The Beautiful Game We Play

Before you scroll down to see how long this is, it's long...

However, if you apply the one principle in the amazing game I'm writing about today, I can promise you it truly is a game changer....

For whatever you may wish to change in your game.

Note: I've intentionally included detail and metaphors because without them , the concept is too simple to grasp. I recommend reading slowly and in full.

I came across this incredible game a number of years ago.

In an old, unassuming, grey, wooden box.

The label inside the lid is torn and faded but I can still read most of the words..

“The Game of Your Life is based on the laws of nature and physics.

As a player in the game, you cannot change the laws.

But you are free to ignore them and pay the price...

However, if you play the game in alignment with the laws and consistently choose from love, you can't help but win as you’d love to…

Because the laws of nature are laws and your nature is love."

This all sounded a bit weird and woo-woo to me but I was curious.

And, as I took each of the items out of the box, my curiosity grew.

First out of the box was:

> A large, green, felt mat.

Followed by:

> A torch marked “floodlight”... with a long, fluorescent tube down the side.

> A box containing a vast quantity of thin, clear, plastic rectangles on tiny, little stands. Hand-written on the side of the box was the word: “Lenses”.

> Another box marked: “Shadows” .... containing an endless assortment and array of tiny, moulded, plastic shapes in every conceivable colour.

I wondered why the 'shadows' were colourful and not dark and grey.

> A painted, metal figure about 2 inches high... (with a white sticker on its back printed with the words “creator / witness”….. and a bright red sticker on its front in the shape of a big heart).

> A plain, brown envelope containing a single sheet of paper titled...

"Instructions for Playing The Game of Your Life"

The wooden box was now empty…

Looking at the contents on the floor, I was enthralled...

The instructions were quite clear.

> Unfold the mat and place on a level surface of your choosing.

> Place the “floodlight” along one side of the mat with the bulb facing the mat.

> Switch the floodlight on.

Your stage is now set.

> Note: The floodlight has a limitless supply of light so you don’t need to think about this during the game.

> Just leave it to shine. It's constant and never flickers or waivers.

> You'll notice the floodlight illuminates the entirety of the mat and there are no shadows.

I noticed. It was a lovely, warm, bright light and there were absolutely no shadows.

The instructions continued…

You use the ‘lenses’ to cast the ‘shadows’ on the mat.

When you place any lens on the mat, it will immediately filter and refract the light and cast corresponding shadows.

Different lenses cast different shadows.

The shadows are also called “effects”.

Shadows are the ‘effects’ of the lenses you put in front of the light.

OK…

Light > Lenses > Shadows / Effects.

Got it.

Playing shadow puppets as a kid came to mind.

Light > Hands > Shadow on the wall.

OK

Back to the instructions…

The little figure in the box marked “creator / witness” represents You as the player in the game.

You are the ‘witness’ and observer of all of the shadows / effects being cast by the lenses.

The effects include people, objects, situations, events and circumstances.

Essentially everyone and everything that appears is a shadow.

Without the lenses, there are no shadows. There’s only the light and the mat.

And without you, there are also no lenses.

Because it's the law of nature.

You can't have an effect without a cause.

I read the last few sentences again... twice.

Ok, the light is always on but if there’s no witness, there are no lenses and also no shadows.

So, the player puts the lenses in front of the light and the shadows then appear.

And the player also witnesses the effects of the lenses they have placed.

Got it.

No player, no lenses, only the light and the empty mat.

So, the player is both the cause and the effect.

This was sounding interesting.

I went back to remembering shadow puppets in a bid to anchor this in my mind.

The light is on regardless but without my hands in front of the light, there’s no shadow on the wall.

And without me, there are obviously no hands and no observer so there would be no shadows.

There would just be the light.

Got it.

So, when playing shadow puppets, my hands are really the lenses. They're like filters.

Make a rabbit shaped 'lens' with my hands and it filters the light and casts a rabbit-shaped shadow on the wall.

But my hands don't have autonomy of their own - they need me, the player, to choose the shape!

