Ducks in a Row: More on New Thinking for 2013
by Miki SaxonOver the years some people take my expanding box idea and try and tell me that the boxes are actually replaced, not expanded as I described yesterday.
I (respectfully) tell them they are wrong.
It isn’t about replacement or creating boxes within boxes, it’s about expansion.
Everything that existed in the old box continues to exist, but new dimensions are added, because the box is larger.
And it especially isn’t about ‘using up’ what’s in your box before you can expand it; it’s about choosing to explore beyond what’s known and/or comfortable—or not.
We all push our boundaries organically as we age; it happens through experience and just plain living—and we’re not even conscious of doing it.
Some folks enjoy consciously pushing back boundaries in evolutionary ways, exploring new areas a bit at a time.
Others take a revolutionary approach and willingly leap into the unknown, not knowing where they will land or if they’ll survive. Very scary—but the unknown has always been scary.
Most of us combine all three types, organic, evolutionary and revolutionary, with ascendancy changing depending on what’s happening in our world—as well as the larger world.
What needs to be understood is that the person who leaps into the unknown is not intrinsically more valuable than the person whose box enlarges organically through their own life experiences or the ones whose boxes increase incrementally through conscious, measured efforts.
All three types, along with their varied, changing combinations, are necessary for life and for Life to continue on our planet.
Look at any list of great innovators from the past and then think of all the people who enhanced/changed/added to the original ideas; then add on all the lives involved, one way or another, with these ideas.
All the contributions have value within their own world—what is different is the size of each innovator’s world and since society tends to equate size to value—the bigger the greater the worth.
Not all of us want to/can change the world, but each of us can take care of/improve our little bit of it.
As for me, I’d hate to live in a world where all the little bits were a mess because everybody was out changing the whole.
Flickr image credit: Leonora Enking