Cardboard box

If the owner of the business is to be successful, he cannot fool himself about values. (Big Book)

Al-Anon has no opinion on outside issues. It doesn’t define my responsibilities or select my values—that is up to me. It does encourage me to define my values, ... (Courage to Change, October 25)

Children and cats prefer the wrapping or the cardboard box to the content, the present, the gift.

Where I live, who surrounds me, what I do for a living, whether or not I'm materially successful, what I look like, how rich I am: these are the wrapping, the cardboard box, not the content, the present, the gift.

What matters is the content: how I act; the present: the constructive playing of my role right here and right now; and the gift: the active fostering of appreciation for everything that is.