It's all in your mind.

Stevie1006 · 1 year

This theory is called Learned Helplessness - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learned_helplessness

jmorph99 · 1 year

This seems part of the positive thinking mantra "you can do anything if you believe!" and "what's holding you back is imaginary!". Well, sometimes it is imaginary but sometimes it is real. I will never be a pro quarterback. Don't have the athleticism for it, whether I believe it is true or not.

The trick is to correctly identify real and fake limitations. As many people fail because they can not correctly identify real limitations as fake ones. Look at how many wannabe nba players there are out there. They geared their whole life to being NBA stars instead of accepting their limitations and moving on. Discerning fake and real limitations can be difficult.

joetromboni · 1 year

The picture clearly shows a chain, not a rope.

Kimos · 1 year

RE: RE: Re: Fw: RE: FWD: Re: FW: FWD: SO TRUE <3 <3 <3

notanotherpyr0 · 1 year

This sounds like a job for the Mythbusters.

freeboater · 1 year

I think Dave Chappelle summed this up pretty well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbS9jZOlQjc

"The problem is you have a bad attitude about starving to death"

tom83 · 1 year

you cant even rank first in that videogame you always play.

DoctorRock · 1 year

Moral of the story: Elephants get treated like fucking shit in the circus.

mage_g4 · 1 year

I'm going to do it!

Just because I nearly died last time I tried to fly...

Dogmaster · 1 year

Am I the only one who started singing the Parappa the rappa song?

Gumberculese · 1 year

This is basically what Snake tells Raiden at the end of Metal Gear Solid 2.

Empiricism is slavery.

(Spoilers.)

walterdonnydude · 1 year

The difference is, at least the Elephant can see his/her rope/chain. Most of the time I have no idea what issue from my past is holding me back.

Kalium · 1 year

PLATITUDES

Because everything is solved with a bullshit story and a meaningless saying.

jasonliman · 1 year

The elephant knows there is nowhere to go even if he breaks free. He see all these small creatures surrounding him, everywhere. The elephant knows he is stuck at a place where he doesn't belong. And although he knows he is physically superior, he will be the only one fighting thousands of small creatures.

But at least he knows there will always be food and water for him end of the day. And hopefully his master will bath him end of the week.

btw, that no rope bro, that a medal chain!

[deleted] · 1 year

Never, never give up!

YukonWildAss · 1 year

I'll never forget this advice!

biscuitbee · 1 year

Trying is the first step towards failure.

tripleg · 1 year

[deleted]

yellowLantern · 1 year

Unless you've committed any form of crime in America! Then the government will constantly be there to remind you of your past and prevent you from employment or career advancement.

Rob3210 · 1 year

Holy shit this gave me goosebumps. Had a change of mindest of few years ago, remember feeling reborn at the time. Still on the same mindset and feel better then ever.

Warwas · 1 year

Some people will take this too literal, some won't take it serious enough. On a serious note - I see a lot of people try something new, or risky, and fail miserably at it. Don't be one of those people for the rest of their lives, who gave up hope because you couldn't accomplish something great the first try.

Dalai_Loafer · 1 year

Elephants never forget! They are clever and they're well aware of what's going with all the ropes and chains and shit. They are just waiting ever so patiently, playing the long-game, until humans help their numbers to recover sufficiently... then BAM! they all break free together and establish a global elephant republic.

naisanza · 1 year

tldr; Your attempt may fail, but never fail to make an attempt && CHOOSE not to accept the fault boundaries and limitations created by the past

limp-along-cassidy · 1 year

And the moral of the story is, see that nice new girl you're with? Push for anal. Nothing to lose.

Creedelback · 1 year

This isn't inspiring. It just makes me realize how poorly people treat elephants.

FrostyCow · 1 year

I've always been told don't make the same mistake twice. How does one find a balance between that advice and learned helplessness?

redeyeddevil · 1 year

Just what i needed. Thank you.

suchao · 1 year

this was very inspiring and all but i still ain't gonna attempt to become the sexiest man in the world. i tried once and failed.

beedrue · 1 year

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take - Wayne Gretsky" - Michael Scott

ejustice · 1 year

Of course they don't try to break free. They get the shit beaten out of them with bullhooks. In their sensitive trunks, mouths, ears..

balonkey · 1 year

Of all the life lessons we could learn from elephants you choose learned helplessness?

Very lame.

colluvium · 1 year

The rope is your childhood religion - break the bonds!

Spadgable · 1 year

And this is the reason I didn't head towards a musical conservatoire when choosing universities. I'd been told that I couldn't, wouldn't have made it by my peers and later myself, but you know what? They were wrong. I totally could have done that. I'd have been one kick-ass trumpeter.

