The Circus Elephant Syndrome

THE CIRCUS ELEPHANT SYNDROME

Many years ago I read a book, and since then I have seen it in other books as well, the story of how they train circus elephants. When they are very young, the elephant trainers take a very strong chain and clasp with a very heavy stake. They drive the stake deep in the ground and attach the clamp and chain to the baby elephants. The small undeveloped elephants are not yet strong enough to break the chain. But they try to walk away and can’t. They try and can’t, and can’t, and can’t. Then one day, they stop trying.

The trainers then know when the elephant is conditioned and they no longer need the chains. What we see at the circus is a well trained elephant, but what we really don’t understand is we see an elephant who lives in a world of false limitations.

We humans, God’s greatest creatures, are no different when it comes to living within false limitations. Limitations in our mind.

Many people in life are not happy. They are not happy because there are certain things just not right. It may be financial, spiritual, physical, educational, relationship, or familial issue. Which of these issues can usually be made right overnight?

So what do people do? Usually complain. Complain about the weather, their boss, the kid’s teacher, and it’s just in their genes. They find fault in others. They gossip, whisper, and find allies who agree with them. Spending their energy in negative thinking, and going nowhere. Like the circus elephant, they are stuck, with no clue what is holding them back. Not realizing their chain…….is their mind….the way they think about things.

Then sometimes something comes along that shatters their thought process, maybe scares them to death. A check-up at the doctor that doesn’t go well. The loss of a job. The loss of a loved one. Events, that make a change in the thinking pattern. You seen this in the circus as well. The elephant that runs loose, the tigers that attack their handler. Out of the blue these animals react, usually on an event, something different. A camera flash, loud noise, whatever.

Why do we need “EVENTS” to move us into a mode of thinking that will cause us to take action toward something we wanted in the first place? Think about it. How many people have you seen change their life around based upon a negative event?

So, how do we create the same call to action in our lives? Action that will move us in a direction and to a place we would rather be anyway.

The answer lies in the strength of a VISION. Can you clearly see in your mind, and feel what it will feel like to live in a place you want to go. Let me explain it like this for you dreamers. When you dream at night, and are awakened by a frightful dream, do you wake up scared? Have you ever had a sexual dream and had felt the same effect as if you were actually experiencing it?

It’s all in your mind. Your subconscious mind doesn’t know if an event is real or not.

Now, if you can see where you want to go in life, and develop a strong VISION where you can arouse your senses, you can create positive EVENTS, although in your mind, that will excite you toward action. Have you heard or read the Proverb, “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” We become what we think about.
The elephant stay put because he thinks he can get away.

Are you conditioned, with artificial limitations, like the circus elephant?