Identify your Limitations

This week’s theme is Strengths and how I can approach it from different angles. Have you heard about this elephant story?

To recap the them, I started off the week by sharing a Migrant story and the evolution of personal growth and strength. You catch up with that here:https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/julietbellagambi_it-wasnt-a-tell-us-about-scenario-activity-7294843622221316097-iNpv?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAXupSsBUG15qQ0TyWK6KtiMmXcgYPqTUkA

Today I would like to switch it up to an Elephant and the story of a baby Elephant

Once upon a time there was a baby elephant that got held in captivity.? The baby elephant was tied to a small pole and as a baby at that point it didn’t have the strength to break free, so it struggled and learns that it cannot escape.? It walks around the pole it is tied to, bowing to the Circus Master.

Over time, the elephant grows larger and stronger, it could easily pull the stake out of the ground or break free from its restraints. It is a Big Mighty Powerful and Beautiful Elephant but with the little elephant’s mind, following the Master’s rope.? Round and round it walks in circles powered by the belief that there’s no other way and this is it, trapped by these perceived limitations.?

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A few years ago when delivering a Personal development training, I asked the group mainly mothers to draw a line down the middle of an A4 sheet.? On one side I asked them to write ‘things that are untrue about me’ on the other side I asked them to leave it blank.

You can tell when someone is going through a breakthrough moment.? This Mum was for the first time confronting and realising how someone has pulled wool over their eyes for a while.? In this case, it was an artist Mum who was taken back to the sounds of her caregivers mimicking her and saying she can’t sing and what she remembered was being asked to ‘Shut up’.? She carried that stake or rope through the life until that moment.? She recalled how even in secondary school she was afraid to put herself up not because of anyone in school but those words she heard as a child at home and being laughed up.? The limitation was planted then as a young child.?

The second column was for the participants to begin to re-write their stories and state what was true for them and an empowered belief.

Whether you resonate with the baby elephant or the mother’s story, both show how we can become trapped by limiting beliefs—beliefs that were often formed in childhood or through early experiences. Even when those beliefs no longer serve us, they can continue to hold us back. Further, external systems can reinforce these beliefs, keeping us in a state of limitation.

People can become trapped in limiting beliefs or fears, often stemming from early experiences or conditioning, even when those beliefs no longer serve them.

Further, external systems can reinforce these beliefs, keeping people in a state of limitation."

I can tell you that the Mum gained an unstoppable level of confidence and is an entrepreneur in children’s nursing accessories as for the baby Elephant, what can you share about that?

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What would it take for the elephant to break free of its chains? And for you, what steps can you take to overcome the beliefs or fears that are holding you back from embracing your true strength?

Want to take the next step:

If you are ready to begin to re-write your story:

• Write down a limiting belief you’ve held for years and start questioning it
• Reflect on one strength you haven’t fully embraced yet
• Take a moment to reflect. What are your strengths within you that you are fully yet to embrace?

"Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them" - Albert Einstein