CoachPop121 · 1 year

"its not who you are that holds you back- its who you think your not"

dmbcuse · 1 year

Love the overall idea of this BUT ITS A CHAIN IN THE PICTURE, NOT A ROPE!!

PhilThePhilosopher · 1 year

Never take yourself out of the game.

fipsut · 1 year

Learned helplessness.

mambypambyland · 1 year

Keep it in /r/atheism you baby eating circlejerkers!

MasCapital · 1 year

Guy who can't help injecting Marx into everything here. This basically sums up a big part of the Marxist theory of false consciousness. If the proletariat has the power to overthrow the bourgeoisie and it is manifestly in their interest to do so, why don't they? Answer: False Consciousness. They don't know or believe they have that power. I think this is true today too. Every time you hear someone say "The corporations are just too powerful" or "That crazy socialist idea of yours is a pipedream", they are under, and spreading, false consciousness.

[deleted] · 1 year

and you all come away with something other then it is fucking wrong to take an elephant, who in the wild roam hundreds of miles in a few days, and chain it to a fucking stake. sorry, i could care less if you chain yourself with stupid little problems and life trams, it is a big fucking difference then an animal chained and prodded with hooks.

(Here, let me put my soap box back und the couch.)

visual_life · 1 year

Kick! Punch! ...?

Space_Bat · 1 year

For whatever BS people say about this, I don't give a fuck... That is extremely helpful at this moment in my life. Having a bit of a shitty time right now. Every little reminder to keep on truckin helps a lot.

Stereotypical_INTJ · 1 year

If you put a frog in boiling water, it jumps out. But if you put a frog in lukewarm water and slowly heat it so it doesn't notice, the frog will let itself be boiled.

Don't succumb to subtle changes!

If you put gnats in a jar and seal the lid, they will jump to try and escape. But, after trying for only a few hours and bumping against the lid, they will stop jumping. You can then remove the lid and they will stay still even though they can leave.

Don't limit yourself by past boundaries!

Two little mice fell in a jar of milk. The first mouse gave up and drowned. But the second mouse swam and swam until he churned that milk into butter and climbed out.

Keep trying until you shift the rules!

Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never. In nothing -- large or small, great or petty -- never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.

Stand up for what's right not what's easy!

I'm somebody now, Harry. Everybody likes me. Soon, millions of people will see me and they'll all like me. I'll tell them about you, and your father, how good he was to us. Remember? It's a reason to get up in the morning. It's a reason to lose weight, to fit in the red dress. It's a reason to smile. It makes tomorrow all right. What have I got Harry, hm? Why should I even make the bed, or wash the dishes? I do them, but why should I? I'm alone. Your father's gone, you're gone. I got no one to care for. What have I got, Harry? I'm lonely. I'm old.

Without self esteem your entire worth is based on the judgmental opinions of the quick and the dead!

Pete3 · 1 year

Thats a fucking chain, not a rope.

Terr_ · 1 year

The fence? You could take that, easy...

Of course, the fact that you can break a leg trying to cross the three-foot ditch is quite real.

worldnick · 1 year

It's called space. We don't go there. It's called aging we don't try to cure it.

[deleted] · 1 year

not always true, wut if u can do something during ur prime. it doesnt mean u can do better when ur a senior or even do what u did and get the same results. so obviously no point in trying

iamyourdad · 1 year

If you want to test me, I am sure you will find...

aaarrrggh · 1 year

Hm. Well, at the time of writing, this has 798 upvotes. If only my vote could count for 798 votes, I could put this post right back where it should be.

fatassman · 1 year

yeah fucking right. my dog will try all day, everyday for the rest of his short fucking life to pull and pull at the rope. what does that tell you?

fatnino · 1 year

TIL dont learn for your mistakes. Make them over and over again.

Falmarri · 1 year

My dog will sit at the front door even when it's wide open and wait there while I go outside to get the mail, etc. He could easily "escape" at any time. He doesn't do it not because he doesn't think he can, but because he has no reason to. He knows I'm coming back, and that he's not supposed to go outside without his leash.

The elephants (assuming this story is true) probably don't even think about escaping because they don't have a reason to.

moriquendo · 1 year

"If you surrender, you have already lost. If you refuse to give up, though, no matter the odds against you, at least you have succeeded in trying."

F. Herbert - "Dune"

leandrotami · 1 year

Reading this was like a headshot to me.

tautologies · 1 year

I actually hate motivational posters like this!

Slippery_Slope_Guy · 1 year

That's right! Break those chains and get a fucking tranquilizer dart right to the jugular.

