There is a fable in which a man visiting a circus passed by the elephants. He stopped, confused by the fact that each of the huge creatures was being held only by a single rope tied to their leg. It was obvious the elephants could break the small rope and walk away easily, but for some reason they did not.
The trainer was standing nearby and the man asked him why the magnificently strong animals just stood there and made no attempt to break away despite their advantage.
The trainer replied, “Well, when they are very young and much smaller, a rope of that size is used to tie them. At that age, it is enough to hold them, and as they grow up, they continue to think that they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to escape from it.”
The man was amazed. The elephants could break free at any time, but because they thought they could not, they did not try to break the ripe. They were stuck right there! These powerful gigantic creatures limited their present abilities by their limitations in the past.
This is true of people too. It is easy to go through life limiting ourselves based on our past failures when instead we should be trying again and learning from our mistakes. What is your elephant rope, and how does it hold you back? Find it and break it! You are stronger now than you were before.
