Newspaper and Wrapping Paper

When I think about some of the things I did when I was a child, and compare it to the stories my friends tell, or the things I see in movies, I realize that I was a very obedient child.  Of course, I’m telling you this with the appropriate amount of humility that is needed.

Let me explain:  Take Christmas presents for instance; I never used to treasure-hunt my way through the house to find the presents and then open, peak and re-wrap just to pretend that I’m surprised when I eventually receive my present from my parents.  Firstly, I could never understand why people would do that, and secondly, I’m not that good of an actor!

As usual, I have a point to make and this brings me to my fascination with packaging.  Mind you, I don’t have a constant fascination with packaging, but for this purpose, let’s say I do.

We all know that it doesn’t really matter if you use brown paper, newspaper or pretty paper to wrap a present; at the end of the day it’s about the gift inside, because most of us throw the wrapping away anyway.

And it’s exactly the same when we create an expectation for ourselves.  It doesn’t matter what you are expecting, it could be a specific career path, a life partner, a home you wish to purchase or a friendship you are busy cultivating – all of us have a natural expectation of what these things are supposed to be like and how they are supposed to be packaged.  But here’s a question:  Who decides what these things are supposed to look like?  You? Or someone else?

We are constantly influenced by so many outside factors that it sometimes keeps us from discovering the truly amazing gifts that are hidden under the “newspaper” wrapping, because we are sub-consciously programmed to find and want the “pretty paper”.

Maybe you have a few “newspaper” gifts in your life that you have ignored.  And I don’t mean to imply that anyone is shallow or materialistic, but when we focus on the supposed “pretty paper” (because we think that is what we need, or what is important), we don’t always see what we are meant to.

And just as with everything, “newspaper” and “pretty paper” is in the eye of the beholder.  I can honestly say that I have discovered so many hidden gems in places that I never thought to look, just because I realized that my perception needed to change.

It’s liberating!