If Life Is A Game? Why Fear? Let’s play it!
A game may be considered as an activity or an event that is played between two people or a group of people. And generally, there is a winner or a loser but there may also be exceptions like in a game of chess where both players find out that playing further doesn’t make much sense as the game will yield no result. Such game results in a TIE. The person who wins the game might have tears in his eyes so does the person who loses the game. The tears of the winner will be because he has achieved his goal and the tears of the loser will be due to the reason that his goal is crushed to pieces especially in the games which have gone till the end.
Even when small kids play games, they get excited when they win. Even if a father is playing with his son, he at times feels happy if he ends up as a winner. But we need to understand that no matter how hard people may try, sometimes they will win, and other times they will lose. But we need to have a proper attitude and keep respect for the game. This game is beautifully summarized by a famous quote, “SOMETIMES YOU WIN, SOMETIMES YOU LEARN”. We need to take every event, every moment, every situation in our life, and consider it as a game and as a new opportunity to learn.
LIFE IS BUT A GOD’s PLAY AND WE ARE MERE ACTORS PLAYING TO HIS TUNES.
Some situations will be favorable to us and others’ a bit difficult. But with every passing moment, the game keeps on changing provided we keep an open and a receptive mind. I recall a famous incident which I read in a book some time back. There was an examination for budding pilots and inspection was made about how they landed the planes in the open space. The person who took the ride first had a perfect landing as he had done since the last few times. The person who took the second ride again failed to make the perfect landing. He had now failed three times in a row but he was determined and was not going to give up.
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan
The manager was taken the opinion about the two candidates and the assistant told him that it was quite obvious that the first pilot was going to be selected. But the manager said that if they took one more test, the first pilot will not have proper landing and the second pilot would land perfectly. To everybody’s surprise in the next test, the second pilot had the perfect landing and the first pilot got it totally wrong.
The manager explained that it was not possible to maintain perfection every time. Once a peek time is reached then it will be followed by a downward slide and similarly whenever there is a dip in a performance, there is bound to be a positive improvement, provided the proper effort is made.
This example will pretty much summarize our whole life. There are bound to be moments which will let us down, push us to the corner, make us feel bad. But it means that good times are already knocking the door based on the law of averages. Similarly, if a person who is going through a wonderful phase of his life has to be prepared for tough times which may come sooner or later. Every event of life has to be considered as a game and we need to be ready to face any consequences but we need to have a big heart.
“The best workers, like the happiest livers, look upon their work as a kind of game: the harder they play the more enjoyable it becomes.” – Robert Baden-Powell
Stress, tension, and fatigue; are common ailments that have gradually entered the world. The word MENTAL ILLNESS is used more frequently these days than at any time before. It is great that people are honest and coming forward and confessing that they are suffering from this disease. And all MENTAL ILLNESS is not due to wealth. Wealth is just one of the factors. There are other reasons like poor relations with family or friends, breaks up in marriages or love affairs, poor habits which lead to bad health, issues related to job or business, fear that something bad is going to happen, etc.
The only way to live life is to understand that the game is going to change. It will never remain constant. It can never be steady and go at a uniform pace. People who are old and helpless were once upon a time great public personalities, Olympic winners, celebrities; but now the game has changed. So they need to accept the current moments of the game because those moments have become a part of a new game.
We need to RESPECT the game rather than trying to win it because WINNING and LOSING is nothing but a state of mind. The only method of playing the game is to take one step forward every time, not getting stuck anywhere and moving on. There will be challenges and glories waiting for you, but this should not stop you from moving on. The game has to be played with SPIRIT, RESPECT, FAITH, TRUTH, and LOVE.
