Sunday, June 9, 2013

Winning the game of life


I like to win.  I mean, I *really* like to win, I’m extremely competitive.  If I’m playing with my grandkids, I’ll let them win once in a while, but I won’t like it.  A part of me will still be saying “he’s six years old, take that kid DOWN!”

Sports and games are fairly easy to determine who the winner is.  The person or team with the most points, the most money, maybe the least points (golf) or the shortest time period (races) is the winner.  Everyone else loses.

The other day, I got to thinking – how do you win the game of life?  When you get to the end, what would be considered a “victory”?  Life isn’t a game with only one winner, we all have the chance to leave a lasting legacy if we so desire to.  Winning the game of life will be different for everyone, but thinking about what you personally would consider a “win” might open your eyes a bit.  It certainly did for me.

The question I asked myself when trying to determine my criteria for winning the game of life was “What are the most important things to do while on earth to view my life as a success?”… My list:

  • CONSCIOUS CONTACT WITH GOD: For me, everything starts here.  Seeking God’s wisdom and guidance is the number one most important thing in life as everything else flows from this.  Without consciously seeking God’s guidance on a regular basis, decision making can be very unclear as it isn’t always so easy to tell which voice in your head is that of God and which is that of the ego.
So, if conscious contact with God is the number one most important thing in life, it certainly must be where I devote most of my time and effort, right?... Not even close.  Right out of the gate, this is a huge eye opener for me.

The ego is very good at creating a lifestyle that edges God out.  Edge God Out = EGO.  I truly believe that if we could open our minds to what God’s will is for us we would find ourselves blessed at levels beyond our comprehension.  And therein lies the problem – how can we receive anything that is beyond our comprehension?

Receiving God’s gifts takes faith, faith at a level so high that it will sustain you through the fear of making the necessary changes to allow you to live the life God willed for you.  Faith this strong needs to be worked on, cultivated and sought after.  It comes from having a strong relationship with God.

To me, the most important thing in life is conscious contact with God.  If I get to life’s finish line and look back and see that I built a strong relationship with God, really got in touch with His will for me and followed that path to the best of my ability… I’ll consider that a win.

  • IMPACT AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE IN A POSITIVE WAY: I love the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”.  One of my favorite parts from that movie is when they show Jimmy Stewart’s character what would have happened had he never been born, how many lives he impacted in a positive way.
People generally fall into one of two categories, either “What can I get?” or “How can I serve?”.  The people who have the greatest success in life focus on “How can I serve?”

The “What can I get?” mindset will never understand the “How can I serve?” mindset except in a way that they will try to take advantage of for their own personal gains.  If you’re focusing on how you can get something for nothing and/or scam your way through life, then people with the “How can I serve?” mindset are perfect targets, right?  They want to help.

Often there are lessons to be learned on both sides when the two interact.  The “What can I get?” mindset needs to learn that by switching to a “How can I serve?” mindset everything they seek would come to them much easier.  The “How can I serve?” mindset often has to learn that when dealing with a “What can I get?” mindset often the best help is no help at all.  When you give somebody something they didn’t work for they won’t really appreciate it.

I want to help anyone I can anyway I can, always.  Whatever situations are put into my life, I seek God’s will and look for how I can serve and/or what the lesson is for me.  Looking back on my life and seeing that I did the best I could to help everyone I could, in any way possible, would be considered a win for me.

  • LOVE, JOY AND PEACE: I don’t want to look back at my life and see that my days were spent full of anxiety, worry and depression.  Hatred, fear and anger held such a strong hold over me for so long that I continually struggle to not let them gain a foothold in my life again.  I’m calling my book “FEED YOUR ANGEL” because I believe the best way to address this is to focus on what is going right in your life, to look at what is possible and to see that with God by your side there are no limits to your potential.
As creatures of routine, we dig ruts in our lives.  Every day we travel through a rut it gets deeper and deeper.  Most ruts are ego based and full of anxiety, worry and despair.  The deeper the rut, the more fear involved to climb out and head a different direction.  Humans have ruts running through many areas of our lives – relationships, work, money, and mindset.  I dug a mindset rut for myself that I continue to dig out of every day.  Some days the rut still wins.

Living from the place within you that knows only love, joy and peace isn’t necessarily as easy as it sounds.  Jobs and family have demands, demands can cause stress, and stress feeds on anxiety, worry and fear.  If I don’t spend a lot of time focusing on what is good and right with my life, I will inevitably start to slide.  The ego is a powerful force that will seep in wherever it sees weakness, doubts, fears, worries and anxieties.

Mindset is a daily struggle for me.  I know that if I really want to impact the lives of others in a positive way, my mindset has to be focused on what is good and right.  Love is the emotion that impacts others.  Love, excitement, passion – these are the qualities I wish to exude.

I would be very satisfied if I thought, at the end of my life, that people saw me as a loving, energetic person who lived passionately from a position of love, joy and peace.

So, that’s my list.  I will win the game of life by increasing my conscious contact with God, following His will for me to the best of my ability, helping as many people along the way that I can by living my life focusing on love, joy and peace.

It is my hope that my list will help you find yours and that we all get to the end of the game of life as winners.

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