Elephants, in rooms, have always garnered my attention.
I’ve never been one to shy away from an awkward situation, I like to pry it open and figure out what’s at the core, maybe actually turn that awkward moment into an enjoyable one!
In this case, the image of a baby elephant strapped down causes pain, frustration, anger, resentment… a LOT of things in most of us come up that make us want to never go to the circus again!
You know my favorite question!
“Why?”
Empathy. You, and I, feel for that animal. We’re in touch with the pain, frustration, and fear that elephant is experiencing. It’s just not RIGHT for something to be locked down, tied up, restrained and limited… is it?
Why is there such empathy there? Why do we feel so strongly that this is ‘wrong’?
Do you think YOU feel more today than you did 5, 10, 20 years ago?
Do you think you’ve become MORE, or LESS empathetic about something like this baby elephant?
again, WHY?
One perspective is you’re ‘older and softer’. Another is you’ve attained more influence and power in your world, so you can impact more things with your efforts – so you are more ‘aware’ in a way you can maybe impact some change…
My belief? There’s a baby elephant SCREAMING inside you too!
You, and I, are becoming more and more aware of how our lives have mirrored that baby elephant’s! THAT is why we’re more empathetic.
As you’ve aged, you have had experience after experience exposing you to your limitations. Maybe you didn’t make it into the astronaut program; maybe you didn’t become that movie star or singer; maybe you didn’t live out that ‘Secret of My Success’, Brantley Cooper, Michael J Fox, dream lifestyle you hoped for…
Now, you’re wise enough now to understand how much your formative years affected how you see, and interact with, the world.
I ask this often – “What did your parents do, for income, when you were 2 years old?”
Are you saying we are like the baby elephant Clay?
In a way that is rarely discussed, at levels that will shock you, as you uncover and recognize them… YES.
Our physical brains are very different than that baby elephant. That’s both good, and bad. Good in that we have a reasoning capability well beyond any other species on the planet. Bad – in the same exact way.
‘Bad’ because our subconscious has mastered its ability to use that reasoning ability against us!
What do I mean?
We are a slave to our programming.
Plain and simple. We are.
Until we are able to recognize that fact, and WE CHOOSE to make a difference.
I’ve been a slave, my whole life, and still am in many ways – to my programmed beliefs and ideals.
Enabling myself, and others, by developing practices to heighten our awareness of the results, methods, and core causes of those ‘chains’ that hold us back has become my life’s purpose.
How Clay?
Long story short- MEDITATE. Build a meditation habit. At all costs.
The primary, or ‘first’ purpose of meditation is awareness.
The second purpose will become ‘re-programming’ or ‘re-wiring’ of those beliefs, patterns, and behaviors.
First -AWARENESS-
There will be a progression in your ability to be aware.
One client has been working with me almost a year now, and we are still working on his ability to be in touch, in the moment, with the physical sensations that occur in his body during his normal day to day routines.
THAT is where the secret powers lie!
Practicing meditation until you’re AWARE of what’s ‘going on’ in your mind and body during your daily activities will give you the ability to CHOOSE your opinions, actions, and most importantly behaviors!
As an ‘adult elephant’, when we reach the end of our rope and there’s a ‘tug’ around our neck, or ankle, today we ‘stop’. We KNOW we can’t break free from that rope, because it was DEEPLY trained into us as young people. (hence the question about when you were two)
The scary, and sad, part to me is that we have NO CLUE we’re doing it normally!
Most of us, me included, simply aren’t aware when we bump into those limitations. They are so deeply ingrained that we BELIEVE, inherently, instinctively, intuitively, and very concretely, that it isn’t a ‘limitation’ at all – it’s a fact!
I once had a client as me this: “Are you saying, Clay, that you believe we can fly?” 
My answer: “No, I don’t believe I, nor you, can fly. I DO believe that when someone TRULY believes they can, they will.”
That is what I work at these days – helping people FLY out of the limitations of their pasts and overcome the chains that hold them.
Let’s LIVE FREE!
Step ONE – Awareness.
Build, and continue to grow, your meditation habit, please.
