QUESTIONS FOR THE GAME OF  LIFE

“If you could eliminate one day from your past so that you never had to live through it, what day would you erase?”

 “If you could ask a single question of a dead relative, what would it be and of whom would you ask it?”

            These are two of the questions Peter and I found recently in a little book called “If. . . Questions for the Game of Life.”  Some questions are easy: “If you had the chance to make any one purchase that you passed up in your lifetime, what would it be?”  (No contest! The antique china we found on the Oregon coast 10 years ago but were too timid to buy.” 

            Others are challenging: “If you could choose the very last thing you will see before death, what would it be?”  (After much reflection I concluded that I’d most want to see a perfect, full-blown rose.)    

            Still other questions nudge us deeper:  “What is the one thing from your past about which you feel the most guilty?”  (OK, so I’m chicken – I pass!)

            It’s a fun game -- and yet I wonder:  what if I go further, take the initiative of shaping the questions I need to hear. 

            IF . . . I want to make this summer the best one of my life, what one attitude will I change now?

            IF . . . I truly believe that hope is possible and love is real, how will I let it show?

            IF . . . I want to live so that my values show,  what one thing will I do TODAY?

            Your questions may be different from mine, and your answers surely will.  But that’s the beauty of the “Game of Life”.  There are as many questions as you need.  And only YOU can shape the answers -  IF . . . you only take your values in hand and dare to begin.

BEGINNINGS ARE SELDOM AS COMPLICATED AS THEY SEEM

            Beginnings are seldom as complicated as they seem.  You know what I mean by “complicated" – the dates and the duties and the things-to-be-remembered, the stuff that piles onto your plate with a new project or obligation.   Whether it’s an urgent justice issue, a medical diagnosis forcing a changed lifestyle, or the work of starting a new job, the message is that a whole bunch of stuff HAS to be done, and you are the only one to do it, and do it NOW!

            NOT.

            What we’re talking about is STUFF.  Stuff doesn’t care how you feel, how busy you already are, or what you personally think is most important.  On the road of life, “stuff” is the tailgater, pushing you to hurry up, go faster, respond to its schedule at the expense of your own.  In life, as on the highway, Gandhi, teaches the best way to deal with a tailgater – slow down.

            When “stuff” presses you to move faster, accomplish more, or stress yourself harder than feels comfortable to you – STOP.  Just for a moment – or longer if need be.  Stop and breathe.  Reconnect with your personal values.  Take time to remember why you got involved in this project in the first place.

            Remember – YOU, not “stuff,” are in charge.  At the end of the day, what matters is who you’ve BEEN, not what you’ve DONE.

            That’s where the old saying about “eating the elephant one bite at a time” comes in handy.  At the beginning of any project, the question is not, “What has to be done?” but “What do I need to do right now, today?”  Focus your energy, and the universe will come towards you.   Taken one bite at a time, it’s true:  Beginnings are seldom as complicated as they seem.