I Cannot OR Chained Elephant Motivational Story

I would like to share with you this story by Jorge Bucay, which often shows that we are prisoners of our thoughts and our beliefs.

"When I was little, I loved the circus, and what I liked most of all, the circus, it was animals. The elephant especially fascinated me; as I  learned later, was the favourite animal of all children. During his number, the huge beast exhibited a weight, size and extraordinary strength...

But immediately afterwards and until the next performance, the elephant was still attached to a small stake stuck in the ground by a chain that held a  his legs trapped.

But that stake was only a tiny piece of wood down just a few centimeters into the ground. And although the chain was thick and resistant, it seemed obvious that an animal capable of uprooting a tree should easily be able to free themselves and go.

The mystery remained over to me.

So, what prevents it? Why did not he escape?  A 5 or 6 years old, I had absolute confidence in the science of adults. So I asked a teacher, a father and an uncle on the mystery of pachyderm. One of them explained to me that the elephant did not escape because it was drawn up.

Then I asked the question that makes sense:

 "If it is drawn up, why do we chains?"

I do not remember that we have a coherent answer me.

As time passed, I forgot the mystery of the elephant and his stake, do me remembering when I met others who one day, too, had asked the same question.

A few years ago, I was fortunate to come across someone learned enough to know the answer:

"The elephant circus not come off because from very young, he was tied to a similar stake."


I closed my eyes and I imagined the defenseless newborn elephant, attached to this post. I am sure that at this time the baby elephant pushed, pulled and sweated trying to free himself, but that the stake is too strong for him, he did not succeed despite all his efforts.

I imagined that would fall asleep exhausted and the next day, tried again, and the next ... and the next day ... until one day, a terrible day for its history, the animal eventually accept his impotence and resign himself to his fate.

This huge and powerful pachyderm we see the circus does not escape, the poor, because he believes in being unable.

It keeps the memory engraved impotence, which was hers after birth. And the worst is that he never tried again to test its strength.


We are all limited by our beliefs and thoughts that tell us we can not do, we will not get there ... because he long ago we tried and we failed.

As Elephant we are convinced that we can not do certain things and never get there. We do not even try to detach ourselves from "pickets".

The only way to know if you can do something is to try with all your soul.

What are the stakes to which you are attached? Did you try to free yourself, to flee? What happened ?


Share your experience with us.


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