Cool, so it's as if I'm the director, script writer, lead actor, all the other parts and the audience too.

Now, I could see why the sticker said: “creator / witness” and not just creator or witness.

I didn’t quite know where this was heading but I was more and more curious…

I looked at the box containing the vast number and variety of tiny, colourful, ‘shadows’.

As I looked more closely, I could make out…

Cars, houses, shops, offices, jobs, people, adults, children, friends, colleagues, social media, dogs, cats, trains, trees, plants, banks, furniture, bars, restaurants, beaches, hotels, incomes, hospitals, airports, money, clothing, jewellery, customers, clients, contracts, road works, etc., etc.

It appeared to be an ‘infinite’ array.

I even spotted a couple of plastic traffic wardens! ????

One looked friendly and one didn't!

I rummaged some more and I came across a whole load of little plastic feelings too.

Sad, excited, angry, happy, thrilled, disappointed, frustrated, etc.

So feelings were effects too?

Feelings were also shadows?

Ok, Got it. (Kind of).

There were so many more effects in the box - more than I could count in a lifetime.

Thankfully each one had tiny but clear text printed on the back to confirm what it represented.

I grabbed a handful and read the text on each of them…

> The client says no to our proposal.

> I’ve been invited to a party.

> I shout at the kids.

> I feel anxious.

> I’m going to the Taylor Swift concert.

> The client has renewed their contract.

> I drank too much at dinner and regret what I said.

> My partner tells me I’m grumpy and inconsiderate.

> I had an amazing holiday with the family.

> I feel confident and happy.

> I celebrate another record quarter in the business.

> We’re living in our dream home.

> I pick up my new car.

> I get a parking ticket.

> My partner tells me they love me.

> The traffic warden lets me off.

OMG....it was mind-boggling.

Like Monopoly but on steroids.

All possibilities seemed to have been considered and included!

Back to the instructions...

Now the twist in the game is with You, the creator / witness.

You begin the game by placing a large number of shadows / effects on the mat.

And these are based on your ‘real-life’ shadows, effects and circumstances!

So pick them out of the box now and put them on the mat.

There was a list of categories to help me…

Money, investments, career, free time, income, business, car, garden, mortgage, partner, wife, husband, kids, family, health, clients, age, friends, golf game, holidays, hobbies, fitness, feelings, etc.

WOW….

Twenty minutes later I was looking at a miniature representation of my life…

…in coloured plastic on a brightly lit green mat.

Seeing what represented all that I Loved about my life…

And seeing what represented some of the stuff I may prefer to be different or would prefer not to be on the mat at all.

Back to the instructions...

If you now have all your ‘shadows’ on the mat, go to the box marked “lenses” and find the lenses to match the shadows / effects.

I wasn’t quite sure what this meant but I soon did.

Looking into the box marked 'lenses', I picked up a handful of the tiny rectangles.

The strange thing about them was they were almost invisible to the eye.

They were so transparent that had it not been for their white stands and the micro-font text printed on each stand, they’d literally be invisible.

The first one I looked at said:

Growing business is easy and enjoyable.

The next said:

Business is tough and not much fun.

The next..

My partner is loving and supportive.

My car is always letting me down.

Finding good people for my business is hard.

I never have enough time.

Clients always take forever to pay.

I always have plenty of time.

Finding great people is easy.

I am strong, fit and healthy.

Business is great.

Losing weight is hard.

Parking in town is impossible.

I was beginning to see!

The lenses were like mini, mental stories.

They were beliefs and assumptions.

Some lenses appeared to be statements of truth and fact...

They were the same as the shadows but now I knew why.

Cause equals effect. Sometimes, it's just not very obvious!

Some lenses were self-empowering and aligned with what I love.

And others were more aligned with struggle and difficulty or with what I might consider ‘unlovely’.

Looking at the portrayal of my life on the mat, I put the handful of lenses back in the box and found the ones that matched my shadows.

I was now getting the picture.

Lenses dictate the shadows.

