Blue Boxes

How did it get there? Who did this? Why didn’t someone else notice it? Whoa is me, my wedding pictures would be great, if it weren’t for this darn blue box!

See it? It’s right there? Right in the middle of the picture!

Are you looking?

Okay let me show you more.

Surely, you can see it there now right?

Surely you can see this big problem too, right!

Yeah, there it is now, I see it everywhere!

Okay, GREAT, now that I’ve noticed it, I can’t see anything else! Wow, these pictures would be really awesome if it weren’t for that Blue Box!!

Really?? Truly?? Is anyone out there rolling their eyes right now?

Why would I spend so much time focusing on a small unimportant part of this picture, this event, this amazing day? Why would I lament and moan and groan about a very minute issue that I clearly can’t go back and change? Why would I sit here and show the world my little issue and problem in an otherwise beautiful set of pictures?

Cause that is what we tend to do with Life. And it’s a misunderstanding we can clear up.

How many times have I spent energy and time pointing out a small detail of my otherwise beautiful life experience, until my energy and focus has it become The Whole Thing. Where in our lives are we speaking up and pointing out something ‘wrong’ about ourselves, our bodies, our careers, our relationships, our families, our friends, our community, our politics, our economy, our world?

So is the Blue Box really that ‘Bad’???

First of all, it’s only there in my life, because things are in my life. It’s Life.

Second of all, it’s only ‘bad’ because I decided it was bad. My Choice.

Third of all, it’s only super noticeable to me, because I chose to spend more time noticing it. I Directed My Own Mind to It, and since I decided it was ‘bad’ already, the more I noticed it, the more ‘badness’ I found.

Are you seeing sillyness here?? Are you bold enough to see the sillyness it represents?

A friend, coach and author, Molly Fiore, calls it the Rabbit Hole. We are choosing to go down the Rabbit Hole of the thinking about the Blue Box. I can even expand on this if you want, it may make it feel more familiar…

  • Oh, that blue box just keeps showing up!
  • Someone else messed this up! Putting it there, wasn’t considerate of the pictures!
  • Oh, why didn’t I see it there, and ask that it be moved! I could have fixed this!
  • You know, there’s always a blue box that ruins something good for me! FML!
  • Just wait, young person out there, be aware of the blue boxes that mess things up!
  • We need to ban all boxes, especially blue ones, then we wouldn’t have problems!
  • If it weren’t for the Blue Boxes of the world it would still be great! Like the good ole days before we had plastic blue boxes! Rucksacks and baskets were the best!

Really? Yup.

This is how we live from the Outside – In. It’s Victim Thinking.

This is when it appears that something outside of us, has created a feeling within us.

Impossible.

It doesn’t work that way.

All of our feelings are created within. We can choose anything we want. We can stop all agony over all the blue boxes in our life right now, in this very moment.

When we really get and notice that We Choose to put all judgement on that box, then our brain, our body is just carrying out the ‘feelings’ that we told it to have upon seeing it.

There are no bad boxes, unless we call them bad. There are no good boxes, without calling them good. Same with the whole picture. It is, whatever I Decide it is.

  • It could be almost all good, but for the problem blue box.
  • It could be something to be fixed and photoshopped, then it will be good.
  • It could be completely ruined.
  • It could be Perfect as is.

My Choice.

Then my brain and body will carry out the feelings of that, good or bad. I become it.

If making a new and unnatural choice seems too hard in some of these situations, then go the next step…

Mentor, coach and author Michael Neil would point out that we will always have a random good bad and ugly thoughts passing through our mind. He uses these examples:

  • Our own thoughts create the pain. Like shooting ourselves in the foot. When we notice where the bullets are coming from, then we’ll cease to pull the trigger.
  • Like a TV hanging on the wall of the restaurant in our head. It is only loud if we go up close and study it. It only has power over us, if we stop what we’re doing and get fascinated by it. We could totally disregard it. It’s the level at which we pay attention to them that messes us up.

All is well my friends. It always has been. It always will be. Unless we decide different.

That is switching to Inside – Out. To becoming an Owner in our thoughts and life.

I create awesome little moments in my regular everyday existence, that help me relay my thoughts to the world through this blog. My Choice.

Thank You Blue Box – You showed up just in time. I appreciate You. I look forward to our next meeting. Thank God, someone placed you in the perfect spot, at the perfect time, and place, and that I have the chance to grow because of you.

And may this message help something reverse for you, from Outside-In, to Inside-Out.

Sincerely,

Aaron Nichols


One thought on “Blue Boxes

  1. Wow, this hits home.
    ‘Round here, we call it ‘the weeds.’

    See, when I was growing up, I often had the chore of mowing the lawn. And the edging/trimming. My dad was…ahem…less than encouraging. Okay, he was downright abusive. And nothing, NOTHING was ever good enough. So when he would come to check my work on the lawn, no matter how hard I worked to hand-pick every weed along the fence, he would find some weed, to then declare, “well, you didn’t even DO the job! look at this weed! If you ya don’t get it done right, don’t bother doing it at all!”

    So. Needless to say, I’ve got a teeny bit of baggage around all that. Or, well, maybe a whole truckload of bags… Yeah, I struggle with looking at the new bunkbed Kevin built and seeing ‘the weeds.’ Instead of focusing on how the kids got 90% right on their home-school test, I feel irritated with the 10% they got wrong. And when it comes to myself? I’m all blue boxes…or weeds…

    Lord, help us!!!!

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