The Shark and the Glass Wall

The Shark and the Glass Wall During a research experiment, a biologist placed a shark into a large holding tank and then released several small bait fish into it. As she would expect, the shark quickly swam around the tank, attacked and ate all the bait fish. The biologist then inserted a strong piece of clear glass into the tank, dividing the water into two parts. She then put the shark into one part of the tank and some bait fish into the other. Again, the shark quickly started an attack on the bait fish. This time, however, the shark slammed into the glass wall and bounced off. The shark kept repeating the useless behavior every few minutes. Meanwhile, the bait fish swam around freely in their own world. Eventually, about an hour later, the shark gave up. This experiment was repeated many times over the next few weeks. Each time, the shark got less aggressive and made fewer attempts to attack the bait fish, until eventually it got tired of hitting the glass wall and simply stopped attacking altogether. The biologist then removed the glass divider, but the shark didn’t attack anymore. It was trained to believe there was a barrier between the bait fish and itself, so the bait fish swam wherever they wished. Many of us, after experiencing failures, emotionally give up and stop trying. Like the shark in the story, we believe that because we were unsuccessful in the past, we will always be unsuccessful. In other words, we continue to see a barrier in our minds, even when no real barrier exists between where we are and where we want to go.