{"id":914,"date":"2011-06-28T22:16:51","date_gmt":"2011-06-29T02:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blissblog\/?p=914"},"modified":"2011-06-28T22:16:51","modified_gmt":"2011-06-29T02:16:51","slug":"elephant-wisdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/06\/elephant-wisdom.html","title":{"rendered":"Elephant Wisdom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"\"<\/p>\n

This morning I received an email newsletter from my wise friend Veronica Drake and it contained an image of an elephant\u00a0\u00a0and words that had me considering all of the ideas that go along with this massive, wrinkled being. She spoke about the concept of training baby elephants who live in captivity, to remain stationary. When they are very young, a sturdy rope (and sometimes a chain) is tied to their ankle. As they get older, something less substantial keeps them bound.\u00a0Because they have been so conditioned to stay put, they never consider that with one slight pull of a gargantuan leg, they could break free of their bondage.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Is it any different with us?\u00a0\u00a0When I think about the\u00a0ingrained beliefs that have\u00a0kept me constricted, restricted, fear-laden, hesitant, STUCK, I shake my head in wonder that\u00a0all I really needed to do was recognize where my feet were planted and then take the next step. So here is my\u00a0Elephant Guide\u00a0To Enlightenment, for your entertainment and consideration:<\/p>\n

\u00a01. It’s all about perspective. Remember the story of the 5 Blind Men and The Elephant?\u00a0 Each one of them had a portion of the creature accessible to them, or at least thought that’s all they had. One touched the trunk and discerned that an elephant was a hose. Another held its tail and\u00a0was sure that\u00a0an elephant was a rope.\u00a0A third touched the silky ears and\u00a0stated definitively that an elephant was a fan. The next one wrapped his arms around\u00a0a leg and swore that an elephant was a tree trunk and the fifth caressed it’s hide and just KNEW that an elephant was a wall.\u00a0\u00a0The truth is, metaphorically speaking, it was\u00a0all of those things and none of them.<\/p>\n

2. Don’t work for peanuts. You and your creative abilities are worth more than a few meager crumbs in order to perform. (unless\u00a0you REALLY like peanuts)<\/p>\n

3. Sound your magnificence mightily.\u00a0 Have you ever heard an elephant toot its own horn?\u00a0\u00a0Pretty\u00a0earthshaking and attention getting. It really is ok to get the world to sit up and take notice of\u00a0what you have to offer.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Consider the Hindu\u00a0God\u00a0Ganesha\/Ganapataye,\u00a0referred to as The Lord of Success and Remover of Obstacles \u00a0(child of Parvati and Shiva) whose elephant head rests atop a rotund body. He is the blending of spirit and corporeal.\u00a0\u00a0Devotees repeat a\u00a0chant to honor him .<\/p>\n

Chanting,\u00a0with reverence:<\/p>\n

“Om gam ganapataye namaha!<\/em><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/div>\n
A very loose translation might be:<\/div>\n
Om<\/em> = Salutations! Everyone wake up!<\/div>\n
Gam<\/em> = The secret power sound of Ganesh. It is his “seed syllable” or bija<\/em> mantra.<\/div>\n
Ganapataye<\/em> = Another name of Ganesh, the breaker of obstacles.<\/div>\n
Namaha<\/em> = Yo! Ganesh! You da God!”<\/div>\n

This came from the website\u00a0 Indo Pagan Project \u00a0http:\/\/indopaganproject.tripod.com\/id22.html<\/cite>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

5. Be like Babar. The Story of Babar by Jean de Brunhoff was written in 1931. It describes the tale of an elephant who leaves the jungle, dons clothes, learns about the world outside his familiar confines and returns to become king. He wisely advises his willing subjects and yet knows he can’t do it all himself, so he takes counsel from others that surround him as well. He is a beneficent ruler who admits his flaws as well. My first yoga book, believe it or not was Babar’s Yoga For Elephants. My friend Brian gave it to me when I began my practice. I laughed when I saw it and figured that if elephants could do asanas, so could I!<\/p>\n

6.Overcome limiting beliefs like Dumbo.\u00a0 As far as we know, elephants don’t fly….except when they do. Armed with his magic\u00a0feather (which I particularly like as a symbol of transformation) which he really didn’t need,\u00a0he\u00a0just thought he did, this little guy was able to take off\u00a0simply by flapping his wings and lightening his heart.<\/p>\n

7. Retain an elephant’s memory for the beautiful, loving, creative, beneficial experiences in your life. In the midst of daily activity, especially those times when I am tempted to complain about what’s wrong, I forget what’s right about any given situation. I can always, when reviewing past events that might have looked similar to what I am experiencing now, remember something that worked that I can bring forward into this present moment.<\/p>\n

And enjoy the sounds of the Ganesh chant offered by Deva Premal http:\/\/youtu.be\/_EaJNzzycIk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This morning I received an email newsletter from my wise friend Veronica Drake and it contained an image of an elephant\u00a0\u00a0and words that had me considering all of the ideas that go along with this massive, wrinkled being. She spoke about the concept of training baby elephants who live in captivity, to remain stationary.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108,1,13,4,54,128,10],"tags":[468,470,465,466,467,472,471,469,473],"class_list":["post-914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animals","category-attracting-what-you-desire","category-blissfull-thinking","category-inspiration","category-interfaith","category-kirtan","category-spirituality","tag-babar","tag-deva-premal","tag-elephants","tag-ganesha","tag-hinduism","tag-parvati","tag-shiva","tag-the-five-blind-men-and-the-elephant","tag-veronica-drake"],"yoast_head":"\nElephant Wisdom - The Bliss Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/06\/elephant-wisdom.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elephant Wisdom - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This morning I received an email newsletter from my wise friend Veronica Drake and it contained an image of an elephant\u00a0\u00a0and words that had me considering all of the ideas that go along with this massive, wrinkled being. She spoke about the concept of training baby elephants who live in captivity, to remain stationary.…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/06\/elephant-wisdom.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-06-29T02:16:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_tWtGNWVDlTE\/SfcrSd1rOOI\/AAAAAAAAB0s\/wZp2Gy9i6BA\/s400\/free+clipart+ganesh.BMP\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EdieWeinstein1\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Elephant Wisdom - The Bliss Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/06\/elephant-wisdom.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Elephant Wisdom - The Bliss Blog","og_description":"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This morning I received an email newsletter from my wise friend Veronica Drake and it contained an image of an elephant\u00a0\u00a0and words that had me considering all of the ideas that go along with this massive, wrinkled being. 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She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. 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