The invisible rope — Breaking mental barriers

I recently read a short story about how elephants are trained that I would like to share with you.

“As my friend was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not. My friend saw a trainer nearby and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.

“Well,” he said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size of rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.” My friend was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.”

(excerpt from theunboundedspirit.com )

While reading this I asked myself, what beliefs about myself or others do I hold that might not be rooted in reality? How many of us are tied by an invisible rope that limits our belief in what we are able to accomplish?