Limiting Beliefs

Limiting Beliefs: The Story of the Elephant, the Flea and the Piranha

"They can because they think they can"

Vigil

A belief is a collection of thoughts or ideas that you accept as true.

Your beliefs are feelings of certainty about something.

Many beliefs are never questioned, yet form the basis of how we live our lives

Where do beliefs come from?

 Beliefs are learned.

Experiences mold beliefs.

The conclusion you draw from your experiences then shapes the belief.

Take the lessons learned from the behavior of the elephant, the jumping flea and the piranha for example.

The Baby Elephant (metaphor about limiting beliefs)

When circus elephants are young, they tie a rope to their back leg, and wrap it around a heavy stake in the ground. The baby elephant is not strong enough to break free. In time, it learns to be constrained – to not even try.

Later, as a fully mature adult, the trainer… only has to tie a rope around the elephants leg and attach the other end to any pole or stake, and the elephant believes it is trapped, EVEN THOUGH IT HAS AMAZING STRENGTH AND POWER TO BREAK FREE. It has been conditioned NOT to use its power and strength.

Many people are like elephants – powerful spiritual beings, with amazing gifts and strengths, yet due to earlier conditioning, by family, life, they hold themselves back and fail to realise their potential. They let the past hold them back,

~Are you allowing your conditioning by your life so far to hold you back from your full potential?

 The story of the jumping flea is similar.

Fleas can jump extremely high. Several times higher than the limit of a jar.

When a flea is caught, it is put in a jar.

When the lid is on the jar, the flea jumps and hits its head and is unable to get out of the jar.

The flea will try jumping over and over again, each time hitting the lid of the jar.

Until the flea learns that the flea start to jump almost to the lid, but not quite.

It has learnt to jump only this high, because they have learnt that beyond that it is futile.

Whenever the flea jumps, it just doesn't quite hit the top.

What happens we take the lid off?

The flea still does not jump beyond the height of the lid.

It has learnt.

It has set an imaginary limit .

 No guesses with the story of the piranha.

In an experiment, piranha were placed in a large tank separated from their food by a see through glass divider.

After several days of ramming heads against the glass, the piranha learned that it was futile effort.

The glass wall was then removed.

However, the piranha had learnt to stop trying.

They starved to death while swimming freely in a place where there was food available.

The moral of the lesson?

Humans are similarly subject to limiting beliefs.

Especially during childhood when most of us genuinely physically mentally and emotionally incompetent know otherwise, we look to adults for emulation and guidance.

When limitations are imposed, we tend to view it as a permanent part of our identity, not realizing that limitations can be overcome.

Especially with the proper mindset, thinking, training and experience.

Here's a story of how breaking limiting beliefs drastically improves performance.

Before Roger Bannister ran the world's world's sub-four minute mile in 1954, the conventional wisdom was the human beings were not meant to run at this speed.

Scientists say that the human heart and physique is just not meant to take such a strain.

When this belief shown up as false, within a year, 37 other runners have done it, followed by another 300 within 3 years.

Now many other thousands have done the same and better.

Which proves a point.

We are held by our thoughts and beliefs.

Change your thoughts.

Change your beliefs.

Identify what has been holding you back.

Challenge them.

Hold on to the fact that these beliefs can be overcome.

Break through these limiting beliefs. 

And change your performance, change your results and change your life.