Playing The Game Of Life

If you’re reading this blog, the chances are you’ve already (sort of) won the Life Lottery. By that I mean you were born with the basic requirements for a relatively safe, healthy and opportunistic life.

Myself also; though I was raised in a very working class area and my parents had little money to spend on extravagant things, I always had shoes, education, piano lessons, football matches, friends and an open green space to play outside with them. More than that, most nights we sat around the table as a family and ate a home-cooked meal together (something that’s becoming increasingly rare it seems, from what I can tell).

My family (or their ancestors at least) played the Game of Life fairly well, and yours probably did too.

However, the absolutely exciting (and at times terrifying) thing about Life is that there are ALWAYS other levels to reach, new dimenions to explore and different approaches with which to try…

As Ido Portal reminds us, the Game of Life is infinite. There are always other skills, qualities and techniques to master. One can never master them all, but to try is simply the BEST way of ‘wasting’ time; for discovering is the essence of being.

Some of my ‘strategies’ (or ‘games within the great Game itself’) so far have been:

> living for 6 months in India without any income, mobile phone, internet connection or formal responsibility / plan

> running a half marathon every day for a month

> living on the Camino de Santiago route with all of my belongings on my back for an indefinite amount of time

> fasting for 3 and a half days (water only)

> training 5/6 days a week for 5 months at Crazy Monkey Movement Studio (Ido Portal Method physical training)

> writing a novel of at least one hundred pages (somehow in my head it only counts if it’s over 100)

> leading two Tao of Movement workshops, with unique content each time, every week for 3 months

> walking and wild camping the entire Camino Primitivo (18 days and nights in total)

> running from the East of the Netherlands to the German Border (West) in 36 hours (145km)

Methods

This list is not intended for me to BOAST about certain achievements etc, although it is certainly fun to reflect upon some of the things I’ve done. The idea is instead to notice just HOW MANY different ways there are to play the Game of Life, and that obviously none of them are per se ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than any other.

It could be that certain sidesteps (relationships, fasting, retreats etc) can long term help to take you further on your most natural and ‘destined’ journey of all - in my case perhaps running, hiking, teaching or writing.

‘Fasting’ is an ancient practice of emptying, detoxing and disciplining oneself. Of course, it is not a sustainable long-term practice in itself (if one hopes to survive) but can be a helpful and even necessary sidestep for human beings to discover their true path and highest powers within themselves.

Trends

As the Game continues, certain trends seem to occur and re-occur , suggesting a certain destiny for each of us, or perhaps even particularly ‘Natural’ ways of living that apply to all of us, compared with others.

Walking (and running) seems to be a great example of this. It’s the most fundamental movement pattern there is, and so there is probably not a single person that does not both enjoy and deeply require the act of walking on a daily/weekly basis. For me, it is the glue that holds all other components of my Life together.

Equally, to relate with others, or rather to SEE and BE SEEN by other humans is also paramount. No matter what Games I’ve played, in hindsight they’ve always been about either distancing myself from ‘bad’ relationships (at least temporarily) OR getting closer to inspiring and meaningful others.

‘Noguchi Taiso’ is a pure, stripped-back movement discipline that reminds us how to move in line with the laws of Nature. Generally this means surrendering to gravity against the ground, but also the more subtle layers of efficiency in the mind and body. Walking in itself can be the same thing, in my opinion.

Surrender

I can’t help but thinking that the act of surrendering to one’s destiny is the Game beneath the Game. As expressed in the Tao Te Ching, the Path of Least Resistance, long term, takes you further down the right road actually. Whenever we try to force our hand at something, naturally, we come crawling back to our happy place again, a little broken and bruised.

By doing the easy thing, actually, we begin to transform, learn and grow in subtle ways that are both pleasant AND actually sustainable over time.

Generally, when I surrender for example, it results in the creation of a modest number of blogs, podcasts, short stories, workshops and outdoor adventures every week or month. It is my healthy detachment from any of these things that allows them to continue to slowly grow and flourish over time, and for my health and sanity to remain also.

Naturally, I also lose myself in moments, feel lost, lonely, confused and even depressed at times; and always it shows me where I am too invested into things or not invested enough.

I’m excited to say that my Surrender experiment seems to be leading me to learning Jiu Jitsu, the Ido Portal Method (again), Contact Improvisation (again) and the art of Costume Design and Performance also, alongside my talented housemate. Surrender being what it is however, means this could be a few weeks away, a few years or even a decade or more before it ever actually happens…

What happens when you really just ‘let go’? Michael Singer’s book is an inspiring story of where it can lead you…

Reflection

Try reflecting on your own Game of Life:

What patterns are there in the games you’ve tried so far?

Which ones are most natural / sustainable?

What sidesteps might you benefit from taking? (eg. a holiday, a temporary new diet or hobby etc)

Ask yourself, more than anything else, what is the EASIEST thing I could be doing today, this week and/or this month? That’s one way to re-connect to the Path of Least Resistance… to simply do the easy thing and go from there.

Happy playing Folks. And I’m sure the Game will lead you somewhere wonderful, or at least ‘interesting’, if nothing else…

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