Out Of The Box, Jack?

It is often said that people should begin to think out of the box. Look at things differently, think laterally, revolutionise the world by thinking on the other end of the line that divides sheep from shepherd… but some things don’t ever change, and are fixed in our thought processes like that damn iceberg that the Titanic hits EVERY TIME YOU WATCH THE MOVIE.

One of these static instances in our lives are emotions. Emotions are a tender, mysterious facet of our lives – volatile one second, and last lifetimes the next (love can touchhhh us one time…and last for a liiiiiiiiiiiifetime – sustaining the Titanic theme). Let’s talk about the latter. It is indeed possible to feel a stroke of emotion so profound, that you can’t help but allocate a person to a box. An unchanging, eternal box, that no matter how many times you cover up with different wrappings, bows and glitter, at the core you’ll always feel what you’ve felt for that person at first. In this instance, I’m speaking from a romantic perspective. Yes, we all have that person that we call a ‘friend’ these days, but you’ll always carry feelings for.

These boxes are special, secret treasures that usually linger at the bottom of our emotional cupboard. Some of us never open the box again, for fear that there’s nothing more than a superficial Jack In the Box waiting to spring out and hurt us again. Other people have so many boxes that they lose count.

I know not whether these boxes are emotionally healthy, or if they hamper development into a full person, but I do know that I’d rather have a deep love covered in luminous friendship gift wrap, than an empty box…and an empty heart.

Will you open your box? Think out of it? Or climb into the box, next to the Jack inside.