Sir Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide,
Tensing Norgay, became the first people
known to have made it to the summit
of Mt. Everest--the tallest mountain in the world.
When asked how they did it, Sir Hillary responded: "It's not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves."
What does he mean by that?
“It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves?”
Of the two, I think it is harder to conquer yourself than to summit a mountain.
To me it means a couple of things. First, the mountain represents any challenge we have in life. He is saying that in order to conquer any challenge we first need to conquer ourselves. And second, conquering ourselves involves working on our internal fears and limiting beliefs. It is realizing that whenever we set a goal we need to recognize that we are the one putting limits on what we can achieve by letting our fears and limiting beliefs control us.
Where do these limits come from? As a coach that is what I help you discover and then we are able to release those beliefs that are not serving you; those beliefs that have you playing small, being unhappy and unfulfilled.
There is a fable from India that tells of a tigress, pregnant and starving, who comes upon a little flock of goats and pounces on them with such energy that she brings about the birth of her little one and her own death.
The goats scatter, and when they come back to their grazing place, they find this just-born tiger and its dead mother.
They adopt the tiger, and it learns to bleat. It learns to eat grass. And it believes it is
a goat.
One day a large male tiger pounces on the flock, and the goats scatter. But this little tiger recognizes something familiar about the larger animal and stands there.
Amazed, the adult tiger asks the cub, “Are you living here with these goats?”
“Maaaaaaa” says the little tiger. Well, the old tiger is mortified at this poor specimen of his species. The little thing just responds with these silly bleats and begins nibbling grass in embarrassment. So the big tiger brings him to a still pond where the little tiger sees himself for the first time.
“You’re not a goat.” The big tiger tells him.
“You’re a tiger like me.”
The little tiger is taken to the tiger’s den where he is offered the remains of a slaughtered gazelle.
“No way!” The little one backs away,
“I’m a vegetarian.”
“Nonsense,” says the big guy, and he shoves a piece of meat down the little one’s throat. The little tiger gags on it. However, when a small piece of meat enters the tiger’s system, he stretches, he bares his teeth and opens his mouth wide and for the first time lets out a roar. Then he goes off with his new mentor into the jungle to hunt.
Now, of course, the moral is that we are all tigers living here as goats. But that we can overcome those limiting beliefs that we have believed about ourselves that tell us...
"You are not worthy." "You are too small," "You can’t do it." Just like the little tiger,
we can let those limiting beliefs go and become who we are meant to be!
If you are tired of living as a goat and want to let out your ROAR…join me on a
Free Zoom Webinar, September 20, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. as we explore: "How to Conquer Yourself, From the Inside Out"
Take the first step to set yourself free and join me by registering below!
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