BOXES

How do we think outside the box?

I’ve come up with some pretty good ideas that I believe you’ll enjoy.

Boxes are made of various materials, which can include cardboard, wood, plastic, composite, safe deposit, Post Office, seats, electrical… Ha! I could do this all day. 

Different sports require different boxes. A football field is a box, a rectangular one, but it’s still a box. (Thank you, Miss. Seventh Grade Teacher, for making me understand that a rectangle is a square, but a square is not a rectangle.) Basketball players play on a boxed court, or they can box out an opponent. Boxers, fight in a ring that’s square, (Sorry, Miss. Seventh Grade Teacher, you lost me on this one) why else would they be called, boxers? Then there’s a batter’s box, which by the way, is available for both accentuating either your right side or your left.

Most rooms are boxes, with ceilings, to keep the resident feeling safe and secure. Some employees consider a cubicle as a box to drain their thoughts and keep them small in order to ensure a false sense of security at a position where everyone is replaceable. Too much? Let’s skip that one for now.

If boxes are tangible, then why do we use the phrase, “Think outside the box”? Thinking is not tangible. Actually, isn’t the term intangible? What thought-boxes are they talking about and how do we escape it?

Maybe we all live in our own box. Or our own boxed cell. Maybe even a boxed prison. Our own prison cell, like the room stated above that feels cozy and comfortable, yet closed off from intruders or outsiders who might not like our box. It’s our little world knitted tightly in a small area so we only know its contents and the tiny pathways leading from one pile of junk to another. 

What if we think about a larger box, like our home? Whether it’s 500 square feet or 3000, do we live with the same mindsets, like our small neighborhood community? Another squared lot where maybe we all look alike, go to the same church, have the same political views, and only dance when the lights are low in hopes that the other neighbors don’t see that we’re doing exactly at the same time as they do, but in different boxes.

Back to the original question. How do we think outside the box? Is it as simple as putting on a new set of clothes from one of those piles and stepping outside to see the sunlight, the moonlight, an eclipse, or shooting star? Can it be as easy as going to a church that my neighbors don’t attend? How crazy is the idea that we listen to another’s point of view and see beyond the walls we’ve built?

It’s been hypothesized that the world isn’t flat and the earth is a big round ball. So why have we hidden so deep within our rooms, our boxes, and become squared off at the corners? What are we protecting that’s so dear to us that we risk keeping a closed mind? Are we keeping them out or keeping ourselves hidden behind a wall of our own making?

 I don’t have an answer. All I can say is that I’ve been slowly breaking down my self-created walls and letting you see my scattered piles of thoughts thrown throughout my box. Maybe one day I’ll walk out of here alive.