I heard a story a long time ago that has always stayed with me..

Have you ever seen circus elephants? These magnificent creatures are tethered by only a small rope yet they never attempt to escape to freedom?

These elephants, when captured are a very young age. Their keeper places a chain around the young elephant’s ankle and stakes the chain into the ground. The baby elephant tries and tries to break free from the chain because, deep inside he knows he was born for freedom.

Yet as he struggles, he finds he’s not strong enough to break free and eventually he gives up entirely.

As the elephant grows larger and stronger – this big magnificent animal who is capable of lifting hundreds of pounds – just accepts that he can not pull the stake out of the ground. And with his spirit broken he never again challenges it.

And so there he stands. For ten, twenty, thirty years or more. Controlled by something that literally has no power to control him except the power he’s given it in his mind.

Is this happening to you? Are you allowing your life to be controlled by past beliefs that literally have no power to control you?