elephant!

The subject of limiting beliefs is addressed by a story you may have come across, about elephants. An elephant that’s going to spend its life working, hauling logs for example, is trained to be obedient and subservient to its mahout when it’s young, by tying it by a rope or chain to something very heavy and immovable. It might be tied to a stout tree, or maybe a heavy iron or stone block, or something similar. Naturally, it tries to pull itself free. It struggles and strains, it tries its very utmost, and eventually (actually, quite quickly) it realises its efforts are all in vain since it just can’t break free from its restraint, no matter how hard it tries.

As the elephant grows bigger, and its strength increases enormously, it becomes strong enough to free itself from almost anything, but it can still be easily restrained by trying it to something. The elephant has, through simple repetition, formed a habit of obedience. It has become used to standing still or lying down when it’s tied to something, not just because it’s well trained, but because it actually believes it is securely restrained when it’s tied to something.

Limiting beliefs stop you progressing in life

In other words, it is restrained, and very effectively, although now it only needs to be tied by a flimsy rope, and to more or less anything. But it’s not restrained by the rope, but by its own limiting beliefs, its own self-imposed limitations. It has set rules for itself in its own mind. And once that rope is tied to something, even if it’s only a sapling or a small log, the elephant is kept securely in place.

We allow the same restrictions to hold us firmly in place, and for exactly the same reason as the elephant. We’re stopped from going beyond a certain point, not by any physical restraints, but by the limiting beliefs we have trained ourselves to obey. We have learned not to pull too hard against those restraints because we just ‘know’ we’re restricted. We’ve trained ourselves, over several years, probably over decades, to stay obediently in one place as though it were impossible to break free. The training has been subtle, and very gradual, but it has been very effective too.

Our mental shackles restrain us completely and securely

That’s why, when we face a new opportunity, we often feel restricted and afraid to move forward. Yes, we can see, logically, that we’re able to do this particular thing, and it makes sense to do it on an intellectual level. But on a purely subconscious level we are subject to an overwhelming feeling of inertia. It feels almost impossible to break free and be adventurous, even though we might not realise why we’re holding back. At times like this, we need to break through the roadblock.

This shows up very often in the form of procrastination; we put off doing the things that would carry us forward because we find all kinds of other things we feel we just have to take care of first, or instead of. Our subconscious mind makes sure we do!

We’re not consciously shirking the work that needs to be done to make progress, it’s just that it seems more important to us to do these other displacement activities. If we’re ever going to overcome procrastination we have to realise that we’re being held firmly in place, and only by our own self-imposed limiting beliefs and nothing else. Once you fully realise that, you’re free! You can get busy with the important stuff, the things that will actually propel you forward from this quicksand you find yourself stuck in.

You can break free of limiting beliefs in an instant!

If you’re procrastinating, and you feel stuck and practically glued to the spot, stop and ask yourself why you’re finding so many other things of such pressing importance that you just cannot focus on the one thing that will drive you forward. It might well be that you’ll see, in your mind, that the only thing holding you back is a flimsy little rope tied to a sapling. It’s really no restraint at all, just a trick of the mind. Pull on it and you’re free! It can happen in an instant, and the relief can be tremendous.

Once you realise you’re free, you can start to move forward with no resistance. And the moving forward will feel smooth and easy, since your mental shackles have been removed and nothing is holding you back. Keep moving forward, reminding yourself that your subconscious mind was playing tricks on you, and the shackles it created for you were forged in error. It really can be that simple. In knowledge lies power. And in this case, the knowledge that you’ve been held back solely by your own limiting beliefs, by your own subconscious mind doing what it thought right, gives you the power to move forward, freely and without restriction.

Hallelujah, what a feeling! You’ve freed yourself, and to think … the chains that held you back so tightly were forged in your own mind, and could have been broken at any time, in a second, with virtually no effort at all!