Positive Mindset Tip: Thinking Outside of the Box

Many of us who live in cold winter climes have felt rather trapped during the cold winter months. I for one have felt cooped up in my house, longing for a way to relieve the doldrums of the short, brittle, cold winter days. So we welcome the beginning of springtime, when doors and windows can remain open during the day; when taking a day trip to a local park, or to go shopping, don’t seem quite as onerous. It is a reminder that this kind of suffering, like most suffering, comes to an end eventually, and we breathe a collective, deep sigh of relief when the cool breezes of late March tell us that even warmer and more comfortable, more beautiful days are on the visible horizon. A positive mindset is actually within reach!

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It’s helpful sometimes to think “outside the box” during the winter months. That is, we’ve been feeling stuck in the box of winter, and now it’s time to loosen up our garments, take off a few layers of clothing, and rest assured that those comfortable days of summer are finally on the way. Life can take on a brighter outlook.

Feeling cooped up has alternatives. One alternative is to utilize a positive mindset, as demonstrated in following little story:

I once was having a conversation with a friend of mine, and I posed a simple question to her. I asked her, when she is at home, how could she get from one room to another room? She replied, well, I would stand up, open the door, put one foot in front of the other, and walk, when I interrupted her, and said, but please tell me all the ways that you could get from one room in your house to another. She replied, Well, I could hop on one foot to the other room, I could crawl on all fours into the other room, or I might climb out a window, run outside the house to the window of the other room, open it, and climb inside. 

I stopped her and told her that she was being “inclusive.” Let’s be exclusive (outside the box). I told her, you could get from one room to the other by getting up, leaving the room, walking down to the front door, driving to the airport, catching a flight for San Francisco, Taos, Seattle, St. Louis, Miami, or even Hawaii, spending several wonderful days of enjoying your leisure time, especially in Hawaii, sunbathing on the beach, getting a nice tan, having wonderful meals, than returning to the airport, catching a flight back to the city you live in, taking a limousine home, walking in the front door of your house, and then walking to the room of your choice. I also pointed out that she forgot to say that she could have used a pogo stick to jump from one room to the other, or she could have gotten on stilts and made her way from room to room. I also pointed out, you also were thinking only of forward movement. You could have walked backwards from one room into the other. Or sideways prone movement: you could have rolled on your stomach from one room to the other.

It is truly amazing how we limit ourselves in thinking!​ And those limitations can prevent us from having a positive attitude toward our lives.

Real freedom means having multiple choices of ways from getting from here to there. Therefore, when setting goals, allow yourself to be truly free, and don’t rule anything out! Think of many multiples of paths to reach your goal! You will experience enthusiasm, optimism, and positive thinking if you open your mind and think outside the box