Years ago, I worked at the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. One day, as I was passing the elephants, I suddenly stopped, 1by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front legs. It was 2that they could, at any time, break free, 3strangely enough, they didn't. I asked a trainer the 4for this.

    He said, “When they were very young, we used the 5 size rope, and it was enough to hold them. As they grow up, they believe the rope can 6 hold them, so they never try.”

    Like the elephants, how many of you believe you cannot do a thing, simply because you7 once before? Do you often tell 8 “I cannot dance” or “I'm not good at math”?

         These are 9 of self limiting beliefs. You must realize you're 10 for them. A limiting belief that says you're poor at math may have 11 as a reaction to the embarrassing experiences related to math, or the remarks made by someone important to you which12 you. The cool thing is that because you create the 13you can choose to change it! Here is how:

    First, 14 it with “I am good at math”. Once you change your 15 , your subconsciousness(潜意识) will make this 16 by driving you to act. That might be to take a math course or to go online 17 help, etc. Gradually you'll really see your math skills are 18 .

    This is such a simple process that you can 19 it today. Don't be like the poor elephants and make your life 20 in a place because of a limiting belief you developed years ago.

    In 2005, I had a stroke and was taken into hospital. I was paralyzed down one side, with only a pad and a pen to 1 . But on my first day, after writing a note to the nurse, I found my right 2 wandering across the page. It was so 3 because I just copied a cartoon as a child, and I hadn't drawn since then. The act was 4; 5 when a nurse asked me what I was doing did I look down to see patterns all over the paper.

    From then on I woke up every night at 2 a.m. And kept drawing until dawn. It didn't feel 6. I'd never drawn before in my life but now couldn't 7.

    The 8explained that very occasionally, following a stroke, a patient's brain rewired itself to avoid the damaged area. Sometimes this can 9 a new ability in a patient: in my case, 10.

    I'd never had the 11 interest in art in my life. I was an engineer by trade, and now, 12, memories and thoughts appeared to me as abstract 13 . It was just something that happened. Drawing had become like breathing: something I did instinctively and without 14.

    In 2007, I heard about Second Life, the online virtual world. Inside, I 15art galleries selling digital art for real 16 and I decided to 17 my work for the first time. Two months later, someone 18 me saying he had bought two of my pictures online and wanted one in real life.

    Now I'm a 19 artist—in my first year I've earned around ￡30,000. I've been featured in some art exhibitions, 20 many of my pictures appeared on the cover.

    I learned to do wood work when I was very young. I remember I made my first project—a small table when I was 9 years old. I was so1of it that I looked upon it as if I had created a(an)2. It was absolutely beautiful and it had taken me six weeks to3it. I could hardly wait to give it to Mother Winters as a(an)4. She was the head mistress of our orphanage（孤儿院）, who was always kind but5with us.

    As the tables were not dry from the clear coating(清漆), our woodworking teacher told us to wait a few days before taking them to our dormitories. But I was just so6and happy that I couldn't wait. I dashed out like a7, carrying my table, smiling from ear to ear.

    When I reached the dormitory I placed the little table beside my bed. I was8it when Mother Winters entered. She walked over to the table. Running her hand9it, she noticed that it was still wet.

    “Were you 10to bring this home?” she asked.

    “No, ma'am,” I 11with my head down.

    She ordered me to throw the table out and so I did. After she left, I immediately opened the door to get it back. There was 12stuck all over. I brushed and cried, but the dirt would not come off.

    I hid the table in my closet and never 13it. However, a year later during a cleaning-up, it was discovered. Painfully, I had to give the table to Mother Henderson, my houseparent, thinking that she would 14it away.

    Thirty years later at a reunion, I15that Mother Henderson was living nearby, so I drove up to see her. We talked cheerfully for a long time. As I was about to leave, she asked me to come down to her 16to get something important. I followed her 17into a dark corner. She picked something up.18she turned around, I could see that she was holding a little table. Mother Henderson kept the little table that I had given up for lost so long ago.

