Three Boxes

Why are you in a box? What keeps you there? How do you think or get outside of the box? What’s out there? Do you even know that you’re in a box and that there’s an expansive world outside?

Your mind puts you in the box. It’s safe in there. You put up the walls, close the lid. Make it soft and cosy inside. All the latest technology. Why would you want to leave this box? It’s comfy.

Fist box. My box.

Every now and then I peek outside the box and it looks exciting out there. There are thrills and risks out there. What if I went out there? What would happen to me? Would I get hurt? Humiliated? It’s probably dangerous out there.

Could I succeed in expanding towards being the person my heart knows is possible? Could I feel excitement in my day and build towards something I really want? Actualize my potential?

My hearts starts to race when I think of leaving my box. It’s comfy in here. I can go to Disneyland for a thrill.

I think I’ll stay in here.

Three Boxes, part 2.

Boxing out.

When playing the game, I have to box out. I can’t just be there aimlessly on the court. I can’t just take my shots without paying attention to my surroundings. I can’t play defense without staking a claim to the optimal space for me to get a rebound.

If I’m in a box, I may as well use this box as boundary. There’s too much coming at me … from all sides. Too much information, asks, excuses, worries, obligations. Never ending.

So I box out. Focus on the task at hand to the exclusion of intrusion. Start and stop my work when I want to. Not when I think others think I should want to. Keep my attention on my work. My expression. My gift to the world.

My box can fool me. Soothe me into complacency. Or I can use it to create boundaries and put myself in position to win. What will I win?

Three Boxes, part 3

Box Breathing.

The world is scary, so I stay in my box. I’m going to use this box to get outside the box. My heart races when I think about leaving the box. I’m going to use this box.

I can look at the box where the wall meets the floor. I take a breath in and I slowly raise my attention to where the wall meets the ceiling. I hold my breath as my eye meets the ceiling and moves across towards the opposite wall. Then I let go of the breath as I come down from the ceiling towards the floor on that wall. I hold again as my gaze moves across the floor to the opposite wall.

With each round of breathing with the box, my heart settles down. I close my eyes and drop deeper into a world where the box disappears. It’s expansive in here. Ideas flow and possibilities appear. I can feel the inspiration to venture out.

Where did my box go?