Unshackle your inner elephant

Do you suffer from elephant chain syndrome?

I FIRST heard of the elephant chain syndrome over 20 years ago when I participated in a positive thinking workshop.

The story went like this. A travelling circus had acquired a baby elephant while the troupe was passing through a village.

At their next stop, one of the baby elephant’s front legs was shackled and secured to a sturdy tree by a chain. The purpose was to prevent the baby elephant from running away.

The baby elephant would try to break free from time to time only to be restrained by the chain. After unsuccessfully trying to flee for a couple of months, it soon learnt that its freedom was as far as the length of the chain would allow. That small circumference became its world.

The circus moved from place to place. When there was no tree for fastening the chain, it was secured to a peg driven into the ground.

Over time, as the elephant grew into a massive beast that could have easily pulled the peg out with a simple tug, it did not. It continued to walk in circles within the radius of the chain which had become its comfort zone.

The elephant was conditioned from a young age to accept that it could only move within a restricted space. Even when it had the capability to break free, it did not make any attempt, believing it to be an impossible feat from its past experience and resigned itself to its fate. This is known as the elephant chain syndrome.

Like the baby elephant, human babies come into this world on a clean sheet. And for the rest of their growing up years, their outlook in life is shaped by upbringing, education, religion, peer pressure, media and politics.

Each of these aspects can either be chains that tether or wings that liberate. More than often, it is the former. This is the nature of the society we live in.

Our past experiences hold us back. Being constantly told to do things in a certain fixed way hold us back. The norms and values of the people around us hold us back. Breaking out from these habits and self-imposed limitations can be difficult if we do not realise it and hang around circles that do not encourage us to look beyond what we think we can achieve.

Therefore, it is vital for us to take a step back and take stock of the influences that we allow into our lives.

This gives us the opportunity to identify the chains that are restraining us from moving out of our comfort zone. When we realise what is holding us back, we can then take action to break them in order for us to realise our potential.

This is easier said than done because old habits die hard. We fear change. But it is not impossible.

The following is a simple analogy and a technique I learnt from the positive thinking workshop. Our mind is like a glass of water. At birth, it is crystal clear. As we grow, we amass so much grit and grime of negativity that the water becomes muddied.

To remove the impurities in the water, we have to continuously pour clean water into the glass until it becomes crystal clear again.

Likewise, the kind of food we feed our minds with determines the kind of thoughts we generate. If we think we can, then we can.

If we think otherwise, that becomes true also. Like they say, garbage in, garbage out. Motivational speaker and self-help guru Napolean Hill said it best, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.”

For that reason, we have to continuously feed our mind with positive thoughts and the belief that we have the ability to do more than what we currently can.

That will most likely become a reality. It may not happen immediately but trust me, it will happen eventually.

As a person living with severe physical impairments, it was constantly drummed into my mind that I could not amount to anything and that I would be condemned to a life of suffering and deprivation.

I believed that to be true. I was miserable all the time. My early writings reflect that sense of hopelessness and despair.

After I attended the workshop, I realised my shortcomings and how I could change for the better through realisation of my self-imposed limitations and utilising positive thinking methods. Change was not instantaneous but I generally became a happier person as I gradually chipped away at the pessimistic thoughts that had been clouding my mind.

Now that I am writing about this topic, I have discovered a few more personal faults that I want to get rid of.

This has to be a continuous process as we tend to accumulate undesirable habits and thoughts along the way. Just as our body requires constant nourishment, our mind needs continuous doses of good vibes to keep it in good working condition and keep the negativities in check.

We should all take a good look at our lives and see if we are afflicted with the elephant chain syndrome. Chances are most of us are underestimating what we are capable of achieving. Realisation of that together with a change of mindset can do wonders.

The best thing is that adjusting our perspective. Expanding our horizon does not cost us anything but can potentially give us everything.

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