    Today, I look at that table with bittersweet memories but full of 19to Mother Henderson, who kept the table for a young orphan who20it so much.

    During my childhood, my father's favorite sayings was “Try it!” I couldn't say I didn't like 1, whatever it might be2I tried it. Over the years I've come to realize how much of my success I3to my acceptance of those words as one of my4. My first job was just one I decided to try for a couple of years until I5what I want to do as a career.6I believed I would work for a few years, get married, stay home and 7a family, so I didn't think the job I took8that much. I couldn't have been more9  I mastered the skills of that beginning level position and I was given the opportunity to10through the company into different11. I accepted each new opportunity with the12, “Well, I'll try it; if I don't like it I can always go back to my 13position.” But I was with the same company for the past 28 years, and I've14every career change I've made. I've discovered I15a large number of different talents and skills that I never would have thought were within me had it not been for my being 16trying new opportunities. I've also discovered that if I 17what I'm doing and work hard at achieving my 18, I will succeed. That's why I'm so 19 to be a part of CareerFables.com. I think20 has come and I am determined to make it a success.

    When Mrs. Green told her pupils to draw a picture of something for which they were thankful, she thought how little these children in a(an)1neighborhood, had to be2 for. Most of the 3 would draw pictures of turkeys (火鸡) or of Thanksgiving tables full of everything4 to eat. That was what they believed was 5 them.

    What made Mrs. Green 6 was David's picture. David was so disappointed and likely to be 7 close in his shadow as they went outside for breaks. David's drawing was8 this:

    A hand, whose hand? The class was strongly attracted by his image. “I think it must be the 9 of God10us food,” said one student,

    “A 11 said another, “because they 12 the turkeys.”

    “It looks more like a policeman, and they13 us.” “1 think,” Lucy said 14 “that it is 15 to be all the hands that help us, but David could only draw one of them.”

    Mrs. Green had almost forgotten David in her16at finding the class so responsive(共鸣的). Having the others working on another project, she bent over his 17and asked whose hand it was.

    David whispered, “It's yours, Teacher.”

    Then Mrs. Green 18 she had taken David by the hand from time to time; she often did that with the children. But that it should have19 so much to David . . .

    Perhaps, she thought this was her Thanksgiving, and everybody's Thanksgiving—not the things given to us, but the small 20 that we give something to others.

    Sometimes, a mother just recognizes her child, even when the two have never met. That's how Devon Toomey felt in 2013 when she 1 a photograph on a website for an international adoption agency.

    Toomey had been on the site many times and seen 2 many kids, but she'd never determined to email the agency about anyone 3 she saw one baby born without arms and legs. "4 seeing him, I just knew he was our child. There was just something that spoke to me," she says.

    Today, four years later, that boy, named Bowen Toomey, is a 5-year-old 5 with two older brothers living in Eagle, Idaho. He is 6 on going to school, jumping on trampolines（蹦床）, reading books and 7 himself to difficult tasks.

    But his 8 disability means he can't live 9 like others: Where other children use their 10to handle things, Bowen sometimes uses his mouth or a special band he wears that lets him 11 things like a spoon.

    "He does everything any other kids do: he just finds his way to 12 various problems. He can ride his skate already," his mother says. "He 13 loves to swim, and can dive and swim independently. I think he loves it so much 14the water is the place where he really doesn't have limitations."

    A former special education teacher, Toomey and her husband, Jeremy, knew they wanted to adopt. Nine months after she 15 Bowen on the website of a Serbian orphanage（孤儿院）, 16 in Belgrade, the entire family went there to take home their 18-month-old addition.

    Although Bowen had been well taken care of at the orphanage, he didn't get much attention, and for the most part he was just laid in the bed.

    The young boy 17 to his new family in a way 18 he surprised everyone. "We laid eyes on him and from that moment on, he 19 joyful, which really touched our hearts," she says, "I said to myself, 20 is no wonder that I wanted him the moment I saw him'. He is my child."