How many of you know the origin of the t erm “thinking outside the box?”  This term is also referred to as “lateral thought”.  It basically means trying to look at problems or issues from a different perspective and trying to come up with creative solutions that have escaped the traditional approaches.

In HSS this is something that we as individuals or as groups can do to overcome obstacles or address problems that ar e proving to be difficult to address.  A good exaample of this is the Aurora group.  Traditional approaches would use professional mental health people to treat persons who have problems.  This could be termed an “outside in” approach.  People from outside the group are attempting to help those inside.  Aurora, however, turns this concept around and takes an “inside in” approach.  People within the group are attempting to help those inside .  It works!

Curious yet?  The concept of “Outside the Box” was originated by the Disney Corporation after Walt Disney died.  People kept asking, “What would Walt do?”, and after this went on for awhile, they realized that Walt thought differently than other folks.  He looked at things from a different perspective .  They started using the nine dot test to teach this principal.

The challenge is to connect the nine dots in four straight lines without lifting your pencil from the page.  See below.  “Outside the BoxAs you can see, you cannot do this without getting”.  There is also an “Outside the Box” solution using three straight lines.  See if you can figure that one out.  Hint:  Nobody said you have to go straight through the middle of each dot.