Thinking Outside the Box

I was recently distracted as I left my doctor's office. I was exiting the parking garage and I had a ticket from the office to use to open the gate with no fee.  I was very frustrated after several attempts to use the ticket failed and the machine kept spitting out the ticket.  I must have tried it about 5-6 times and the machine refused to accept the ticket for payment.  Suddenly, I hear the person behind me yell out that the gate was already open!

I had to laugh at myself because I hadn't observed my surroundings.  I kept doing the same behavior and was expecting a different outcome.  The machine obviously did not accept the ticket because the gate was already open.  I was slightly embarrassed and sad that I had inconvenienced the person waiting behind me to exit the garage. It made me realize that I was not living in the moment.

As we go through our lives, we are often creatures of habit.  We do the same behaviors and expect everything to go smoothly.  Sometimes our repetitious behaviors are not productive because we are facing new information, new outlooks, new facts, but we are not looking outside the box to find better, more comprehensive solutions to issues in our personal, political or professional lives.  Just because we have "always done it this way" doesn't mean that it is the best way.

We can strive to think outside the box and find creative answers to problems and issues that are win-win instead of win-lose.  If we can respect each other's viewpoints and actively listen, we can then find a compromise that enables us to each walk away with a high self-esteem and a resolution of hope.