The Ultimate Chess Game

Playing chess is a fascinating activity.

Heavy concentration
is required…
watchfulness…
diligence…
and strategy.

The chess player is responsible for decisions on all of his moves, for determining when and where he will act and for intuiting, if possible, what his companion chess player will do next.


To put it simply, the chess player makes his moves based on careful planning.


MAKING chess moves is pretty hard work. No down time here. Just plenty of concentration and mental strategy.



Now let’s consider another kind of chess game…one that requires NO mental exertion…that does not engage the mind but only the HEART.


In this chess game the player does not MAKE the moves. He WATCHES the moves as they happen.


Let’s translate that into everyday terms.

It’s so very human to always have our GAME ON so we can react to whatever is occurring. GAME ON means checking on what someone is doing or about to do, trying to figure out their plan (which is changing second by second) and being ready to DEAL…to counteract…to turn things to our advantage.


But what if instead of MAKING the moves... our chess game was the opportunity to just WATCH the moves of others.


Not watching with an eye to What does this mean for me but rather watching in an objective, interested, curious, fascinating, full-of-wonder way.


In other words…watching life unfold…watching things interPLAYING (caps there on purpose because I am talking about moments of fun and revelation…playing…enjoying what each other is doing…wondering what interesting thing everyone will do next that will give us more information about his uniqueness and personality.)


We learn so much when we stop moving things around for our OWN purposes and WATCH them move around on their own…playing out the scenarios of others’ lives.


If we are only engaged in moving things around for our benefit…we may become stronger in our skill…we may be riding the high of our already significant prowess, but what have we learned about the world and each other?


By WATCHING the chess pieces (people we encounter in our lives) instead of MOVING the chess pieces…we are taking advantage of ALL of the lessons available to us in this fascinating human playground of richness, variety, surprise and deep emotion.




Chess image from ClipartHeaven.com