The Game of Life
This morning I was playing a game of Spider Solitaire on my computer, and it occurred to me that Life is a bit like a game.
In any game, the aim is to win. The definition of winning is determined by what game you are playing, and you have to play the hand you are dealt. Sometimes you get a good hand, sometimes not so good, but you've got to make the best of it.
The hand I was playing this morning wasn't the best, and I was feeling a little stuck, so I clicked on the "suggest a move" label. Neil, my husband, says this is cheating, but I'm not so sure. If you are stuck and can't find a way forward, what's wrong with asking for a little help?
The computer was very obliging, and immediately suggested a move that I hadn't noticed, even though it was right there in front of me!
How often does that happen in life? You come up against a problem and you can't find a solution no matter how hard you try. Most of us are so resistant to sharing our hand and asking for help, but a problem shared is a problem halved, and very often someone who isn't quite as close to the problem can see solutions where we can see none.
Another thing that I noticed is that the computer allows for "do-overs". I could "undo" moves that I had made and make a different move. The game penalised me a point every time I did this, so it cost me, but it allowed me to correct my mistakes and change the course of my game.
The computer even goes so far as to allow you to completely restart the game if you chose to. Isn't that fantastic! And yes, we get to do that in the game of life too. Every day is a fresh opportunity. We can't erase the past, but we start every day with a new beginning, a chance to start over!
Playing games is meant to be fun, and so is life. If you don't like the game you are playing, why not try a different game?
There are all sorts of games out there, games to suit everyone. Ball games, board games, card games, word games, games of strategy, games of chance, games of skill, games you play alone, team games.
We get to chose what games we play, and we get to chose how we play. We can use strategy, logic and reason, we can rely on skill or luck. We can even lie or cheat, (some games even rely on it) but beware the consequences of being caught! Some games we win, and some games we lose.We can be poor winners or poor losers, good winners, or good losers.
At the end of the day though, it doesn't matter so much whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game, and if you've had fun along the way!
With my Spider Solitaire, I lost more than I won, (I'm sure the game's rigged), but I had fun playing it, I learnt some stuff along the way, and yes, I'll be back on there tomorrow trying to beat the odds!
Happy Day!
