Solitaire

For the past several months, I’ve been playing Solitaire on my phone…sometimes to the point where I believe this to be a bit of an addiction…sometimes to the exclusion of other things I “SHOULD” be focusing on.

Last week, I decided if I’m going to play it, I’m going to find some life analogies and lessons in it. Of course I decided that. Just playing wouldn’t be productive, wouldn’t have a “good enough” reason.

You should know that when you open this game up, you can just continuously choose ‘New’ until you find a board you like.  The minute you touch any of the cards, or press Auto, you’re in the game.

Here’s the list of what I’ve come up with so far….by the way, now that I feel like I’ve come up with most of the viable analogies/lessons, I find I’m not so interested in playing Solitaire anymore…in more ways than one.

Solitaire

• Only move on things that feel good.
• There are a large number of things that feel good and if you pass one by, you’ll refine what you’re looking for and find something better.
• Sometimes if it looks pretty good you can still make a go of it but pay close attention to what goes wrong or right so you can use it to look next time.
• Look for possibilities and when you can’t see them maybe put it down and come back with fresh eyes later…
• …or get someone else to take a look.
• Don’t get too stuck and remember there are other things out there. this isn’t the only game in town.
• Sometimes when a board is interesting, you just go for it, even if it looks challenging.
• Shuffling the deck always gives you a new view.
• If you make some wrong moves, there’s often an opportunity to back up a few steps.
• And sometimes there’s even a way to restart a game, only this time you’ll have a little more knowledge
• If you start too fast sometimes you miss critical information and don’t notice something major is missing.
• When something stops being fun altogether, stop doing it.
• Few things are once in a lifetime opportunities. if you pass something by, another good thing will usually come along especially if you know what you’re looking for.
• All good opportunities don’t look the same. be open minded and curious about each one.
• When it starts pissing you off, put it down. or pay attn to why it’s pissing you off.
• When you keep getting bad hands or you don’t like playing anymore it time for a new game
• Sometimes even when you wait a long time to play, you don’t pick the right game.
• Don’t let the amount of time you took to choose a game influence your decision about walking away. If it’s the wrong game for you, it’s wrong.
• If you pass something by too quickly, and think after it’s gone by “Oops, that would have been a good one”, see if you can figure out why, then stop looking back.
• If you pass something by too quickly, and think after it’s gone by “Oops, that would have been a good one”, remember you don’t actually KNOW that unless you’ve played it.
• It IS partially about luck, but it’s MOSTLY about knowing what to watch for, and then having a strategy to win.
• You can still win, even when you’re playing the game alone.
• Doing something mindless is a good space to be for practicing mindfulness.
• It’s also a good place to be for solving larger problems in the background
• Analogies and life metaphors are available everywhere. even in solitaire.
• You can justify just about anything to yourself.

~ cj 2012.12.19