ILWAG 3

If Life Were A Game, These Are The Rules
(picking up on Rule 5, p. 62)

Embrace your role as a perpetual student during your lifetime. Learn to accept that you will always be learning, never to completely master everything there is to know. Stay humble and don't let your ego make you view yourself as superior.


 * Commitment: Devotion of yourself to something or someone and staying with it until completion- no matter what.

*Flexibility: Being adaptable to change.


 * Gratitude: Being thankful for and appreciative for what you have and what you are being given.


 * Deattachment: The ability to accept divergent outcomes to any specific event.

Have pride in yourself and your accomplishments, but without arrogance.

The present is only a temporary phase that is constantly shifting into what was. Flexibility is an essential skill that allows us to change ourselves and our paradigms over time to keep in sync with the outer world. Appreciate the present even as you strive for a better future. Let dreams and ambitions enhance your present life but not rob the "now" of its own joy. The challenge is to focus on the present while maintaining a commitment to our goals.

One of the most common human fears is scarcity. Scarcity consciousness involves trying to compensate for an unhappy inner life with people and things outside ourselves. We have a habit of hording more than we need or desiring "more" regardless of what we actually have, trying to prevent scarcity. Peace comes from appreciating what we have and accepting it as abundant rather that endlessly desiring or amassing "more". Quality vs. quantity.

No amount of external objects, affection, love, attention, fame, money, etc., can fill an inner void. Only self-love, self-acceptance, keeping commitments to ourselves, and practicing the life skills being pulled together in these notes can heal deficiencies in our psyche and spirit.

Gratitude is a skill that needs to be consistently practiced.

When we practice detachment, we are able to release our belief that "there" is any better than "here." Desire for "more" (love, money, status) is one of the major causes of unhappiness and discontent. Detachment isn't equivalent to disinterest or disregard. Instead, it means remaining open to divergent outcomes and opportunities rather than trapped in a desire for one specific experience.

A true sense of security and wellbeing comes from grace, not attachment to any person, idea, or thing. Happiness and opportunity can show up in a form very different from what we expect.