Reaching Success

     It is impossible to reach success without hoping for it. Hope is based in expectation; if we desire something enough, it will create an expectation that brings hope.
Hope is a powerful emotion, it initiates action and is a catalyst for change. Hope is the attitude we bring to life that most realistically reflects the nature of our expectations. In other words, hope is the filter through which we assimilate the mundane. It is a motivating emotion, it causes action and reaction.

One of my favorite games to play around the Holidays is Nertz. Nertz is a fast-paced card game that requires quick thinking and primed reflexes. If you want the full rules, go to this link: Rules
Basic info:
     3-8 players
     Each player gets their own deck--each deck has to have some unique marking so it can be identified at the end of each round.
Setup:
     Take out the jokers.
     Four cards face up and a stack of 12 cards with the top card face up.
     Keep the rest of the deck face down in your hand.
Objective:
     Play all 12 cards in the stack out in the middle and yell "Nertz" before anyone else can.
Rules:
    Shuffle every third card in your deck, use when possible and when you can't use your middle cards.
    Fill decks starting from A and going to K, as fast as possible, working off of what other people have put down.
    Any betrayal is appropriate, except for purposely pushing someone's cards off of the table. ("purposely" being the operative word.)
   

In short, Nertz is like a bunch of games of Solitaire going on at the same time with a bunch of people trying to complete the decks first.

Nertz is my bread and butter, and combined with my perfectionism tendencies and my vigor for life, it becomes a perfect way to learn valuable lessons, because I become super involved in the game.
    
While visiting family over Thanksgiving, I had taken a nap and walked in on a group of people playing Nertz. I immediately joined in and proceeded to win the next several games. As a result, I was banished to the far side of the table, where it was harder to reach the cards. I started to loose games. Here is a sampling of the thoughts that ran through my head:

            "What if I'm not actually good at this game and it was just where I was sitting?"    

            "Why can't they accept that I'm good at this game and just leave me alone?"

             "Why am I so bothered about loosing?"

             "I think my mojo is off." 

             "If only I was confident enough, I could get over my fear and start playing well again."

             "I feel like I've frozen and my brain's not working."

             "Is there a way to balance confidence with desperation?"   

In thinking on it in more detail, I realized that this was a classic example of confidence vs. ego, or faith vs. arm of flesh. How was I to be confident in my playing and in the outcome of the game without making it an issue of my winning? I took a break to collect my thoughts then returned to the game later in the day with these new questions in mind. I noticed that the more I focused on exactly where to put my cards, the slower I worked. It was when I was willing to take every opportunity to lay down any card, and not put my hopes all onto one occurrence that I started to win again.

Living life with hope means expecting that every situation has something beneficial and even wonderful to offer you, even when you are getting hemmed in on every side. We need to believe in the overall outcome, choose what we want from life, then assume that everything that happens will help us get there. Anything else, and we are allowing things to happen to us, rather than for or with us. The only difference is the amount of hope we allow into our lives.

Hope is the greatest the feeling of control we will ever experience in our lives, because it is the ONLY emotion that allows us to make sense of things that don't go according to plan without compromising the pure and distilled dreams of our souls.