by Joe Borders,
Therapist in Roseville, Ca

Sometimes the Thing that is Holding you Back is all in Your Head

I frequently post images with inspirational quotes on my business’s facebook page. This week I posted this one and it received far more views than most other images that I have uploaded.

I think there is something about this image that most, if not all people can relate to. Sometimes our experiences in the past significantly affect our current interactions with the world in negative ways. There is a saying: “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” All too often we give up before trying or let fear govern our actions because of negative experiences in our past.

I often bring this up in session with people by talking about elephants. if you look at pictures of elephants in circuses, you will notice that often times they are chained to small pegs or poles in the ground. Elephant trainers chain young elephants in this way, when they are small enough that such a post or pole would stop them from escaping. When they grow into adults, these elephants don’t attempt escape, because they have what is called learned helplessness. As children they could not escape similar restraints and learned that it was helpless, so as adults, they hold the same belief and don’t try. It’s sad when you think about, but this is something we commonly do to ourselves. When did you last give up on something before giving a real effort or simply choose not to try?

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