Life is a game and just like a game, life can be challenging or it can be fun. If we get things right, both states can happily coexist at the same time. Games have a set of rules that we need to follow. In order to succeed at the game of life, we need to learn the rules and through experience, learn how to bend these rules to gain an advantage...if winning really is our goal.
So if we treat life in the same way as we do when playing a game, the resulting moves from non-skill game factors and an unlucky throw of the dice (which are said to be out of our control), can be mostly shrugged off. Some of the obstacles that influence our day and can negatively affect our mindset are easily shaken off if we put circumstances down to a bit of bad luck. Having a bad day? Think of these downturns in life as you would a game of cards – merely shuffle the deck and play out another hand!
Making Your Own Luck
Back in 2015, I wrote a short post about playing life as a game. Since that day, I've recognised a fair few times when the game mentality has helped me through a tricky patch. Generally, what I learned most from the unsuccessful game-play outcomes, was that I'd not prepared myself for the game in hand. I'd become reliant on chance and took it badly when the outcomes were less favourable.
When we allow 'luck' to provide a desired outcome, we are blindly hopeful at best. Luck, as it turns out, can be created. Luck is based on probability and preparation. Without understanding where chances for achieving our desired results deviate away from a 50/50 split, the outcome of success comes down to either one's ignorance or pre-learned knowledge of the facts. This is where decisions are weighted in our favour and chance, as opposed to luck, will play a hand. It's knowing when to play, so one's 'game' can be directed towards a more probable win.
The Child Mind
'Playtime' will help us cope with stress. Making 'serious' moments, seem less so, can make light of high-pressure situations – especially at work. But being playful, should can be beneficial for general health and should be a mind-state we choose. Certainly, pretend games of success like Monopoly, can be fun but role-play, tag or hide-and-seek can bring out the inner child. Studies have shown positive health benefits in adults who have forgotten how to play.
Being playful and therefore allowing our inner-child to surface, will greatly enhance creativity, keep our minds and bodies feeling/looking youthful, and energetic plus attract more positive people and bring about luckier outcomes in the game of life.
BUILDING A MINDSET Mindset is key – as our thinking defines our lives. We have a choice to be happy, to be successful, to be in control of our bodies, what we put in them and how we direct our energies. Our decisions and actions, spring forward from our mind state. Our hormones and health are all dependent on how we think. Negative thoughts will attract negative outcomes. Good thoughts will attract positive ones.
Positive Thought, Positive Action, Positive Life
The only truth, are the beliefs that we have, hold on to and follow to be true. Belief drives everything. That's why it's important to believe in something meaningful. If beliefs connect through to family, about having good friends, finding love, having a worthwhile job or enough money to enjoy life – the projection of these positive life-enriching attachments, originating in the mind – will manifest into reality. Attraction is the result of following our belief.
Our mindset is defined by what we experience, what we allow to enter the senses and how we interpret the information. Therefore, if we pollute our minds with poor quality information, we become influenced by negative imprints, which are the residue left remaining after the senses have absorbed the information. Like the saying, 'we are what we eat', the same is true about what information we allow in to the mind – we form and become what we believe.
Mind Filters
Watching violence in films, on TV, reading doom-saying newspapers, gossip mags, surrounding ourselves with negative influences – allowing disturbing imagery, people and situations to infiltrate our lives – this is how we accumulate negative energy and consequently develop a poor mindset. All information we surround ourselves with, including the people and conversations we partake in, will have an affect on our mindset.
If we can start the day on the right footing, we can influence our decisions and make considered choices right up until the time we sleep, which is the quality time we have to recharge our energies for the following day. This is why the most important times of the day are the moments after waking and the period just before going to sleep. If we can be more conscious of the content we absorb around these times, the chances of us influencing the rest of our day with a positive mind-state, will increase significantly.
The 20 Minute Reboot
When we wake in the morning, we have just a a few glorious minutes while the conscious mind is quietened, free from clutter and open to positive suggestion.
The first moments should be a quiet connection to the body, with a gentle waking of the joints, preparation of the endocrine/nervous systems and the senses ready for the day. There's two blissful exercises for pretty much all levels of fitness, which we can easily do, to physically set us up for the day ahead, plus a tonic to be drunk and some positive affirmations with breath work for all-round health benefits.
1. Tibetan Gymnastics
This gentle waking up of the endocrine system takes a mere 5 minutes. It should be carried out shortly after waking and before taking on any solid or fluid refreshments. I usually enliven my mouth with a small sip or gargle of cool water and take a bathroom interlude, then before the sleep has left my eyes, lay down on my back to carry out the exercises.
