The zookeeper had a unique but serious problem. As if the Great Depression wasn’t tough enough on his operations, when the gorilla—his star attraction—died suddenly, he wasn’t sure his zoo would survive.
He placed an ad in the local newspaper for a non-specific job, which was soon answered by a down-on-his-luck, jobless man. The zookeeper explained his predicament. “You probably read in the paper that our gorilla died. We didn’t have enough money to buy a new one, times being what they are, but we did buy a gorilla costume. If you’ll wear the costume and play the part of a gorilla, I don’t think any of our customers will know the difference.” Things were tough and employment was scarce, so the man accepted the position.
The next morning, he arrived early, put on the costume, and climbed into the cage. A few moments later, the gates of the zoo opened. The crowd was unusually large. Most of them had read in the paper that the zoo had a new gorilla, so nearly all of them made a beeline to the gorilla cage. As he saw the crowd approaching, the guy in the costume began jumping up and down, beating his chest, and “being a gorilla” as best he could. Much to his surprise and joy, everyone in the crowd bought his act. They actually thought he was the real thing. By the end of the day, he happily declared to the zookeeper, “I love this job! I want to be a gorilla the rest of my career.”
The next morning when he got in the cage, he noticed that a tire swing had been installed. As the crowd arrived, he jumped up onto the swing and said to himself, “I’m going to give these folks the best gorilla show they’ve ever seen.” He began swinging back and forth, and the crowd began applauding and laughing. The higher he swung, the more they cheered, fueling his excite- ment. Higher and higher he swung until he was nearly at the top of the cage. Distracted by the crowd’s clapping, he accidentally lost his grip on the tire, flew over the cage, and landed smack dab in the middle of the lion’s den. Knocked out for just a few moments by the impact, he woke up just in time to see three ferocious lions charging him. In a panic, he stood up, ripped off his gorilla mask, and screamed loud enough for everyone to hear, “Why did I take this stupid job?”
To which one of the lions whispered, “Shut up, or you’re gonna get us all fired!”
We all wear masks to one degree or another, especially as adults once the wonders of childhood innocence fade away and the magic is pushed aside by responsibilities, burdens, and worries. But that sense of wonder and positivity is still there, often hidden behind the mask, waiting to be released. It just needs some cultivation.
In my book The Magic of Cultivating Positive Emotions, I reveal four techniques from the acronym M.A.S.K. to help you revive that wonder and cultivate more positivity in your life. They’re techniques magicians and mentalists employ to influence their audiences’ thoughts. I use all four of them numerous times in my shows and seminars. Once you apply those same techniques to your own thoughts, they will influence you to cultivate, think, and feel more positivity in your life.
The four techniques are:
Misdirection
Assumptions
Suggestion and
Keyhole Perspective
You can learn more at www.TucsonMagician.com/books For more information about how you can book Rod’s mentalism and magic shows, inspiring seminars, and sales training visit www.TucsonMentalist.com
