A Game Of Cards
Vitally Important, Rarely Taught
Imagine you're sitting with friends to play a game of cards. If there are real stakes, you might feel a bit anxious when the cards are dealt. As you look at your hand, you could either feel lucky for good cards or curse your luck for a bad hand.
Randy Pausch, in his Last lecture said something profound:
We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
We're all aware of this principle, yet struggle to put it into practice
………
What if I told you that we're all dealt a set of cards on the day we're born? Each of us starts with different cards—some get good cards, and some get bad ones. You can call it luck or karma; it doesn't matter. The fact is, we all begin differently.
In this game of life, every morning we get to pick a new card from the deck. After careful consideration, we can decide which card from our hand to discard. This game never ends until we die, but we win or lose daily in terms of money, relationships, peace, health, happiness and love.
We can choose our attitude towards this game of life. Every morning, we have the free will to decide what to do with our set of cards.
Wise people have told us a few simple things to do while playing this game:
Always do the best you can.
Stay focused [mindfulness]
Choose your attitude [Stay positive. And see the footnote]
Manage your emotions. [Be a Stoic]
Believe in yourself. [Why not?]
Don’t attach yourself to the outcome. [I know this one is hard]
Learn from your mistakes.
In this game, dwelling on the past or the future holds little to no value.
Past - There's no point in lingering on the past and ruminating over past mistakes. Just learn from what happened. Remember, with the limited information you had at the time, you did your best. Don't equate a good decision with a bad outcome. Annie Duke in her bestselling book, “Thinking In Bets”, calls this phenomenon - “Resulting”.
Future - Likewise, it's not wise to constantly live in the future, expecting that receiving a particular card will solve all your problems.
Present - see below.
Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”―J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of The Rings
Life is a game of cards. Enjoy it.
Footnote: In his book, 'Man’s Search for Meaning,' Viktor Frankl says that
Someone can take away everything from us except our attitude. Our attitude is our choice.
Having something to look forward to keeps us going. [Those who lost hope in the Nazi concentration camps perished quickly]
He further states that there is no single answer to the meaning of life. Each person lives an extremely unique life and must discover their meaning for themselves. We find our meaning through our own circumstances and experiences. Life tests us, and the answer is revealed in how we respond.
It serves as a reminder that although we are all given different cards at first, we can decide how to play them each day. While we cannot alter the past or predict the future, we can maximize the present by doing our hardest, being committed, controlling our emotions, having faith in our abilities, and learning from our errors. It's about embracing the journey positively and not getting too attached to outcomes. Living is about taking it card by card and enjoying the ride.
Can’t thank you enough for this wonderful article💯Needed this reminder to keep moving forward in the game!