Sunday Story...The Girl in the Box

Sunday Story...The Girl in the Box

I am, generally, a happy person. At least I like to think so. When I look out at the world it appears to be happy place. In the world I live in, people don’t steal from each other. When bad stuff happens (and it does) I do my best to spin it positive and try to give the benefit of the doubt to the other people.

Before you dismiss me as some Pollyanna person who only sees rainbows and unicorns (8) I know the world shows up as a scary and dangerous place for many people. And for many people it really is dangerous and scary. People die, get horrendous diseases and are treated by other humans in ways as despicable as to be fodder for horror novels. All these things are true.

Yet, do I need to live my life in a box? Scared to stick my head out? Scared to discover all the things wrong or right with the world? Too many of us are living in the box. We see all the horrible things in the world through the lens of sensational news reports and talking heads serving up fear on a platter. When I view the world through those glasses my little box looks pretty good.

The girl in the box is representative of a life lived in fear. The box is safe, the box is secure. There is very little to worry about in the box. When I close the box it is dark and nothing can hurt me. My fear is under control. Yet reality is my fear is controlling me and not the other way around. My life in the box looks safe and secure to me, the person in the box but is it really safe?

There is an old saying…”behold the turtle, he only gets somewhere when he sticks his neck out.” A turtle when he is pulled into his shell (his box) can’t go anywhere unless someone kicks him some place. If you are living in your box you are stuck until someone else kicks you down the road. And how scary is that? You aren’t in control when someone else is pushing the box places. And you won’t even do anything about it; you are so obsessed with being safe and secure you have given up all control over your destination (life).

When you finally stick your head out of the box and look around you have no idea where you are, how you got there, or what you are going to do next. Other than crawl back in the box and hope the next kick lands you somewhere nice and soft. Like Maui maybe, or the south of France in a pretty little villa. That sounds pretty scary if you ask me. Not knowing where the next kick is going to land you is about as far from secure as I would care to be.

You realize of course, that the box isn’t just a box. It is a life unexamined. It is a life that just meanders about with no real plan or passion driving it. Far too many of us are living lives bereft of meaning and purpose. Our lives are defined by a box we have framed and created by default, not by plan.

Are you living in box without realizing it? Is your box so comfortable that it doesn’t feel like a box anymore? It’s decorated nicely, all the comforts of home are there, you don’t really have to do much to keep it up and all your friends and family have cute little boxes too. So it works pretty well.

Until you start feeling like there might be something else, something more that lies outside the box. Then the turtle sticks his neck out and starts looking around, starts exploring the world outside his tightly controlled and confined box. When you start looking around you get to decide if you are looking for beauty or ugliness. Because whatever you are looking for you will find. Look for dishonesty and you will find it. Look for hatred, bigotry, and cruelty and it is there to be found. Look for honesty and it will be there too. Look for people who are up to great things in the world, who are kind, and giving, open and honest they will be there as well.

The world outside my box is beautiful. And it isn’t perfect. There are many things I don’t like about this world. I choose to live outside the box even though it can be scary, ugly and difficult to deal with. I choose to live outside the box because the beauty and the possibility and the joy are greater in every moment than any of the hurt, pain, ugliness, and suffering. You will notice I choose. I choose every day how the world outside the box looks. It is mine to do.

In the choice I make I choose to live with passion and purpose. The box holds my passion down and stifles my purpose. The box does not serve my choices. Why would I choose to close off all the joy and yes even the sorrow the world outside the box holds? It would be like living as half a person. Even if there is pain and suffering it would be better than the stifling life in the box waiting to be kicked down the road by some unknown boot to some unknown destination.

Are you the girl in the box? Why? What are you doing in there? Don’t you know the world needs your passion and purpose? We need you to get out of your box and start sharing all the beauty, joy and passion you have to bring. Stop selling yourself short and cheating the world of your gifts, crawl out of the box.

Now. Today. See you on the outside!

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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