“Think outside the box” is an overused expression, which usually means to think of a creative solution or an unconventional solution to a problem.
It has been said so often that it has become a cliché and lost its impact. But the concept remains that people generally have a standard way of approaching problems that they’ve seen before. The predictable solutions are the box. Conceptually you might call the box “conventionality”.
If you think conventionally you are in the box. If you think unconventionally you are outside the box. Either way you are relating to the box. You are either allowing yourself to be influenced by the standard or you are refusing to be influenced by the standard, by coming up with something unusual or unexpected. But either way you are accepting the existence of the standard and reacting to it.
Why react at all? Because it’s easier to relate to a standard, than to be an individual and think for yourself. But thinking as an individual is more pleasurable and gives you more joy. Anytime you have a personal accomplishment you experience joy.
Tangents that branch out from happiness
There are many traits that can subtly affect our emotional state:
Happiness is a state of activity. – Aristotle
Things often associated with happiness:
excitement
newness
getting up refreshed
energy
extroversion
Things often associated with unhappiness:
laziness
going with the flow
boredom
lethargy
introversion
The Outside Goes In, and the Inside Goes Out
When we are happy, we have energy. When we are unhappy, we lack energy. This is because happiness is connected with the soul, a source of unlimited energy, and sadness is connected to the body, physicality.
It’s true that when you are unhappy, you are more likely to want to sleep in a few hours longer. When you are happy you may jump out of bed raring to go. But what we don’t realize is that lying in bed reinforces our unhappiness, and jumping out of bed in the morning reinforces our happiness.
If you choose to live with energy and enthusiasm you are taking the reigns in your hands, and not allowing physicality to dictate your mode of behavior. This connects you to your soul and lets you to be affected by the natural joy of the spirit.
The Soul is a Source of Unbounded Joy
By its nature the soul is a piece of Godliness, so to speak, that is put into the world. So it is an infinite source of joy. You can see this with children most clearly. Unless they have an unfulfilled need, children are usually expressing a natural playful happiness. They take immense pleasure from simple things. You can easily get them to laugh and smile.
As they get older they are taught to worry about all kinds of things and are burdened by life’s many rules and regulations. They often lose the natural gift of joy. When an adult is able to let go of worries, a natural joy seeps back into the heart. It’s natural. It’s the way the Creator designed us, that we take pleasure in being alive, in having arms, legs, eyes, etc.
If you can uncover what’s waiting beneath the surface to come out, you can master joy on a daily basis.
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