Beyond the “Box” of the Possible

Thinking “outside the box” is a very popular term these days.  Everyone wants innovation and ingenuity, but how do we get it?  What really goes into thinking “outside the box”, or better yet, how do we get beyond the “box” of the possible? 

A conversation with a friend this week prompted me to think about this subject.  She was complaining about her boss, who everyone in her department considers a very poor manager.  Many of her colleagues are even thinking about leaving the company because of this person’s poor management style.

But this person is pregnant, and scheduled for maternity leave in October.  I suggested to my friend that perhaps her boss would love parenting so much that she would stay home with her baby.  “Oh no,” my friend replied.  “She is wedded to her job.  She would never even consider being a stay-at-home mom”.  And this opinion was apparently, shared by everyone else in the department.

My friend has never been a mom, but I have.  I never considered being a stay-at-home mom either.  But when my first baby was born, I changed my tune, so I know it’s not completely impossible.  The important thing is that it does seem impossible for my friend and all her colleagues, none of whom are moms either.  As long as my friend and her colleagues (and her boss) think it’s impossible, it IS impossible.  That potential really doesn’t exist.

Thinking outside the box means allowing yourself to contemplate as possible, things that you thought previously were impossible.  The “box” is simply what you believe is possible, and a “box” is a wonderful metaphor.  What we think is possible is terribly confining.

We use our hands to create entirely new items out of physical matter.  Likewise our consciousness organizes energy to create new potentials.  When you allow yourself to believe something is possible that you didn’t believe was possible before, you introduce a new potential, that is, an organized energy field that didn’t exist previously. Once a potential is introduced, it is available to gather the energy it needs to become actualized.  I call this “floating” potentials.

In my friend’s case, choosing to be a stay-at-home mom is not a new potential, but it is a new potential for my friend and her colleagues.  If one of them “floats” this potential, that is, begins to think of it as a real possibility for her boss, and also begins to activate it by giving it energy (attention), it becomes more available as a potential for others as well.  Once it is “floated”, others can connect with it and give it their energy (begin to believe it’s possible), thus activating it further and increasing the chances that the boss will connect to it as well, and honestly consider it for herself.

I use the word “floating” because this all happens on the energetic level, and this is the beauty of it.  There is no agenda, no coercion, no necessity for the boss to feel defensive, because it is an idea that is simply “floating”, that is, available for all to connect with if they choose.

Floating potentials for others does not necessarily mean that the potential will actualize in reality.  If my friend “floats” this potential in her workplace, it does not mean her boss will actually choose to stay home.  But it certainly does increase the probability that this could happen.

Floating potentials for others is a way of offering possibilities to others that they may not have thought about themselves.  It is simply an offering, with no agenda, involving no force whatsoever.  The fact that there is no force involved leaves others free to choose something that appears to be their own idea.  But they are also free not to choose.  Ultimately we have no control, nor should we have control, over what another person chooses for themselves.

When you float potentials for yourself, however, the outcome can be far more magical and amazing.  You do have a choice over what you believe is possible, and whether to change that belief.  You also have a choice as to what potentials you choose, and how much energy and attention you give them.

When you dare to think beyond what you would ordinarily believe possible, and you become passionate about achieving this goal for yourself, you draw an enormous amount of energy to your project.  This influx of energy often inspires others, and they also give it energy.   And before long, what was once impossible, graduates from a potential, to actual reality.

It’s actually pretty amazing what we humans can accomplish once we get beyond our “boxes”.

For more on energy and energy reality, see my book “It’s All About Energy:  Adventures in Expanded Reality”, available on Amazon, at local bookstores and on my website:  wwwtransformationalexpansion.com