Beyond Winning

You fill one journal, only for another to begin. It is an endless cycle. The game of journalling is never meant to be won. It reminds me that some of the most important and rewarding games in life can’t be won. They are not supposed to be won, they are supposed to be played. Played for the sheer sake of playing.

Consider marriage as an example. The objective isn't to win at marriage. What would that even mean or look like? The true goal is to be fully involved in the ever-shifting landscape of the partnership. Similarly, a yoga practice also embodies this idea. The game of yoga is not about winning at life or only being a success by achieving advanced poses like headstands or handstands. Instead, it's a continuous game of moving your body, mind, and breath into union. Recognizing the ever-changing nature of your human experience and embracing the unchanging core within you.

Renowned yoga teacher Richard Freeman beautifully puts it, “Life is a game. We are trying to become who we already are.” It's about shedding the layers of ego and attachment, stepping into the authentic self that has always been there. By immersing ourselves in the practice, we momentarily transcend the physical body and connect with the passenger within. We see ourselves, within ourselves, through ourselves.
Yet reaching this state of transcendence doesn’t mean that we have won the game. The moment we expect to feel the same all the time we have lost the essence of the game we are playing. Through our attachment to the ego that tends to objectify our experiences we lose never-ending games that can lead to inner turmoil.  Instead of trying to hold on to how things already are, continue to adapt, change, live, love, and along the endless way of trying you might pick up some little gratitude.