It’s one of those things I know is true, but I hate to face up to. Like the stubborn fat roll around my midsection, or the fact that I have to take my automobile to a mechanic and get reemed on the simplest of repairs. Such is life.

Proclaim your originality and creativity all you want, but the fact is none of us can really think “outside of the box.” We are all in a box–and there is no escape. The solution: Deal with it.

By the way, all of those quotes you love? None are original. From President John Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country cam do for you–ask what you can do for your country” to Seth Godin’s “If you don’t have time to do it right, what makes you think you’ll have time to do it over?”, and as far back (and further) as the Socratic maxim to “Know thyself” . . . it’s all been said before. In different words, perhaps, but it’s not original.

And neither is the idea that you can’t think out of the box. Everybody knows it. We just don’t like to admit it. But why?

Life is a sandbox and everything you see, everyone you know, every thought you have is here for your growth and education. Our primary need is not to think outside of the box, rather it is to use the tools inside the box and use them to take our baby steps towards wisdom.

Now. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all just settle down and help one another along the Way?