Shadows are never independent of the lenses. They appear to be but it's not how it is.

That's the game!

And the lenses depend on me. I put them there!

This was a clever game - we were starting by working backwards from the effects, not towards them!

I was suddenly seeing my inner world in a whole new light.

Literally.

It was exciting…

Am I really that powerful, I wondered?

Does what I give my awareness to really get reflected out there and project corresponding shadows?

Am I really just looking in the mirror all the time?

And am I actually free to choose my lenses, regardless of the shadows?

I turned the instruction sheet over…

It clearly stated:

As the witness you are 100% free to choose and swap any lens at any time regardless of what the shadows on the mat are.

You’re also 100% free at any time to choose a lens to match any shadow or effect you want to see on the mat.

THE TWIST

As the witness starting out in the game, the twist is you don’t necessarily recognise the shadows are the projections of your lenses…

You’ve not yet "re-membered" with your power.

You've not yet "re-cognised" it…

So you’re not aware of just how powerful and free you are to create the life you Love.

And, in playing the game without this awareness, you also don’t recognise that you are always being moved to witness and experience your own shadows and effects….

Because as the player, your body is an 'effect'.

You're always moving based on the lenses you're consciously or unconsciously choosing.

But, as a new player in the game, you still believe you have freewill beyond your lenses.

Most of the time you don't re-cognise your own lenses.

You still believe effects are somehow independent.

So, the idea of the game is that the 'witness' initially runs about trying to create the shadows they’d love.

But they’re mostly attempting to do this by trying to move, change or manipulate the shadows.

Because they believe the shadows are separate!

And then - because they're fighting their own reflections in the mirror and fighting the laws of nature - they wonder why they find it so difficult and tiring.

Or triggering. Or why things often become so much more challenging.

So they may then unknowingly re-enforce the lenses which are projecting the very shadows they don’t want.

And, unless their efforts in attempting to manipulate the shadows happen to help them knock over an existing lens and pick up a new one, they get stuck or shadows spiral.

Because, if the player unconsciously switches a lens, they believe it was manipulating the shadows that created the new shadow…

And then they’ve not learned the only lesson that's required to win the game!

So they must remain on the hamster wheel...

Lost in the world of shadows.

Literally!

And they may continue reacting to their own projections and striving to change the shadows at the level of the shadows...

Whilst continuing to tell stories about the shadows...

And unconsciously putting new or even stronger lenses for what they don't want on the mat.

Unaware the shadows are only ever showing them their own lenses in the first place...

So the shadows don’t shift.

Because how can they?

Shadows can only move and morph relative to what’s casting them.

And so, without the witness being aware of cause and effect, they’re very likely to feel stuck or frustrated and to keep reacting to the mirror.

And they may then take action to try and remedy their feelings, unaware that how they're feeling is also a shadow!

Unaware that how they feel is simply an effect of the lens they're looking through and what they're imagining!

So, unaware of this, they strive away in the world of shadows complaining or blaming or hoping or trying to move their own shadows whilst believing they’re separate from them.

And they may keep getting up every day striving and battling to outshine or outperform their own lenses.

Which is simply not possible.

So, is 'I AM' both the cause and effect, I wondered?

Yes, and as the game goes on, the idea is that you see this more and more so you can then live more and more consciously from Love.

You get to choose your lenses, and the shadows - which include all you're moved to do - look after themselves.

What you do and how you move is always an effect or shadow.

Wow, great - I was all set to play…

Back to the instructions..

Now that you're ready to begin, please place all of the contents back in the box...

WTF?

Because, now you know how the game of life really works, you can go and play the Game of Your Life in harmony with Love and the Law of mind.

And, if you ever decide to choose a lens of:

"Having a guide in the game is really valuable"..

Because this helps me more quickly and easily choose the lenses which align with what I would now love to see...

And it helps me to keep adjusting my lenses to project more and more of the shadows I love... including the ones for how I feel every day...

Then, give Rob Begg a call.

Apparently, he's a leading expert when it comes to lenses!

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