You Become What You Believe You Are

By Prasenjeet
May 24, 2015
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“What do you want to do in life?”

“What is the meaning of life?”

“What is the purpose of our existence?”

These may sound like a set of perfect questions for a Philosophy student. But most of us fumble and flounder when it comes to answering these questions.

A few years back I had opted for a career in corporate law. “This is where the money is…” I was told and there was no reason not to believe that notion.

One fine morning, frustrated, confused and clueless about my life, I happened to read a story on the internet.

Let me share that story with you….

Once upon a time, at a large mountainside there was an eagle nest with 4 large eagle eggs inside.

One day, a mild earthquake rocked the mountain causing one of the eggs to roll down to a chicken farm, located in the valley below.

The hens instinctively joined together to protect the eagle egg treating it as one of their own. Eventually, the eagle egg hatched and a beautiful eagle was born.

Image Courtesy of Scoolbell.files.wordpress.com

The mother hens raised the eagle to be a chicken. The eagle loved his home and family but it seemed his spirit cried out for something more.

One day, the eagle looked to the skies above and noticed a group of mighty eagles soaring. “Oh,” the eagle cried, “I wish I could soar like those birds.”

The chickens roared with laughter, “You cannot soar like those. You are a chicken and chickens do not soar.”

The eagle continued staring at his real family up above, dreaming that he could be like them.

Each time the eagle talked about his dreams, he was told it couldn’t be done.

“Those birds are so much like me. They look like me. The only difference is that they can fly whereas I cannot. But I haven’t tried to fly.” the eagle thought to himself.

“Why not give it a try.” The eagle muttered.

“No..No..No… It might be too dangerous. What if I fell flat on my face? I would only make a fool of myself.”

“But I want to be like those birds flying high above the ground”.

“No you can’t do this.”

“What the heck. Let me try.”

So the eagle went to an isolated place far away from his fellow chickens so that nobody could watch him. Here the eagle tried to be himself. He tried to flap his wings and indeed fell flat on his face the first time.

However the eagle persisted. There was no one to watch, so there was nothing to be embarrassed about. The eagle tried the second time with the same results. The third time, the eagle managed to make a small flight, or rather a longish jump. The fourth time, he could fly longer. And the fifth time, the eagle could fly like any other eagle.

The moral of the story: You become what you believe you are. If you ever dream to become an eagle, follow your dreams, and do not go by the words of chickens, who you would most of the time be surrounded with.

You may have heard this story before. But did you know that I changed the ending because I didn’t like it.

Here is the original ending…

Each time the eagle talked about his dreams, he was told it couldn’t be done.

That was what the eagle learned to believe. After time, the eagle stopped dreaming and continued to live his life as any other chicken.

Finally, after a long eventless life as a chicken, the eagle passed away.

Thank God I realised the end. I saw the writing on the wall and left my job as a corporate lawyer. Now I am a full time writer, sharing my thoughts that deeply influence me.

If I hadn’t done this, I won’t be writing this e-mail to you.

Make your story end like the earlier one and not as the latter.

So what do you want to be in life? And what is stopping you from achieving that?

Do let me know.

I’ll love to hear your views.