The Elephant in the Room

The phrase ‘ the Elephant in the Room ‘ means an issue or topic that people will neither acknowledge nor discuss and I have seen many in my time in business meetings and other places. The origin of the phrase was from an Ivan Kyrlov book published in 1814 called ‘ The Inquisitive Man ‘ a story about a man that enters a Museum looking for animals but fails to see the elephant.

This morning I saw the elephant in the above photograph wandering outside a London home waiting probably to enter the room. Seeing the elephant prompted me to write this blog when I wondered how many times many of us in our daily walks avoid discussing the central issues in our mind going on up there in those brains which we will not discuss or try pushing to one side.

Christmas of course puts many people together families and others when there are many elephants in many rooms. Before mobile telephones were invented there was a circuit joke which asked ‘ what do you do when an elephant charges at you in a telephone box ? …….,answer ‘ make a trunk call and reverse the charges ‘ I know silly joke but it just came back to my memory.

Elephants of course are beautiful animals and the blogger has not only seen them in Africa but has funded much needed dental care for them, a very difficult tusk , sorry task let me tell you. Elephants never forget either which is just one of their phenomenal characteristics and they are one of the few animals that grieve when one of the herd dies.

Anyway enough reminiscence the fact is that in my experience it’s best to address the elephant in the room and confront the issue to never dwell on what has been and tackle the tricky otherwise it just festers. Some of the elephants in your room are getting very old now and dealing with it I reckon is best for you. Of course if you are not troubled or have no issues hanging around then my blog remarks are irrelephant ( sorry irrelevant).

Don’t you be thick skinned too or hide away address the elephant in your room and lighten your load this Christmas. Enjoy.