BABY ELEPHANTS

My friend Howard loves to tell the story of a short subject movie he saw as a child. It concerned the training of baby elephants.

They began the training by securing the baby elephant’s foreleg to a big stake that had been driven into the ground with a very thick rope. The baby elephant would tug and tug on the rope trying to free itself. The elephant usually struggled to free himself for a long time.

Eventually the animal would learn that no amount of tugging could free it. This could take several days. At this point the baby elephant would cease all struggling against the rope. He had finally learned that it was impossible for him to move when his foreleg was tied to a stake. The trainer would allow him to remain tied there for a while and then would untie the elephant and continue the training.

For the rest of the elephant’s life the trainer could drive a relatively small stake into the ground and secure the full-grown elephant’s foreleg to the stake with a relatively small rope and the elephant would not struggle against the rope at all.

The same elephant had been pushing over trees in the jungle all day and dragging them out. It had plenty of strength to break the rope or to pull up the stake, but it remained docilely tied up. It was not the stake that held the elephant. It was not the rope that held the elephant. It was not the combination of the stake and rope that held him.

It was his “baby elephant belief” that held the full-grown elephant.

We all have “baby elephant beliefs” that hold us back if we don’t learn to change them.

Here are some old baby elephant beliefs I used to have. Please see if any of them are holding you back.

When you were about 7 years old, weren’t you certain that if you could get a bicycle, you would be happy? Did you get a bike? Are you happy?

Was there a time in your life when you wanted him or her and you were certain if you could just get him/her you’d be happy? Did you get him/her? Are you happy?

Was there a time when you were certain that if you could only get rid of him/her you’d be happy? Was there? Did you get rid of them? Are you happy?

My overwhelming baby elephant belief was that if I could get what I wanted I would be happy. Not true! I was wrong about that.

I thought there was something out there that I could acquire, achieve or attain that would bring me happiness. The problem was that no matter what I got the shine always wore off. 

I had happiness confused with pleasure. There are things out there on the physical plane that will bring me pleasure for a limited time but none of them will bring me happiness. Happiness isn’t on the physical plane it is on the spiritual plane and the only way I can have it is to have a healthy relationship with God and with all of you. To do that, I must try to be of service to you and to God.

My point is that the beginning of learning is the realization that I do not know it all and, more importantly, that some of what I know for sure is actually wrong. I must release my grip on what I’m sure I know if I am to learn what I don’t know.