Embracing Your Hand in Life

Playing with the hand you’re dealt is about strategy and fun. No matter the hand you begin with, you can still play and have a winning hand. It is not about playing against others in life; it is about maximizing and creating the best you can with what you’ve been given. Unlike a card game, you chose the weight of the hand you’ve been dealt. Maybe not the exact combination, but definitely the cards you’ll be playing with—for the experience of it, for the fun in figuring it out, and for mixing it up with others.

You can play with some for a bit and then swap them out. Like chewing the flavor out of gum, you are never required to keep a card in play. At times, though, what may seem like dead weight—a card you can’t shed—becomes your ace in the hole, your best-kept weapon, so to speak. The surprise is in the deal, the game with others, not against them. The variety, even if only as touchstones in passing, enriches your life.

The people, places, and situations you encounter are in constant flux and flow. Rather than harbor animosity or angst toward anyone in your house of cards at the moment, notice their usefulness and the reason for its presence. Each component provides a gift for you, whether it is in opposition—prompting you to feel differently about a person, place, or situation—or in allowing you to feel the expansiveness of love just a touch more than you had experienced before.

Play each hand as though it is your favorite; enjoy the situation and the people you have in your hand now, as that is what you’re experiencing in the NOW. Play to win for yourself—the joy, the purpose, and the reasons you choose. In the end, you’ll all be scraping the winnings toward you, and there’s always another game.

You’re the dealer and the player, and the deck is stacked in your favor. You wanted it shuffled for surprise and delight.