The box of creativity 

A Releasing Your Unlimited Creativity discussion topic

Copyright 2008 by K. Ferlic,   All Rights Reserved

 
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When talking about creativity and looking for creative solutions to the problems we face, one can often hears a comment similar to there being the need to "get out of the box." To most, this comment refers to getting out of the limits and barriers of our own thinking that do not allow us to see or find the creative solutions we seek. In essence we place our creativity in a box or cage by the limits and barriers we impose on ourselves by what we think and believe. We then cannot seen the creative solutions we seek simply because of what we think and believe. When we change what we think and believe relative to the situation we face, we get ourselves out of the box.

Although this interpretation is true, there is more to this box than just the limits and barriers on our own thinking. There are two additional aspects which need to be realized. One is the box is really a cage of our own making. The second is to truly "get out of the box" there is more to do that just punching out one of the sides - there is also a top and bottom to the box.

A cage of our own making

The box is a cage of our own making in two ways. One way is we ultimately choose what we think and believe. Although we may have blindly accepted many beliefs and ideas about ourselves, Creation and the like early in life, we nevertheless are free to think and believe what we wish. No one can force us to believe one way or another. They exert tremendous pressure on us spiritually, emotionally, physically or mentally. But we ultimately determine and choose what we think and believe.

The second way this box is a cage of our own making is the reason this box is more of a cage than a box. When the free expression of our creative spirit is thwarted in any way there is some level of pain or discomfort we feel. We respond to that pain or discomfort in someway. Our response then becomes a pattern we use to prevent that type and kind of pain and discomfort from reoccurring. Alternatively said, we will try some other way to respond to the situation we face.

What we do not realizes is over time we begin to limit the free expression of our creative spirit by the response patterns we impose on ourselves. We see the response patterns as a way to protect ourselves but in the end they become a cage which imprisons our creative spirit. It is a cage more than a box because we can see out into the world and we know we cannot go there because we must protect ourselves with the response pattern we use. Only when we face the pain and discomfort and create a way to deal with that pain and discomfort in a way that does not hold our creativity captive do we escape the cage.

Truly getting out of the box

Most creativity techniques and approach seek to find a way to change our perspective to find a creative solution to the problem we face. Many of them are successful. Most of the available techniques and approach recognize the mind which created the problem is not the mind which will find the solution to the problem we face. After all, our current mind is what created the problem based on what it thinks and knows. If it is going to change what it created it must become different in some way. Our current mind changing what it thinks and believes to find the creative solution it seeks is the equivalent of punching a hole in the box or to even punch out a side of the box. However, all we are really doing is expanding the box. We are not dismantling or destroying the box.

Truly getting out of the box requires more than just punching out a side of the box and moving laterally in life. Changing what we think and believe to access a creative solution to address a particular problem we face is to punch a hole in the box if not punch a side out of the box. To do so does give us flexibility in a given area but it is limited. In the proverb, "Give an individual a fish, they eat for a day, teach them how to fish and the eat for a lifetime" is the equivalent of getting a fish. That is, we find a creative solution for the problem we face but our creativity is still limited and confined in the box of our limited thinking and the beliefs which support such thinking.

There is nothing wrong with this approach but we continually seemed to be limited in our creativity. We continually seem to face obstacles in life for which we need to find creative solutions to overcome or get around. An alternative way is to get truly out of the box to access our unlimited creativity. It is to move toward if not access the infinity of our being.

To be truly out of the box and our of the cage of our own making which confines our creativity is to access the infinity of our being and to know we have unlimited creativity. It is to know we have limited our creativity for the purposes of having a particular experience of creation/Creation. It is to know we can choose to recreate any aspect of our life whenever we choose and to know how to go about doing it.

Punching out of the sides of the box is about learning to move laterally in and through life. However it does not necessary recognize that we take our issue with us. Many people find the courage and freedom to move from relationships which do not work or jobs which are not fulfilling only to find another relationship that does not work or another unsatisfying job. Truly getting out of the box is about the need for an inner journey of exploration in the source of our creative power and where we have consciously or nonconsciously given away our creative power.

Truly getting out of the box is about addressing the top and bottom of the box and taking an inner journey. The reason for this is it is the top and bottom of the box that are most related to giving away our creative power for several different reason.. As we address the top and bottom of the box we begin to move toward the infinity of our being and being to access our unlimited creativity. The topic "Addressing the top and bottom of the box" provides additional discussion on this topic.

How to best truly getting out of the box is unique to each individual for each creates the cage which confines their creative spirit based on what they personally have experienced in life and have come to think and believe.

Related topics
A cage of our own making
Addressing the top and bottom of the box
Belief and thinking inventory

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