Breaking Out Of The Box

#ThrowBackThursday from October, 2010

"Trying to break out of the box." -Peter Kiss Gallery

“Great dreams... never even get out of the box. It takes an uncommon amount of guts to put your dreams on the line, to hold them up and say, 'How good or how bad am I?' That's where courage comes in.”
- Erma Bombeck

In the old western movies there always seems to be a line in which one cowboy says to another, "this towns too small for both of us." It usually was followed by a fight scene in which the good guy wins. The atmosphere is one of pending break out to something greater for the town.

A bold statement which finally shows the true greatness of the hero.

We can modify the statement and apply it to our own life. We can apply it in such a way as to cause the hero in side of us to break out to something greater.

To explain this, imagine a single cartoon pane as your life. This pane is your whole world, safe on four sides but limited in reach. Now imagine telling yourself, "this box is too small for me."

Shout loudly so those beyond the page can hear you.

As you gain confidence, you also grow and the box becomes too small for your life. Now take your hand and push through the left side of the box. Punch a hole in the bottom with your right foot. Tear at the remaining pieces until you emerge to find a big life awaiting your arrival. I'm not talking about rebirth or any analogies to that.

I'm talking about getting outside of the box we hide ourselves in.

If we bust loose and break away from the artificial binds we have created, a bigger and greater world is ours. We can rise above to the jet stream and sail to where we want to be in life.

Break out of the cartoon pane, break out in to a great life.

Stay inspired my friends!

JETSTREAM by DOVES

Movie Backdrops

“Just when you think that a person is just a backdrop for the rest of the universe, watch them and see that they laugh, they cry, they tell jokes...they're just friends waiting to be made.” - Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein

There are many people in the world you pass by each day. As you drive down the street or walk through the store. So many different people going about their daily life.

You see these people, you smile and exchange quick greetings.

Day after day these people fill your world. They are part of all that happens around you. You can become oblivious to their existence in the background of your life. And the fact remains you are a movie prop existing in the background of their lives as well.

It would be great if we could stop and take a look at others not as a background movie prop but as a potential friend. A friend who has a good thing to say to you. Or maybe someone to offer their support when in need.

With so many people in this world, having a friend around every corner is a pretty comforting thought.

Create new friends from the everyday background of your life.

Every one of them will count as a great new addition to your life. And stay inspired my friends!

Dreams To Plan

"Dreams are free, so free your dreams." - Astrid Alauda

I have always been fascinated by dreams. Each of us have them and each of us know when one occurred either last night or the night before. But for the life of me, can you always remember everything that happened in your dream?

In a book called NIGHTLIGHT, written by The Lucidity Institute, they write that "the first dream of the night is the shortest, perhaps 10 minutes in length, while after 8 hours of sleep, dream periods can be 45 minutes to an hour long. We all dream every night, about one dream period every 90 minutes. People who say they never dream simply never remember their dreams. You may have more than one dream during a REM (dream) period, separated by short arousals that are most often forgotten. It is generally accepted among sleep researchers that dreams are not recalled unless the sleeper awakens directly from the dream, rather than after going on to other stages of sleep."

So I wake up after each dream in order to remember them?

No wonder I toss and turn at night.

Psychology Today reports more recently dreams have been viewed as mere "mental exercises of the brain with no function at all." Think of it as the mind's attempt to make sense of random neural firing while the body restores itself during sleep.


Maybe it is a lot of random, meaningless brain waves firing in nonsensical patterns. As powerful as the brain is, it tries to interpret or put these random firings into some sort of logical sequence. Similar to making sense of events during our waking hours but only while asleep.

Yet in those random firings we might find something new and daring.

During the light of day, we think and attempt to put various thoughts together. It works pretty well, but distractions and other sensory input can cloud our thinking and judgment.

But in the randomness of dreams, combinations and bits of information we may not find in the daylight can come together. We can find new possibility, new ways of doing what the old can not.

That is the great thing about dreams, they can give you new ideas.

- If your dreams show you living and running along the beach, you can set that as a goal and realize it.
- If you find in your dream an accident happening, maybe its an indication to drive more defensively.

I do not mean dreams are a crystal ball to future events.

What I do believe is dreams can be a way of seeing your life from a different perspective. You can use your dreams to find a new way of doing things, to think differently or to create a better you.

Now if I could only remember that dream from last night...

Stay inspired my friends!

Life Can Be Delightful

"Life is not meant to be easy, my child; but take courage -- it can be delightful." - George Bernard Shaw

It takes me a fair amount of time before I can shake off my job and enjoy a vacation. But then after having time off from work, it takes me a fair amount of time to return myself to the actual work.

I get into one of those first-day-back foggy moods.

Now I could approach these first-day-back days a few different ways.

I could choose to sit the day out and simply let it pass quietly. Maybe call in sick and mill about at home, putting off the inevitable until the next day. But the next day always comes and has to be faced.

So I choose not to waste the day. Not wasting the day and working to accomplish at least one thing, anything that will allow me to feel good about it. An accomplishment that allow me to feel good about being back in the swing of work.

The same goes for things you do in your life.

Many times there are things you 'have to do' in the daily routine. Don't get me wrong, I am lucky in the fact that I really enjoy my job. I understand others are not.

But you still have to face that job, that chore or that event until you make a change. So get up and do it. Remember your situation is a result of your choices, not others.

Having the attitude to approach even that which you don't care to do is a step towards change.

Stay inspired my friends!