The Rope Around Your Leg
Photo by Arno & Louise, Flickr
Do you know how elephants are trained? When an elephant is very young, a rope is tied around its leg and then tied to a post. The elephant is left for hours, during which time it keeps tugging the rope, trying futilely to break free. Finally, after a period of time, the elephant accepts the reality that when that rope is tied on, he is tied to the post and cannot move. The baby elephant mind has successfully been programmed.
Years later, when the elephant is all grown up, and massive in size and strength, all that’s needed to get it to stay still is a rope tied around its leg. The other end of the rope doesn’t even need to be tied to a post! Why? Because the elephant’s belief system says when there’s a rope tied to its leg, it cannot move. The baby elephant had the learning of this belief, and now this limiting belief limits the monster-sized elephant that could have easily broken free.
This is the power of limiting beliefs.
When I work with clients, one of the things I notice for are the limiting beliefs they hold. Because I work specifically with people who have chronic illnesses, their limiting beliefs can quite literally be the difference between life and death, vitality or disability.
Western medicine has been extremely successful in training us to believe that our only hope for healing from what ails us is drugs. Our doctors, our pharmaceutical companies, our health insurance companies, our commercials, our friends and families reinforce this. If you have Multiple Sclerosis, the prevailing belief is that healing is not even possible. You are on a downhill trajectory and the most you can hope for is a decent drug to slow your inevitable progression into disability.
Anybody feel the rope around their leg?
Deteriorating helplessly into disability does not have to be your present or your future, but it surely will be if you accept the limiting beliefs held about your illness. I encourage you to spend some time today considering what you believe about your ability to heal and get well. And I want you to remember that you are the adult elephant. You are massive and strong, and because you are aware of the rope that’s been tied around your leg, you’re absolutely capable of breaking free.
Get The Self-Healing Coach delivered…FREE! Sign up for free Self-Healing Coach updates via RSS or email.
