I’ve heard it said many times that if you want to find success, simply “think outside the box.” Easier said than done, but, in my opinion, there is some merit to the advice. If we want to grow and learn, we need to look at things differently. We need to think outside the box, and sometimes even outside the bag…
Story: The Two Pebbles
Many years ago in a small Italian town, a merchant had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the merchant’s beautiful daughter, so he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the merchant’s debt if he could marry the daughter. Both the merchant and his daughter were horrified by the proposal.
The moneylender told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become the moneylender’s wife and her father’s debt would be forgiven. If she picked the white pebble, she need not marry him and her father’s debt would still be forgiven. But, if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.
They were standing on a pebble-strewn path in the merchant’s garden. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick her pebble from the bag.
The girl put her hand into the bag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles. “Oh, how clumsy of me,” she said. “But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.”
Sometimes it is necessary to think out of the box or, in this case, out of the bag.
The Takeaway
Thinking outside the box, or the bag, in this case, comes across as clever. And surely, the merchant’s daughter was clever here. Though thinking outside the box can be clever, it takes practice. It takes a conscious effort to look at things differently. As adults, we have had years to process information and the things around us. To the point where we are a bit assimilated to our surroundings. So assimilated to our surrounding that we tend to just take things at face value and never question how things could be or why things are the way they are.
Consciously thinking outside the box is a practice where you are more present and question the assumptions of how things are. You have to become curious about life and what’s around you. You need to learn to look at things differently. Some say we need to look with childlike eyes if we want to learn. It’s this type of looking that might help your debt be forgiven and save your daughter from a bad marriage. Well, maybe not exactly that, but thinking outside the box, or bag as it were, can make all the difference in your life.