CONNECT THE DOTS

Connect the 9 dots with only 4 strokes without raising the pen.

Early morning of June 12, 2014 I went to school ahead of our scheduled time in Elective 1 to make sure that I will not be late for our second meeting on that subject because I was not able to attend on our first meeting. So there I was, around 7:30, I was already at the school. I kept myself calmed though I was already shaking inside since those who were not able to attend the first meeting would have to perform something infront of the class. To my surprise, Mr. Gamboa did not let those absent-from-previous-meeting performed, but, instead, he let us went infront of the class and let us stated our reasons for not attending the first meeting. After those series of segueways, Mr. Gamboa gave us a quiz about connecting the nine dots using only 4 strokes without raising the pen. At first, I felt excitement in my heart because I was a bit challenged. I liked mind-games. Just as Mr. Gamboa was explaining the directions about the quiz, I was already imagining the strategies that I would do in order to solve the quiz. As he queued us to begin, there was an excitement in my heart as I drew the dots and connected it. Every stroked I made, I put my heart into it. There was joy while I was holding the pen and trying to connect those dots on the first tries that I did. Later, after the many tries, I struggled. I was having a hard time figuring out the way to solve it. I was puzzled and closed to being hopeless. Those attempts failed. I almost occupied the whole page of the paper. I stopped for a while and looked at those attempts I did. It was quiet messy. Mr. Gamboa was asking us if we were already done. That made myself pressured. I took the pen again and tried more but it ended up not well. It was unresolved. There was a little bit of disappointment in myself. My other classmates were able to solve it. I was amazed but half of my heart felt like or asked like “Where on Earth did they took their knowledge or wisdom to solve it?”. Mr. Gamboa called random students to go infront and show how they were able to connect it. Many tried but only few got it correctly. He asked the one who got it right about what he could say in connecting the dots. Those 5 words captured my attention, he said, “THINK OUT OF THE BOX!”. When I heard it, my initial reaction was like “Really?”, “Seriously?” but after a few moment I realized that he was right. He was able to connect it by overlapping to the boundaries of the dots. Realizations came into my mind though not right after the quiz. It took me a day to comprehend things out. Before I went to sleep that day, I recapped and tried to discern what was the message of those five words for me. “THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!”, many questions arised in my mind that moment and then later I realized that the reason for me not to be able to solve it was that I was and “am” a very “close-minded” person. I always followed the norms of the society. I always inline myself as to what the people around me has to say, to what the society accepts and to what the society used to do. I incorporated every decision I made as to what he society or the people around me told to do so. To “think outside the box” is much more easier to say than done. Not all people have that kind of free-way thinking. It is not just a click away for someone to change his/her ways. It’s not just a simply mindset but a lifestyle instead. As I go through discernment about not being a close-minded person, I have come with a realization of considering it as an art and this is where my creativity should manifest. Everything that I will do, I must not just settle for what is good but what is best instead. I must think creative ways that will make what I am doing be great. Even if it is just a small thing, I must be innovative to make it a big package. The ordinary things that I will do must be executed in an extraordinary way for me to be able to excel in whatever or whichever track I take. The mundanes of this world has so much to say about what life must be spend. For me, I have found atleast one of the ways to spend well my life. To think outside the box as I confine my current way of thinking. I have my own box to live with. I have my own box to define. I have my own box to discover. I have my own box to develop. I have my own box to make great. I have my own box to be think of outside without getting out of that box. I may sound so obscure about my point but what I am trying to say is that to think outside the box depends on the way I perceive things. Yes, it’s “thinking things out”, why and how I think that way. I have found understanding on how and why I think the way I do about something to bring valuable insights. It allows me to challenge myself when I better understand the ways I am likely to be led astray or hindered with my own thinking. Thinking a bigger picture of the current situation or scenario I am into. This may not be easy to do. In learning there are no limitations; all of us must think positively and across the line. We must not limit ourselves to learn and set it with no boundaries. And also I came to realize that following a simple instruction makes a work successfully done. Whatever instruction it is – simple or complex. It would be easy when you follow the instructions carefully. These most common words that we meet halfway almost in our schooldays marks every inch of our lives, though it is simple but do have a countless impact in our separate lives.