Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 65 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Unchain Your Elephant

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 65 of our Trek, and today we are going to look at overcoming the obstacles on the trails of life. Many times obstacles are self-imposed or caused by self-limiting beliefs. We need to learn how to un-chain the elephants in our lives.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. This week we are preparing to have Paula’s three siblings, their spouses, a few nieces and nephews, and four of our five children in for a gathering on Friday night and Saturday. It will be a great time together, and we feel very fortunate that we can host many family gatherings at 'The Big House."  There is a lot to do, both inside and out, before Friday, so it should keep us plenty busy.

It is time to break camp and begin on our Trek. We are setting out on a different trail today, and as we gaze up the trail, we see that it is very steep with many rocks, trees, and other obstructions in our way. Additionally, the trail is narrow with a solid rock face on one side and steep cliffs on the other.

As you look at the trail before you, you think to yourself, "I have never hiked on such a dangerous trail before. I don’t think I can do it." Your thoughts continue, "After all, I have been told many times before that I am clumsy, and that I never am able to complete tasks."  You convince yourself that maybe it would be better that you stay at camp today, or better yet, you should  just quit all together.

This is the type of thinking that limits so many people from achieving all that they could with their lives. If you are susceptible to this type of thinking, you will never to be able to reach your full potential to become all that God has destined for you. In our analogy today, we want to look at what causes these self-limiting beliefs and this "learned-helplessness" and determine how you can break free from the chains and shackles that bind you. So, let me share some interesting nuggets to help you today. You may have heard some of this information before, but it is always good to review and apply it anew to your life. This is the story of "Unchaining Your Elephant."

Do you know what they do to keep a circus or zoo elephant from running away? They tie a metal chain onto a collar around the mighty elephant’s leg and tie it to a small wooden peg that’s hammered into the ground. The 10-foot tall, 11,000 pound hulk could easily snap the chain, uproot the wooden peg, and escape to freedom. But, it does not do that. In fact, it does not even try. The world’s most powerful animal, which is nimble enough to pick up a blade of grass with its trunk, can also uproot a tree as easily as you and I can break a toothpick, and yet they remain tied down by a small peg and a flimsy chain. How come?

It’s because when the elephant was a baby, its trainers used exactly the same methods. A chain was tied around its leg and the other end of the chain was tied to a metal stake on the ground. The chain and peg were strong enough for the baby elephant. When it tried to break away, the metal chain would pull it back. Sometimes, tempted by the world it could see in the distance, the elephant would pull harder. But, the chain would cut into the skin on the elephant’s leg, making it bleed, and creating a wound that would hurt the baby elephant even more. Soon, the baby elephant realized it was futile trying to escape. It stopped trying!

And now, when the big circus elephant is tied by a chain around its leg, it remembers the pain it felt as a baby. And, it does not try to break away. So, even though it’s just a chain and a little woo...