Like chess, our environment is our chessboard in which we make thousands, if not millions, of choices every single day of our lives. In chess, the first moves are called the opening moves; they determine what kind of style or technique a player is going to use for the match and usually set up a player for success or failure. In the same manner, we could set up our day with good opening moves. The first choices that we make create a ripple, a wave that we could ride throughout the day, if we know how to catch it—the trick is to stick to the wave. For example, when our alarm clock goes off in the morning, we can either choose to wake up right away or hit the snooze button about twenty times. If we hit the snooze button a couple times, we already missed a critical wave. Our will to get up is not strong enough and the laziness takes over, but if we wake up early and on time, we feel good and are able to accomplish more without the stress of being rushed due to time constriction. We then could use that vibrant morning energy and use it to our advantage by keeping it alive for as long as we can. It is important to start the day off with good choices since they set up what kind of style or technique we will use to face the day.
On occasion, some days end with a feeling of success or accomplishment while others end with stress, a sense of failure, or something of that nature, and sometimes the result of success or failure is due to one little decision. In chess a player can make a move that, at the moment, seems small and insignificant, but at the end of the game can find out that that little, seemingly insignificant decision predicted the outcome of the game. Similarly, one small mistake can ruin our whole day, but one small successful decision can create a world of endless possibilities. For example, if I choose to smile at a stranger—a seemingly small choice—instead of mechanically looking away like most people do in our day and age, I create the potential of making a new friend and more. If I smile the effect of the smile continues on until its effects ceases, but if I look away, the possibility of making a new friend instantly disintegrates. That little, tiny, insignificant choice has the potential of creating a new bond and may even lead to other great things such as meeting another great person. Therefore we must be careful with the choices we make no matter how small and feeble they seem.
Although it is a matter of awareness and training, I believe that, like the skilled chess player, we can train ourselves to see and choose the best choice at each moment in our lives. Still, I have to remind myself constantly to be conscious about my choice making in most situations. Once we realize that we have a choice to react or act in a consciously productive way, the miracles that we encounter in our lives will begin to grow and occur more often. We are writing our history and future every single moment of our lives, why not make it better?
