emotional paralysis

Have you ever seen those elephant shows in Thailand ?

the elephants are such magnificent, intelligent creatures.
capable of painting self-portraits, playing football, arranging logs etc.

And yet, have you seen how the trainers ensure that the elephants don't escape ?

they're tied by a little rope around their ankle to a little wooden stump.

(pause)

those huge, powerful beasts allow themselves to be kept in captivity by such exiguous means ?
i found it hard to believe.

but the reason is what struck a chord in me.
do you know why ?

i was informed.. that when elephants are first born,
they will be tied by the rope to the stump,
and for a while they will struggle against it,
they scream, or whatever noise baby elephants make, kick, tug, pull,
bite at the rope and basically fight for their lives against that little evil rope and stump.

and then gradually, when they finally realise that they can't escape that
evil rope and stump, they completely give up.
they resign themselves to the fact that the evil rope and stump are invincible.

(6 or 7 years later)

Baby elephant isn't so baby elephant-ish anymore..
But evil rope and stump are still in place.

and because as a baby, this elephant has resigned itself to it's fate,
to forever be held captive by this invincible rope and stump,
it has eternally given up any hope of escape.

All it takes would be for the elephant to walk normally while tied,
and the evil rope and stump would probably snap and splinter
like a dead bough before lightning.

the elephant has full ability to walk right away from it's captivity..
And yet it can't.

Such, is the power of emotional paralysis.

so many of us are living in some sort of emotional paralysis.

being in places you don't want to be ?
doing things you don't want to do ?
living a life that you don't want to live ?

sounds pretty familiar doesn't it ?

but the crux of the matter, is that you have full capability to escape and rid yourself of whatever it may be that is holding you captive.

all you need to do, is get up, and walk in the right direction.