Are you Living in a Box?

Is living in a Mental box holding you back from the Life you Want

What does it mean to “live in a Box”?

Here is a google search AI response:

“Feeling "living in a box" mentally often refers to a sense of being trapped or limited in one's thoughts, emotions, or behaviors. It can stem from various factors, including societal expectations, personal fears, or even a desire for control. Essentially, it's about feeling confined and unable to fully express oneself or pursue desired goals”.

When I think about living in boxes, I think about the labels that we give ourselves or are given to us by our parents, culture or careers.

These labels define how we identify with ourselves and our mental states. This label can be a basic one like a man or woman, our job title or how we see and judge ourselves based on our culture or religion. Identifying with our self image can be a great thing that gives us direction and purpose. There is a danger when our ego takes over this identification and creates conflicts because it wants to protect the box you choose to live in.

Another mental state that is related to labels is being judgmental. When we label something or someone as “good”, “bad”or “stupid”, we are being judgemental. We can start to judge others that do not fit in the box we have been raised in or have chosen for ourselves. If these people don’t look like or act like the box we live in, we see them as having less value as a person or human. This type of thinking is the foundation of bias and prejudice.

Can we have good values that define us without the negative experiences of identifying with them?

Can we have pride in our culture and who we are as a person and not live in a box?

I believe that we can and it’s as simple as removing the labels of our box and the limits of identifying with them. The start of getting out of the box you live in is to not judge yourself and others.

Free Yourself

Start by removing the labels of the box you live in and realize that how you identify yourself should be used to make yourself a better person. You have to look at the way you were raised and keep the experiences that make you a unique person that wants to share your values and welcomes the values of others.

The box you want to remove is the one related to the things in your past and culture that create separation by means of prejudice, status, race or religion.

Free Others

The next steps is remove the boxes you put others in to. When we give someone a label, we judge them and put them in a box. Judgement brings labels that separate people. People can be different and still respect and accept each other’s values.

Not living in a box means that you do not look at the differences of people but the similarities.

How do you know if you are stuck in a box? When you feel resistance to new ways of living and new ideas, ask yourself these questions:

• What box am I trying to defend?

• Describe the box and the rules of that box.

• Is this a box of learned ideas and judgements from your family or culture?

• Has living inside this box brought me peace or conflict?

  
  

• How can this new idea change my life compared to the box I have been living in?

The goal is to reject the mental states that keep you separated from others and stops you form growing as a person. Many of the challenges we face are related to not wanting to change our viewpoints and behaviors because we are stuck in a box of how we identify with ourselves.

You cannot enjoy a true present existence if you live in a box.

Peace and BEE Present!!

To learn more about how the ego can stop you from making changes, check out my book:

Go to: https://www.gilrolonbooks.com or click on the image.