2. Health Tonic
After the gymnastics, take a glass of chilled water – infused with lemon juice or enlivened with a healing stoneand sip it mindfully. Following that, make a turmeric tonic for increased health. Infuse more lemon juice with a teaspoon of turmeric, a tablespoon of cold press vegetable oil and quarter of a teaspoon of pepper.
Charging the water with positive energy can be achieved with crystals. Keeping the water in the fridge and topping up every time you drink, ensures there's always some refreshing tonic to hand, even if there's not been time for any of the other morning routines.
3. Qi Gong
The next exercise, will tone the lungs, get the blood pumping through the legs and arms and set the mind focussed and calm. There are many exercises to choose from, but the 10 minute morning set by Lee Holden, is perfect for setting up the day.
4. Breathwork
We can survive for weeks without food, days without water but mere minutes without breath. So much of our energy comes from breath. Deep breathing, can help restore tiredness, improve circulation, fitness and if done properly, reduce anxiety and depression. Standing with the legs slightly wider than hip width, back straight and neck long, raise the arms up to the sides with the palms splayed and fingers pointing forwards. Ground yourself into the floor (bare feet best). As a reference, visualise Leonardo's Vitruvian man. Essentially, we want to make ourselves as big as we can, to take on as much energy as possible. Now take some deep breaths counting to 6 on the inhale and exhale, engaging the glottis at the back of the throat to really feel each slow and considered breath.
Affirmations
After charging ourselves with tonics and breathwork, speaking affirmations out loud – with true conviction (really believe the words as they are spoken) – will help to cement the positive mindset in place for the rest of the day. Choose two mantras each day (they don't need to change daily) and repeat each 3 times, focussing on the breath in and out, with powerful vocalisation of the words at every breath pause.
If there's a lot of stress and major upsets in life at this time, take an extra 15 minutes for yourself, to think about one of the happiest moments in life. Visualise the moment and re-live it over and over in your mind. The more lucid the thoughts, the more powerful the exercise will be to bring about a positive mindset where there may have been a negative one.
Gratitude
Before going to sleep, finish off the day with some gratitude affirmations. Be thankful for good health, love from family, friends and partners, a roof over your head, a full belly and the time to be in the moment – aware of the good fortune you have.
Mindful, carefully considered and applied thought processes, help us to make sense of the world around us. Conscious decisions based on sound judgment and reasoning will steer us on the right path in life. But deep thinking can be time-consuming, and energy-depleting and potentially even take us away from where our true desires intend us to go.
Before the mind's synapses get too heavily burdened with complex thought processes, take a moment to listen to that inner voice. Our intuitive brain understands our needs and desires the best of all. Registering that sensation, felt in the solar plexus area, can be helpful for quickly answering a life conundrum and provide us with the necessary early warning signals for making snap decisions when it really counts.
Reactive decisions can often be right. Gut feelings can steer us on the right path or divert away from danger, but because it's closely connected to our emotive state, it can also get us to make poor decisions. We should learn how and when to trust this pre-thought 'gut instinct' over the more complex thought systems if we are to avoid bad outcomes for more favourable situations.
Fast And Slow Brain
Our minds operate in both fast and slow modes. The fast mode references pre-learned or 'known' experiences in order to make quick decisions and the slower mode uses a process of reasoning with calculations to assess situations in greater 'depth'. The slower mind is mostly what we term the conscious brain. Our subconscious handles a lot of the autonomous processes we are mostly unaware of. When reading the environment and dealing with every motion taken throughout the day, the subconscious recall process accesses both implicit (learned) and explicit (sensed) memory.
The sensors on our body are primed for operation when we're awake (and some when we are asleep) Our entire body is covered in proprioceptors – sensors for pressure and temperature connected to our skin, hair, stabilisers within our ears for balance and in various safety sensors in our muscles to avoid injury.
There's a lot of information continually being processed, even when our conscious brain is engaged in other tasks. Our senses are on the alert for danger in ways we cannot fully understand. Our peripheral vision, for example, is working while we read this text. Depending on our level of general awareness, we may 'feel' that we're being watched or know instinctively when a person is approaching. We may already know if there's any danger. This is what we experience as hairs on the back of the neck or prickling of the ears.
Sixth Sense
How do we 'sense' when someone is looking at us from behind? Can this be put down to reflections, peripheral vision or something else? Our eyes give us away from a distance and the angle of the head and body of a stranger, when looking at us, can be picked up by our peripheral vision – but everyone must have experienced that moment when someone is watching from behind and we 'feel' their gaze. Fighter pilots were encouraged not to look upon the enemy pilots during a surprise attack, as there were clear instances when the other person would somehow 'sense' the approaching danger and change course. There are many studies been made into ESP and the paranormal and there's no clear evidence to suggest it actually exists. However, we should all recognise that a strange kind of inner knowledge does exist – an intuitive mind, which can and does make good decisions, when the seemingly rational mind comes to the wrong conclusions. Learn to trust it!
