What Game are You Playing...?

​I have always had a love/hate relationship with board games. On one hand, I love coming together to play, have fun, and enjoy each other's company. But on the other hand, I hate it when the fun of the game turns into the kill of the competition.

I can remember family games of Monopoly as a child. How I loved playing with my older brother and sister...at first. But inevitably it would turn into a war of sorts between the two of them and I would find an excuse to leave the game and retreat back into my own little peaceful world of Barbies and stuffed animals.

I have had that same experience over and over again in this lifetime. I can remember starting new jobs and working with teams of people that I loved and enjoyed. But sooner or later the competing would start and things would turn ugly which was usually a signal to me that the time had come to move on.

Or was it?

Now that I am older I wonder if I was put in those situations to help change those environments. It has always seemed very obvious to me that life can be played one of two ways...like a competition, or like a cooperative effort.

If you are playing life from a place of competition it is filled with comparing yourself to others, proving yourself, a constant state of striving for what’s next, and a need to outsmart and win no matter what the cost. This breeds emotional ups and downs. It’s all about “success”...you are happy when you win and sad or angry when you lose. Mistakes become feared and avoided. Vulnerability is seen as a weakness so relationships become strained and distant. You may end up winning, but at what cost?

But if you are playing the game of life from the viewpoint that it is a cooperative effort you are going to see how each individual contributes to the whole, how your gifts are wanted and needed by others, how by contributing your gifts you can help lift everyone to a higher possibility, that surrounding yourself with people who are smarter than you is the best way to learn and grow, and that the easiest for you to win is to help others win too. This breeds emotional contentment. It’s all about being helpful...you are either focused in on helping yourself or focused out on helping others; the more balanced you are, the more content you will be. Mistakes become celebrated as an opportunity to learn and grow with the help of others. Vulnerability becomes your strength as it fortifies relationships by allowing others to be helpful to you. Everyone ends up winning.

When I was younger I felt like maybe I was the only one who saw the world this way and now I wish more people could see it this way because their lives would be so much more peaceful. And that’s why I am sharing it here with you today.
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I’d love to hear your thoughts…?

With love & light,
​Keli

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