How do you think? Are you the logical, point-by-point thinker who finds the most elegant way to do things? I bet you go from A to B to C to D to E to F to the solution at G. Great! The world needs people like you. Perhaps you’re more of the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, follow-where-the-spirit-leads, I’ll-get-there-someday kind of thinker who goes from A to D to 14 to Star to Platypus to the solution really near, but not quite at, G.
That last one is me. I like solving problems in unusual ways, cleaning up messes with unorthodox cleaners, thinking outside the box, and wearing my boxers outside my pants. Wait. That last one was for another post. My bad.
Anyway, let’s talk about the mythological box that I find myself outside of all the time. Have you ever seen this box? I don’t think I’m in the same time zone as the box. Who came up with the box everyone wants to think outside of. (Yes, I finished the sentence with a preposition. It hurt.) There has to be an original box somewhere.
To quote Plato: “Thinking, the talking of the soul with itself.” Perhaps the soul is in the box. Or maybe the soul is beyond the box. It is possible I’m overthinking this. To quote Pluto: “Bark!” I like his philosophy better.
Was there a time when you were told to think inside the box? I don’t recall ever hearing those words. “Bob, for Pete’s sake, think inside the box!” It sounds wrong, doesn’t it. But if Pete needs someone to think inside the box, I guess he has his reasons.
I’m going to have to give this some thought. How big is the box? It is a breadbox? A shoe box? Are we talking about shipping container? It’s much easier to think outside of a ring box than a boxing ring. Boxing ring? Maybe that’s what it’s all about. After taking a few punches, a boxer need to think about being outside the boxing ring. Wait, that doesn’t work for people like me who have only been in fights with similes and sarcasm instead of fists and fury. But I once took down a 250 pound body builder with a carefully cast comment. Then he took me down with a 250 pound body slam. Ah, good times.
I don’t know about the box. I don’t really want to think inside, near, or even in the same hemisphere as the box. It sounds so normal. As many of you know, I don’t do normal any more than I think inside the box.