When an elephant is born into captivity a short heavy chain is placed upon it's leg. As the elephant grows, it learns that it cannot move outside of a certain distance because it is held back by the chains. When the elephant is older the chains can be removed and a simple rope placed around its' leg. At any time, with its' size and strength, that elephant could easily snap the rope and break free from where it is tethered, but the elephant has allowed it's past experiences to control it's future, and it will stay imprisoned not because of the rope, but because of its' mind.
Now the question I have to ask is, How much like that elephant are you? Are you allowing the experiences of your past to imprison you? Do you bear the burden of invisible chains?
If you answered Yes to any of those questions, I hope you know that you are not alone. So much of society has allowed themselves to be chained down as well because of the lessons that they learned when they were young. We were taught to stay within our social circle, not step outside of our cultural norms, to know our gender rolls and what they entitled us to.
Each message that we received helped form our ideals of what was possible for us in our lives. These ideals created our thoughts which in turn developed Neural pathways in our mind that got stronger and stronger each and every time that message was repeated either by those in our sphere of influence or from ourselves.
So the question is, how can we break free from these invisible chains, and step out into this exciting new world. Well seeing as it is now Spring, a little spring cleaning of the mind seems in order. Lets take a look at some of the things that we can do to clean out the crap in our mind that is trapping us here.
1. One of the first things that you can do to free yourself is to look at what thoughts or messages are being repeated in your mind to keep you stuck. Take out a pen and paper and write down all the ideals that you have been told, or that you have told yourself, about why you can't move on in your life and achieve success and happiness.
2. Next we must question whether or not these thoughts that hold us back are really true. If someone taught you these lessons how did they learn them? Was this just a message that was passed down from generation to generation, or did they attempt to move outside of their comfort zone and suffered failure so they decided it wasn't possible for anyone if it wasn't possible for them.
3. Find proof it's possible. Whatever thought you have that's keeping you chained, I can guarantee that someone, somewhere in this world has proven it false. If you think you're too old at 50 to start a business, Google people who have started a business after 50 and been successful. If you think because you came from a socio-economically challenged area Google people what have come from similar backgrounds and succeeded. You will find that whatever message you have in your mind, you can find proof that it is false.
4. Once you know what your Mental Chain is, have determined where it came from, and proven that it is false, now is the time to take that a step outside of that circle that you have kept yourself trapped in, and break that chain. By taking even a small step toward achieving your freedom you will begin to develop new Neural pathways and by taking consistent action on a daily basis, even small action, you will rewire your mind to know that there is in fact no chain holding you back.
Today can be the day you step into the sunlight as a beautiful soul, free from the chains of bondage that have help you back. Fill your lungs with that breath of Freedom and go out there and change your world.
I leave you with the words of Bob Marley: "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds."
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