The Game of Life

"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it," said Jack Handey.  We all have been there at some point in life; we tried or are trying to see how life works and like Mr. Handey, there are times where life is just confusing and you don't get it.  We want to do well in life and live a satisfied and purposeful life; we want to leave this planet with a positive notes on it and not having any regret.  There are days where life does not make any sense and we wish we can make order out of the chaos that are surrounding us; we get frustrated whenever we run into some sort of unexpected situations and wish they would be solve by themselves.  If there is a magic wand that can make life more beautiful and more bearable, we would jump right to it and put it to good use. However, there is no such thing as this magic wand, so as a result, we have to play this game of life no matter what. We discover that we have to play it well especially if we ran into situations where frustrations are rampant.  In order to win this game of life, we have to play and we have to play smart, no matter what.

Here are a few steps I discovered on how to play this game of life well:

1. Know the rules- In order to know the rules of the game, we have to observe. Observe, observe, observe.

2.Know how things work in life- Know how each part of life works and functions and how they are related. We need to know how people, things, and everything on this earth work and how they fit in the whole picture of what we call life.

3. Set goals- In order to set goals, we have to know what is important in life.  From my own personal experiences and from constant observation, money and relationships are the most important parts of life because they determine our success--or what Americans call success-- and happiness in life.  There has a to be a balance between those two components in life and they are different for each individual.  Knowing what we want out of life will help us decipher what is important and our personal experiences will help us key to what they are.

4. Play smart- We cannot sit passively and expect good things to happen: we have to be proactive.  How?  We have to come up with strategies; like the game of chess (or any board games and sports), knowing the rules of the games is not enough, strategizing will help the players win the game.

Someone once said life is simple but it's not easy.  How hard or easy life is depend on your way of living and how smart you live.  You can decide to be proactive or life will just happen, when you let life to just "happen" you are wasting away years of opportunities that can turn into chances to live a better life.