The brain is a complex structure, defining humans as the most advanced species on Earth. Our evolutionary path has been defined through the workings of the mind, to adapt, create and form social structures from which to flourish within. Mind is also a tool that, when used well, can unlock the potential for bringing much success in life.
Applied learning of what makes a man tick, can help to broaden the individual's mind. With such a wealth of discovery readily available to us – information on hand through libraries and so easily accessible via the internet, this moment in history brings even greater opportunities to expand our understanding of the world around us.
Many exceptional intellects have pondered what it is to be human and the learnings of these great thinkers, have helped shape our world. Philosophy has attempted to tackle the fundamental concepts of reality and existence. It's these philosophers before us, who have dedicated their lives to rationalising and discussing the subtle intricacies of what constitutes being human, – delving into constructs formed at the heart of society, studying foundations for living with the interplay of knowledge/values forging our very reason and purpose.
Understanding the make-up of man, is something the great philosophers have pondered for millennia. It served as a counter against religious schooling and was therefore a perilous pursuit for those who challenged dogma. People lost their lives standing up for what they believed. Many more great minds have debated the classics since antiquity and their thinking is founded at the heart of our modern-day societies.
Through advances made in science during the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, our great minds search beyond the atomic and deeper into the universe for answers on reality and existence. As religion loses its hold amongst the educated classes of the West, philosophy and the systematic approach to reasoning have also lost their allure as the prestigious pursuit it once was – at least for the time being.
Knowledge of the philosophies, forayed by the studious as academic tennis and recited for scholarly status is not the purpose for learning the philosophies. Studying the great philosophers and their work will help us to understand such things as good and evil, love, truth and lies. Questions such as: who am I, why are we here, is there more to life and such, are still just as current and relevant to the individual and therefore the investigations/discussions of these subjects, will not only improve cognitive function but also bring new insights into our own lives.
With a quick search, some great free podcasts, and youtube short videos can be found covering the great philosophers – with collections available for beginners and even complete works available online. For an in-depth understanding of Philosophy in book form, a selection of some books to read can be found.
For some on the path to enlightenment, the answer lies in simply being. Kant knew the answers lied within. The fool needs no books. No search is required. No quest. The answers are already known, we simply need to know we have already found them.
Truth is an illusion. There is no right and wrong. There is no objective reality – just perception. The only reality is the one you – and only you – believe.
Having a strong belief in something which can bring greater purpose and ultimately happiness into our lives, is where our energy should be focused. It doesn't matter what anyone else believes in, as it's only your perception that truly matters. If you believe it, then it becomes real.
The cycle of belief, purpose and happiness, all exist and continue to drive us forward. Believe in achieving a goal, take action with determination and a reward will materialise at the end of the work. But ultimately, there is no end, just another cycle of belief until we run out of what we believe in.
In a driven person, the Belief Cycle is a feedback loop between the person's conceptual ideas, the belief in the concepts, potential energy for success attainment, action for achieving and the results manifested. In this model, a cycle dictates that the results one achieves are in direct proportion to the actions one takes. The actions that one takes is determined by the belief one has in their own potential.
The directions our lives will take are all determined by our actions. Our actions follow our intentions, which are fuelled by desire. This means we truly can be the masters of our own destiny if we follow our hearts. To achieve goals, all we have to do is conceive the direction we want to go in, visualise the destination and believe in the outcome we most aspire to. Belief forms our mindset and from here onward, we can determine success or failure (self-defeating prophecies), by practising the right mindset.
Many people have learnt the power of intention through meditation, breathing and yoga practice. Others have discovered that good things happen, purely if we go along with the idea of achieving a positive outcome, even if we seem to 'know' it will turn out otherwise. These surprising effects are down to a phenomenon called the placebo effect.
Belief Follows Action
When we can switch off the busy chatter in our minds, quieten the berating, negative voices and focus on what our desires are – the belief that we can achieve happiness, success, positive change – or whatever the aspirations we choose, will be fuelled by our belief. Taking a blind step into the unknown takes courage. Belief will strengthen as we continue to take these steps.
Allowing the mind to quieten also provides the focus to tap into the energy force at the centre of our being – the heart – a place from where we can discover our role in bringing more meaning to our lives. We all have our place and all are worthy. What we desire, can take years of dedication and practice – it can also eat away at us if we ignore our calling. Sometimes, there are sacrifices to be made and we should never compromise on following what our calling is.
Being the world's greatest at achieving something amazing, is not something we should or even could all aim for. Everyone is different. Whatever our driving force, we all can achieve through a positive mindset. Being a loving parent/partner, a considerate, charitable and decent human being, are just as difficult and equally as rewarding pursuits if we put the effort in to be the best we can be.