TYPICALredditLOSER · 1 year

Still seems like a stupid reason to cheap out on elephant security.

aabekadd · 1 year

...and that's why we don't have airships anymore.

yourlegsarestupid · 1 year

I just rocked my calc final (I think). FUCK YOU ROPES!

SnakeGriffin · 1 year

TIL That I can feel better about myself because elephants are gigantic failures.

theghostofabe · 1 year

Deep.

Kilngr · 1 year

This has motivated me to try taking Bio again next year after I failed it last year, got put on academic probation and was told by my adviser to stay away from all sciences. I'm pretty confident I'll do better. I only hope that I don't forget this and sink back into my mindset that I'm not good in the sciences.

Edit: Thanks a million.

[deleted] · 1 year

Thanks, I really needed that today. Fuck Jennifer Lawrence.

n1njapanda · 1 year

Wait! There are real motivational posters?

xyroclast · 1 year

Not trying to be a downer on the philosophy behind this, but it seems to me that the elephant would get the picture pretty quickly as soon as it walked a step too far or got startled by something and pulled out its stake. Unless elephants aren't really that smart.

lrc1123 · 1 year

But I thought doing something over and over again expecting different results was the definition of insanity. Or have I been conditioned into assuming so?

HanselSoHotRightNow · 1 year

I'm glad Hitler never read this.

Anurag21 · 1 year

Just the kind of Messages & pics I wanna see on Reddit. This one image just made my day. I am a big time fan of Self Improvement , Motivation and Inspiration & this simple message said what I read in huge books with just a image and a couple of lines .... Amazing !!!

andontcallmeshirley · 1 year

This is a cute kiddie parable, but the facts are different.

An elephant is tied according to how it needs to be tied. There are well trained and tame elephants which identify with their mahout and willingly cooperate, willingly work and willingly stay put when lightly tied.

There are other elephants which are ornery, rambunctious and need chains to keep them in place.

Then there are the males in must, during mating season, and you can chain them, rope them, electro-shock them, tranquilize them and you still will be lucky to keep them restrained, lucky if they don't break loose and start stepping on people, starting with their mahout.

Now THAT makes for an interesting parable for living your life -- sometimes you just really gotta do something no matter what's in your way.

mostavgguy · 1 year

I saw this and thought "Shit, poor elephants. I should help them revolt."

SidHat · 1 year

Or maybe it just means that we should stop chaining free things to posts.

Maybe.

evilbeaver333 · 1 year

And cue the rampaging elephants

obened · 1 year

So, so true.

Not only with false limitation from the past, but people sometimes also limit themselves by choosing to adopt the common society mindset.

A simple example involving girls and gaming (I'm sure there's millions more, relating to other topics):

Most girls I know aren't hardcore gamers. It's not normal in society for a girl to be a hardcore gamer (this is changing, thank ~~god~~ the universe). Most girls don't even make the attempt to play a game (not talking about bejeweled here) because they assume it's "not for them". They just take the societies "norm" and, in their head, make it a reality. FUCK THE NORM!

Me: Hey, want to play Blackops?

Female friend: No, I don't like those games. I play Farmville.

Me: Have you at least tried playing Blackops?

Female friend: No.

Me: -.-;

As the elephant picture says, people should at least make the attempt to do something. Then they can actually have something concrete and relatively present, to base their choices and mindset on.

Haiku_attack · 1 year

OMG CHNGD MY LF! SOOO GONNA ASK RYAN OUT NOW!

Noncontroversial · 1 year

I think it's sad that we need to see other animals misfortune to realise this about ourselves... but it is very true none the less.

Clayburn · 1 year

I can't downvote this enough. First, you made me read. Second, it's sappy crap. Third, ultimately it's bullshit since it's just a "power of positive thinking" concept (tie us with non-metaphorical chains, and we won't break free). Fourth, you say rope but show chain. Fifth, elephants aren't that stupid. Sixth, this is exactly why I stopped using email for personal correspondence.

griff85 · 1 year

So true.

clarkee · 1 year

i love reading the comments section of these uploads. hilarious!

PitBullFan · 1 year

My son's mother has the same issues with learned helplessness. She's very well educated (Doctorate degree) and teaches at the University level, but has convinced herself that she is incapable of doing just about anything that requires reading and following directions. She actually pays people to do simple stuff that she's capable of doing herself. She has a defeatist attitude and now our son is starting to develop it also. It's a shame.

TheOldKesha · 1 year

the definition of madness is to do the same thing over and over and expect different results.

[deleted] · 1 year

I really enjoyed that, actually. It's amazing what people DO hold onto from childhood, and how much those ideas limit people. I know I have some confidence issues that surely come from some sort of childhood idea (I'm the girl who's always apologizing. For everything. All the time.), and seeing something like this - as insignificant as it may be - definitely helps open my brain that tiny little bit to think, 'You know what? Maybe I CAN."

