PSYCHOSYNTHESIS VIA BEJEWELED BLITZ

I admit freely to some necessities in my life.

Oxygen - that's one.

Chocolate - but of course.

The Internet - I know I could survive without it, but why would I want to?

And Bejeweled Blitz.

It's one of those mindless but HIGHLY addictive games that you can download in a minute and waste hundreds - nah, thousands - of useful hours playing it.

These games are carefully designed - they obviously make money for someone. I love the following observations from a game designer about Bejeweled:

A bunch of social features -- leaderboards and achievements -- making it massively multiplayer in a lightweight but fun way - simple to understand; two clicks and you're in - presents a clear problem with a clear solution - provides an element of randomness / unpredictability / intermittent reward.  The reward system and its cascading consequences ensure that we achieve a variable but deeply satisfying result from our simple, clear action.

But the title of this blog (which hopefully drew you in) reflects a comment my oldest daughter made about playing the game (and since she normally at least doubles my highest score, I was paying attention):

  PLAY  THE  PIECES  YOU  HAVE,  NOT  THE  ONES  YOU  WANT.


This has helped my game considerably.

And I think it's also appropriate advice for life.

So much of our lives seems to be wasted in "what ifs" and "and only when" - it's sort of a refusal to deal with our lives at that particular moment.

We want certain pieces - the perfect companion, the ideal job, the right housing - and until we get those pieces, we by god are not gonna be happy or content or fulfilled.

While we miss out on the majority of our lives - waiting for those pieces.

Just a thought.