Life as a game of Solitaire

Often in the evening, to “soften me up” and get me to sleep, or when I don’t sleep at night, I get out my old iPod and play Solitaire.

Don’t judge me and don’t tell me that blue light prevents sleep! HAHAHA! For me, who sets the brightness to a minimum, it’s just the opposite.

And I keep doing it because it keeps me from THINKING. You know the little hamster that rolls around in your head? Well, I keep it busy with this game.

I move the cards to make sequences and try to do it as quickly as possible to beat my records. Without forcing or stressing.

I’ve already managed to complete the suites in 51 seconds! 51 SECONDS!

On the table of statistics for the 15 fastest successes, I see that my slowest performance was 57 seconds.

Why am I telling you this? Not to brag (although I do think I’m pretty efficient! HAHA), but to share with you a thought that came to me over the weekend as I was completing suites in one minute and others in over 2 minutes.

The FLOW

You know that expression, being in the flow? When everything’s going swimmingly, when the stars are aligned, when everything’s just right.

In short, when everything we do works perfectly. Flow is like a freshly paved road on which there are few cars to slow us down or stop us. It’s a smooth ride. See the image?

I’ve found that, on the occasions when I manage to do the suites in a minute or less, nothing seems to slow me down. The cards are easy to place. I quickly SEE what’s possible. My finger is nimble and moves quickly across the touch screen. And best of all… Most of all, I seem to be out of time.

I’m always amazed at the results, because I lose track of time. That minute seems like an eternity! It seems to me that I’ve taken much longer to complete all the sequences, and then I see 58 seconds!

It’s crazy, isn’t it?

The weather

You make things that seem to take a long time, when in fact they don’t?

I remember when I was a teenager, I couldn’t wait to turn 18… or 21. And how slowly time passed! HAHAHA!

We have a strange notion of time.

When you’re waiting your turn to see the doctor who’s keeping you waiting, it’s a long wait. And our favorite artist’s show never lasts long enough.

Do you ever find that time is a strange notion?

Back to my Solitaire game…

I also sometimes “take back” moves and redo an operation. You may think I’m “cheating”, but I see it more as a strategic retreat to try and succeed in the end.

When this happens, it’s because I haven’t been paying attention and I’ve missed a shot. When I SEE it, I go back and play better. Just like in life.

Other times, I challenge myself and don’t care about the stopwatch: having my year of birth as the result (it’s only happened to me once so far), an odd or even number, a certain number as the final result… In short, any challenge is good enough! Whether I complete the series or not, I’m satisfied. Just like in life!

Good night!

Laughter, joy and health

Linda