Thanks for posting this! :)

[deleted] · 1 year

I have often thought over this and believe that this view misses a vital point; i.e. Context. Thus it fails to rise above the level of a generic platitude which is a shame. All thoughts, actions and attitudes are to be interpreted within a given context. A Context can be defined as the sum total of all external factors existing at that point in time. Any thought and consequent action arising from it will be successful only if the context is favorable to it (random chance also has a role here). Thus "positive attitude" should be tempered with what i call "wary optimism" i.e. always be aware of the context and make a guesstimate of success/failure. Because the context changes from moment to moment we always have to evaluate our responses appropriately. That way we can adapt universal principles to the need at hand.

FloatingEyeball · 1 year

Early in my life I learned that fire was hot and could burn me, but this fresh outlook has changed my mind. Today I will consume fire, I will longer be held back by my past experiences.

HNW · 1 year

"Our duty, as men and women, is to proceed as if limits to our ability did not exist. We are collaborators in creation." - Teilhard de Chardin

pdxp · 1 year

I guess I'm the only one to notice that this is most likely coming up because it was used as a parable in The Adjustment Bureau.

Crossfox17 · 1 year

This makes it seem way more simple than it really is. Try being clinically depressed or bipolar. Life is terrible for those with afflictions, and if they could simply will it away they would in an instant. I have been diagnosed with clinical depression, and my life is currently in shambles. It takes effort just to get up in the morning. The brain is an organ, and although it can be shaped by thoughts and actions to a certain extent, just like other organs it isn't a mystical entity that can completely controlled by mere thought or be rendered immune to malfunctions.

nickDuhm · 1 year

First thing I thought of: religion.

se7eneyes · 1 year

"You are a blowfish" - Breaking Bad

Shake_Well · 1 year

I like the fact that an elephant is all tied up instead of being free and all that was focused on was how we can learn from it. Bravo.

CheechooChum · 1 year

This is all in your mind Karen.

ctjwa · 1 year

That's not a rope it's a chain

[deleted] · 1 year

this means.....so much

Ameztoy · 1 year

This is the first story from dejame que te cuente by Jorge Bucay. The title in English is "let me tell you"

thewormauger · 1 year

Pfffft, stupid elephants.

[deleted] · 1 year

Spanish castle magic

[deleted] · 1 year

I hate these games because I always reason out what the heartwarming trick ending / moral is before I read it.

HoldenMcGroin · 1 year

The moral of the story is that animals are stupid.

Chrossler · 1 year

jodawe · 1 year

The bun is in your mind.

dbdbdb · 1 year

I'm not sure I understand this. A different mindset alone would not free the elephant. The elephant needed to improve itself before it could break free; in this case by gaining 2 tons. If the elephant were still the same size, they could believe they could get free, but they would would still be tied up. So it's not all in your mind.

JennyLeeLark · 1 year

Unfortunately, the full truth is that the elephants would also have to trample the shit out of those guys to escape.

[deleted] · 1 year

There is no friend! This story has been floating around for a while. Though it's still a great lesson.

CHAMPANERIA · 1 year

free your mind

Comics
/r/comics	/r/webcomics
/r/vertical	/r/f7u12
/r/ragenovels	/r/AdviceAtheists
Image macros	Screenshots/text
/r/lolcats	/r/screenshots
/r/AdviceAnimals	/r/desktops
/r/Demotivational	/r/facepalm (Facebook)
/r/reactiongifs	/r/DesktopDetective
Wallpaper	Animals
/r/wallpaper	/r/aww
/r/wallpapers	/r/cats
The SFWPorn Network	/r/TrollingAnimals
	/r/deadpets
	/r/birdpics
	/r/foxes
Photography	Un-moderated pics
/r/photography	/r/AnythingGoesPics
/r/photocritique	/r/images
/r/HDR
/r/windowshots
/r/PictureChallenge
Misc	New reddits
/r/misc	/r/britpics
/r/gifs	Imaginary Network
/r/dataisbeautiful	/r/thennnow
/r/picrequests	/r/SpecArt
/r/doodles	/r/LookWhoIMet
	/r/timelinecovers
	/r/MemesIRL
	/r/OldSchoolCool
	/r/photoshopbattles
	/r/PastAndPresentPics .

pics

For an image subreddit with fewer restrictions, check out /r/misc!

Spoiler code

Rules

Links

MODERATORS

pics

For an image subreddit with fewer restrictions, check out /r/misc!

Spoiler code

Rules

Links

MODERATORS

you'll need to login or register to do that

create a new account

login