Affirmations And Confidence
We are our own worst enemy when it comes to motivation. We are at times our harshest critics and at other moments, pumped-up blow-hards – both can affect self-effiacy and general confidence, which has a knock-on effect on our output levels/quality, enhanced through self-motivation or its counterpart – self-depreciation.
One technique to overcome this problem of negative self-efficacy is to start the day with positive affirmations. These needn't be 'confidence' boosters performed in the mirror, like repeating 'you are the greatest' etc. although a fair degree of self-confidence/esteem is required, to make the first steps – it's more about affirming the status quo from a factual point, whereby realising the positive elements about our lives. The starting point is to express our gratitude for all the positive things we have right now.
Being appreciative of our good fortune will immediately bring on a positive mindset. If we have good health, we are automatically in a very lucky group. If we have a roof over our heads, family, friends and love in our lives – we are in the luckiest group of all. From this standpoint, we can overcome any obstacle and gain the confidence to overcome hardship to achieve success.
The Internet is a wonderful tool. The links provided on this page are purely an example of the many great techniques and wisdom to be discovered with just a click/tap. Make up your own morning routine, practise it alone or with a loved one and see how this magical moment in the mornings can transform your mindset, for bringing greater confidence, meaning, and focus to your day and ultimately, the rest of your lives.
Sometimes, the best way to succeed is to fail. For if we never lose, how can we know what winning feels like? Taking on a tough challenge can highlight where strengths and weaknesses lie as well as where improvements can be made.
Perhaps, slowly over time, by simply turning up every day to learn these lessons of success and failure, we may eventually arrive at the optimum place for continued success, – purely through consistency.
Sticking To A Plan
Defining an objective, containing a series of steps for attaining a goal, is how we set in motion a plan for action. Self-management of our necessary work output to achieve these steps within a set time frame, plus closely monitoring the quality of all our efforts, will ultimately determine the measure of our success.
All tasks both great and small, will have a start and a finish line. Our will to commence, coupled with our determination to complete, are what motivates us to carry out tasks. No matter the size of the task, it is always how much effort we put in, for doing the task as best we can, that determines the most beneficial outcome at the finish.
However, for both big and small tasks, we may not always be able to attain such lofty levels of achievement and this can negatively affect the following attempts. So whatever the output levels may be - there is no greater focus, than for ensuring our tasks are carried out consistently well.
Slow And Sure
The story of the hare and the tortoise, is a clear message for those who believe going quick off the mark are less likely to cross the line before those who take their time.
In my 365 days of writing a daily diary/blog, there was an initial, enthusiastic burst of energy at the outset. As the first week's milestone passed, there was an increasingly intense burst of inspiration felt, to help elevate me from the bed at 5am. When the luxury of time allowed it, I'd scribe energetically from dawn until dusk. It was at times like these, with such gusto spurring me on to compose the many paragraphs of freshly acquired knowledge, that I realised, I'd effectively created enough foundation context in preparation for a good few mornings to come. And so, throughout the remaining 51 weeks, as the energy levels ebbed and flowed, I found some opportune moments, to sit back, take the proverbial foot off the gas and just cruise along for the ride.
I had my metaphorical moments of downhill free-wheeling, however, when it came to applying my determination and continued efforts to stay on track, I always managed to retain consistency. This is simply because I stuck fast to my daily blog writing to achieve my goal average.
The Mean Result
Consistency should not be a harsh tool for punishing ourselves with. It needs to be fair and considered. Consistency can be right or wrongly applied for following both good and bad pathways. Hence we can just as quickly undo any good work as we can for bringing any new benefits. So to be beneficially consistent, we need to have a moderator on the speed we work at, so we can still experience the exhilaration of optimum performance – a state of operation which works conversely well for countering those slower, but steadier paced slogs. Yes, we also can have the easy cruise - that's when we get to enjoy the ride most, as we observe ourselves being carried forward, effortlessly in the race towards our goals.
Ultimately, there is no single way to win - we need all of these ups, downs and in-between states, to flow in accordance with each other. Playing out goals consistently in this way, allows both the hare and the tortoise to cross the line together in joint first place.
Focus On The Doing
The real moral of the hare and the tortoise should be this: If we want to achieve our greatest work, we can't expect to accomplish this feat by plodding along or running at full speed. It's not achievable or realistic to do either method and win races all the time. Sometimes the efforts we put in, feel overly arduous or offer seemingly little reward. At other times, the efforts are as if no exertion has been expended at all to bring us the best result. Therefore, it surely matters less, how we approach each task's starting line or how we stride each step, but more so, on our need to remain consistent in our efforts right up to and through the finish line.
