Spring Elephants

Spring after 5 months of Canadain winter is a magical relief. Spring is a time of new growth, a transformation from the sluggish hibernation of cold darkness and a beginning for fresh ideas and new perspectives. The warmer weather, being outdoors and connecting to nature never fail to lift one’s spirits. Every year after a long Canadian winter, we need to feel our spirits lifted. 

So, what’s all this about spring elephants?…in Canada.

In thinking about the new possibilities spring brings I also found myself looking back over this year’s obstacles and reflecting on how the elephant both represents the challenges we face and are also seen as the remover of obstacles and deliverer of good fortune. 

A common English phrase implies there is an elephant in the room when there is obviously something big and cumbersome sitting right in front of us that we don’t want to look at or talk about, let alone move out of the way. This can happen in family discussions, among friends or partners and in business negotiations any time the stakes are high emotionally or financially. Sometimes we see the elephant but are too uncomfortable or afraid to talk about it and other times we have blinders on, even though the elephant is sitting right there. In this way it is common to see the elephant as representing life’s challenges or obstacles, both seen and unseen.

In many traditions, including the Hindu tradition, the elephant is seen as fortuitous and the remover of obstacles.The elephant is considered wise, having a good memory and possessing strength. Ganesha is represented as a mythical deity that is part boy and part elephant. Because of the way Ganesha came into life, from the essence of Shiva and the Goddess Parvati, Ganesha represents good fortune, prosperity and health. I can’t think of anything more desirous this spring than combining good fortune, prosperity and health. Good fortune, prosperity and health are desirable for all people irrespective of age, race, culture, country, creed or socio-economic status.

However, there was a time (and I hope it is no longer) when the front leg of a baby elephant was chained to a stake in the ground as a means of training. If the baby elephant pulled on the stake, it was unmovable. As the elephant grew bigger and stronger, it remembered that it was unable to pull the stake out. Many trainers even replaced the metal stake with a wooden one, yet the memory held fast and the elephant, despite being fully capable of pulling the stake out and walking away, did not even try. This story is used today as an example of how we do the same thing in our own lives. By allowing obstacles from the past to remain real and immovable in the present, we act like the baby elephant. Sometimes this form of conditioning is so hardwired it takes decades of practice to create new neuropathways.

“Spring is a time for transforming what was into what could be. ”

There is an ancient proverb that states, “Every problem contains the seeds of its own solution.” In seeing obstacles and solutions in this way it takes away the pitfall of staying stuck in a problem (focusing on the elephant as immovable) and the pitfall of missing the elephant all together. By opening to fully look at challenges and obstacles, first as temporary, then as containing the solution we are seeking, we are able to transcend perceived limitations. Like the elephant, if we remember our inherent strength, and take action at the right time and place, new possibilities and new growth are only a matter of stepping forward. As I see it, stepping towards new possibilities, while respecting the challenges before us, is spring’s greatest opportunity for us.

Your Next Step:

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Note: This article was published in Samiksha, Canada’s first multicultural magazine.