I’m grateful that I think outside the box. When I was lost in the throws of my self-destruction, my good friend Sarah said to me, “The directions to get outside of the box are on the outside of the box.” Which means when we are swirling in our own chaos, we have to distance ourselves from that space in order to see our way of of it. Michael Singer refers to it as being the observer in the Untethered Soul.

Thinking outside the box is what I have to use daily to align myself with love, abundance, and peace over fear, lack, and separation. Fear, lack, and separation is what keeps our thoughts, beliefs, actions, and reactions trapped inside the box. That is why it is a prison, and only we have the key to get out of it. We just have to be willing to do the work. I used to not want to do the work. I got so comfortable in my misery, because my misery felt familiar. I couldn’t see better, which was part of the reason why suicide at one point felt appealing. That is how dangerous it is to live inside the box.

Thinking outside of the box is me using my creative brain to find solutions to my challenges. It’s questioning perspectives of truth for myself and others. It’s finding new and different ways to look at something. It’s getting comfortable in the connect mindset, which is kind of like using your brain to connect the dots to make a complete picture. This is my comfort zone, and I’m so incredibly grateful to know that there is always a way out.

Today, I commit to looking outside of the box. If I feel stuck at any point throughout the day, I will ask myself, “How do I get out of the box?” Then, here is the important part, I have to use my tools to get outside of the box for the instructions.

Some of the tools I use are:

• Make a collage (This is one of my favorite tools to help me come up with creative solutions)
• Nature walks
• Free-writing (write for a minimum of 15 minutes about anything that comes to mind without stopping, correcting, or editing)
• Meditation
• Dancing
• Talk to a friend who is aligned with love, abundance, and peace (It is EXTREMELY important for me to only talk to people who are aligned with love, abundance, and peace and not fear, lack, and separation. If I talk to the wrong person when I’m trapped inside my box, it could extend my stay there. I don’t want someone who will go down with me)
• Stretching or any movement practice like yoga, Tai Chi, martial arts, etc.
• Screaming (If there is an extreme build up of anxiety, this one really helps to release the tension)
• God Can (I write my question or prayer down and put it in my God Can, because what I can’t do for myself God can)

These are the tools that create the space I need to find creative solutions to whatever the challenge I’m facing is. They are also the tools I use to help keep me from going back inside the box. If you are looking to make this commitment with me today, make sure you use the tools that work or feel right to you. If you keep going for a tool that doesn’t work—GET THAT TOOL OUT OF YOUR TOOLBOX! The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. If there is anyway to stay inside the box, repeating thought and behavior patterns that keep us in the energy of fear, lack, and separation is it. If where you are makes you feel full of anxiety, depression, apathy, numbness, etc., those are clear indicators that you are inside the box. If our belief systems and behavior patterns are keeping us in those states, we have to do the work to find our way outside of the box. NO ONE else can turn the key, they can just show us tools to make our way to the door.

With Love, Abundance, and Peace,

©Rachael Wolff 2021

Author of Letters from a Better Me