Living Outside the Boxx

Can you guess what I just finished doing?  Well I don’t want to say I’m becoming addicted to Sudoku, but I just read in the March 2009 edition of Reader’s Digest, page 35 that playing Sudoku can help you become wealthy because it (as well as some other number games, word puzzles, and brain-teasers) keeps your brain agile.  To quote the author Jean Chatzky, “they all help stimulate the growth of nerve cells, which makes your mind sharper over time.”  She goes on to say, “Having more mental clarity makes you a more flexible thinker, and that’s essential for wealth.”  She says more but that did it for me.  I find myself eyeing Sudoku everyday even when I don’t have time to play with him. :-)  Oh, but tonight I stopped everything and played a set and finished it faster than the last time not because I was trying, but because this new way of thinking is really causing me to “see” things much faster than before.

 

Somehow you knew I would take the time to explain for I’m enjoying this, truly.  I find that now my eyes look at the entire puzzle from the beginning, not just inside one box, the one or two with the most numbers, to find the easiest starting point.  Now that I’m no longer stuck inside the boxes (or boxx, my new word) my perspective has broadened and I think my brain cells are rejoicing!!  “She no longer has to ride the short bus” I heard one of them say when I finished the puzzle.  Smarty pants.    Even as I worked I could hear within my heart how “living” outside of the box allows us (at least it has done this for me in a short amount of time) not only to consider many options outside of our familiar surroundings in each area of life, but they allow us to look back inside the box too, and see things differently.  You see, we don’t have to run away from the box after we no longer live there for there are still lessons back there we can learn.

 

For instance, I know I need to start collecting boxes soon for packing up my life from this place to move to another.  I’m going to need boxes of all shapes and sizes.  I’ll even use some with wheels called suitcases (valises en Francaise).  You see, boxes are not our enemies; they are neutral and can be our friends.  It’s what we do with them, as with most things in life, which determine their positivity or negativity in our lives.  I love my parents and my upbringing in the church and specifically in the Pentecostal church, for we have a rich spiritual and musical heritage that demanded from us a level of excellence in everything we did, even when we didn’t have everything we felt we needed.  We learned to make do and make ourselves “look” and feel “rich” even when we were not. :-0  Now that’s a powerful heritage I wouldn’t give away for all the money in the world, really.  Within that heritage lies the power for me to get wealth, just like Chatzky said about Sudoku.  Oh, but guess what?  She was not the first one to say it.  Our loving Creator was/is.  Oh yes!!

 

In the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy 8:18 the Lord said through Moses to the Israelites, “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth . . .”  And in the New Testament book III John 2 He speaks through that apostle, “Beloved, I wish above all things that you prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers.”  Now this is not just talking about money for there are many poor rich people, on the earth.  To be prosperous means you have wisdom and understanding concerning life and how to move and groove through the challenges that come your way.  I call prosperous people “Mac Gyvers”. 

 

You remember the weekly television show by the same name of the guy who would get in trouble just by being in the wrong place at the right time, or the right place at the wrong time, or the wrong place at the wrong time, and yeah, even sometimes the right place at the right time (depending on your perspective)?  See, Mac Gyvers learn to seize the moment to use their skills, and create some along the way.  When they don’t see what they need at hand, they create it.  For instance, while I was on tour in Belgium this past winter I needed a knife in my dressing room to slice a lemon for my hot tea.  Well, there were none to be found, but my road managers did find the can of peanuts I desired and guess what?  My Mac Gyver eye saw a knife!  I opened my can of nuts, and munched on some while slicing my lemon with the aluminum lid.  There were many other such events like that on my tour and my road manager Anna began calling me Mac Gyver.  (Even though she’s from Poland living in Belgium, she speaks fluent English and is very familiar with our American television shows. :-)  Thanks Anna!!)  Now she’s a true out-of-the-box person, and I found myself having to think outside of the box often in order to get by in those freezing temperatures.  LOL!!

 

So you see, my experiences have taught me that true wealth is not just about money, but it is also being able to live outside of the box and still learn from the box.  It’s being wise not to throw away the box with the baby (couldn’t think of another good one just then.) but keeping it for later, or just keeping the lessons learned from the good, the bad and the ugly that occurred in that environment.  Boxes can be limiting when we see them as our security and keep us from changing, growing, expanding, and learning.  A grasshopper in a box with a lid on it after awhile gets trained to jump only so high, so when the lid is removed, he doesn’t realize he’s free to jump outside of the box.  If you find yourself boxed in under an open sky, call somebody!! to come and cut the box from around you so you can move on.  Sometimes our relationships can be that way, on our jobs, in our homes, in our communities, churches and even our countries.  Sometimes you will have to use the items inside your box to build a ladder so you can climb out of that box and “see” that the world is larger than that box you’ve been in for a while.

 

I’m no different from anyone else.  I desire security and a nice home, family, a “job” with all the perks and quirks (NOT!), but at what cost?  What are we willing to sacrifice to live inside the box, and what are we willing to forego to live outside of the box?  There is a risk either way, and yes even living outside of the box it’s easy to create another box if “box thinking” is inside of us, like that grasshopper.  True prosperity is not only learning how to live outside of the box while keeping the good that came from inside the box, but it’s also not allowing in-the-box thinking to limit us.  Just because we change locations and time zones doesn’t mean nor guarantee that we’ve changed, or are living outside of the box.  You can still be thinking inside a square box with a round head.

:-)  

So I encourage you to take a chance, even a baby step.  Do something different, maybe drink tea instead of coffee, drink more water and cut out the sodas, really cut out those cigarettes that are puffing away your new opportunities down the line just to name a few.  Some others can be visit another country for 3-5 days, or another state.  Visit another church of a different race and denomination.  Read up on another culture.  Be willing to understand others even when you don’t agree with their philosophies.  It’s not the beliefs that are important, it’s the people and when they see your heart’s interest in them, they will be willing to hear what you have to say too.  Then you may be able to win them over to a more excellent way.  Or maybe you will be the one changing to a more excellent way.  “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”  Thank YOU, Jesus!