"THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX"
Did you throw up in your mouth a little? So did I. This most terrible cliche suggests in some way that the "box" limits our creativity and opportunity to be inspired. Don't blame the box.
If you were once a kid (and we all were) I can imagine you spent at least one day playing in a cardboard box. You might have been an astronaut in your spaceship, a robber using your box as a get away car or a princess playing in her fairy tale castle. And if you are a parent I am sure you have spent a Christmas morning laughing that your kids enjoy the box their present came in more than the actual present itself.
Thanks to my friend Jeremy Ellis (who was once a boy and remembers the possibilities of a great cardboard box) I watched the loveliest short film from Studio Canoe aptly titled "Adventures of a Cardboard Box". It illustrates the beauty and endless possibilities of a cardboard box.
You probably had a smile on your face the whole time and loved all the fun that was had with that cardboard box. My favorite is the quick homage to Ghostbusters. I also loved the Indiana Jones shout out. You may have not counted while you watched but I counted FORTY different ways the young boy and his sister used the box to create fun and adventure for themselves. FORTY WAYS TO USE A CARDBOARD BOX!
The takeaway is simple. Quit blaming the box.
The box is not the reason you lack creativity or miss the opportunity to be open to inspiration. The box in fact is the perfect parameters by which inspiration and creativity can flourish. This begs the question
Why is it so darn hard to be creative?
If there is a finger to point I start first with the public school system for our collective lack of creativity. When does it happen? If I were to pinpoint an exact time I blame the third grade. It is at this point that things get serious and it starts with cursive writing. So many rules! No room to develop your own unique style of writing! And I ask you: who writes in cursive anymore? Very few people do except maybe my mom and all third grade teachers. But the great creativity zap does not happen in one fail swoop. The process to deactivate our creativity is systematic and little by little our creative juices seem to dry up like a lemon left out in the hot Texas sun.
Time for art, music, recess and other perfect places for creativity to reveal itself are getting shorter and shorter in the school day and in some school districts there is NO time in the day for these things. Fine arts budgets get slimmer and slimmer every year in favor of academics (yes important) and sports (yes important too). So where are we going to tap into our creative aptitude?
At home, exploring and adventure and fantasy have been replaced by video games, the computer, endless supplies of bad TV. Gone are the days that kids roamed their neighborhoods on a bike seeking adventure and play. As a kid myself, I spent HOURS across the street from my childhood home playing at the park, BY MYSELF, creating a rich fantasy land for myself.
Add to that the over scheduled, over involved life of the average 10 year old and there is little time to simply be a kid.
We are all creative. Typically our creativity manifests itself in one aspect of our lives either personally or professionally. Where does your creativity reveal itself? If you have blank stare on your face with a "what you talking bout Willis" line on the tip of your tongue: It is there--I assure you. If it has been laying dormant like a sleeping lion all these years how do you unleash the beast within? I will save the answer for the next post and tackle this burning question "Can I be MORE CREATIVE in my life?" The answer is a resounding yes and I can't wait to show you how.
Until then, go and find an empty box and see what you can come up with!
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