<br> tag. If you want to indent your paragraph just add &nbsp; for each space you want to indent.

It depends on where this "text box" is coming from and where it is getting its "default" dimensions. If this is a CMS such as WordPress, it helps to get a helpful answer if you share that in the question. There are no text boxes for paragraphs in html unless you add them, in which case you control appearance/layout with your css.

it's in wordpress; sorry about the text box part of the question. As per the typomaniac response, I don't think the indent idea is what I'm trying to accomplish.

You will need to look for the setting in your theme's css file and adjust it there OR create a new class of <p element and set padding and margins to where you want it to be if you do not want to change the appearance of all paragraphs.

Note - IF your theme is not a child theme, any theme updates will overwrite your css change if you change the default setting for <p> or decide to add a new class in the css and use your own class (example: <p class="myp"> ) when you want less spacing. You will need to remember to update the .css file when you have a theme update either way if you do not use a child theme.

What do “normal” and “default” mean? If your site were pure HTML with--shudder!--no CSS, paragraphs would be spaced by a full line (and line height would be 1em) and not indented at all.

This question was posted in the HTML subforum rather than the WordPress subforum. It really belongs in the CSS forum, though. Basically there are two approaches:
--set a paragraph class with different values in areas such as margins and indendation. (I generally keep the bottom margin at 0, letting the work be done by the top margin of the second element.)
--set different values for all paragraphs inside a specified div. In fact this is one of the main functions of the <div> element: to make things inside it behave differently than things outside it.

I think i've got it. I'll give it a shot. Thanks!