What If Being Human Is A Game We Get To Play?
How having a safety net in knowing my essential self is always there is helping me find more joy in the experience of being human.
“Life is a game. Play it!” — Mother Teresa —
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be human. If I truly am a spiritual being having a human experience — and I believe that with every fibre of my being — why not have fun in this human body?
This all came about because I’ve been spending more time meeting my essential self by being more in the now. This moment right now. Because that’s all there is.
Somehow knowing that my essential self, the essence of who I am — which is everything and also nothing that can be defined — is always there, is inspiring me to enjoy being human more.
“Inner peace doesn’t come from getting what we want, but remembering who we are.”
— Marianne Williamson —
Dropping down more frequently into the here and now — releasing thoughts of the past or future to be fully present in the now — gives me such profound comfort, a knowing as my essential self does, that everything is always perfect. So why worry?
And when I’m in that space I feel this sense of pure, unadulterated joy. I feel literally lit up from the inside. So why not take that for a spin? Why not lead a life led by what brings me joy? And why not find joy in the little things I do each day, moments that when added together, make up a lifetime?
I’ve long been contemplating this as I’ve heard of a few people who’ve decided to live a life led by what brings me joy. But I didn’t think that was possible for me. I have a J.O.B. One that is focused on the intersection of some of the biggest challenges facing our world today (which incidentally my essential self doesn’t see).
“The great science to live happily is to live in the present.”
— Pythagoras —
But that was all before I started to spend more time with my essential self. Or perhaps spend more time as my essential self is more accurate. Now I feel like I’m ready to start living a life led by joy. Because I know that I have this safety net in that my essential self is always there.
At the moment I’m building a new initiative with a friend and long-time colleague. We call each other soul sisters. We both feel profoundly grateful to have had each other to lean on in our spiritual journeys. The initiative is a vehicle to integrate lessons from those journeys to remembering who we are into our work on global climate policy.
“Every moment in our lives is a miracle we should enjoy.”
— Yoko Ono —
The other day we pondered: What might it look like if we let our essential self take the wheel? In truth I’m not sure what that looks like. Because for our essential self everything is always perfect. Maybe it’s more about following the bread crumb trail of what brings our human selves joy. Asking ourselves what feels right in this moment and then doing that. And then once we’ve arrived there, what feels right now? It’s about doing the next right thing.
We have a sense of where we want to go but maybe we’ll end up somewhere completely different. Maybe it will be even bigger than we imagined and impact even more people than we envisioned. Or maybe it will stay small and intimate. We only know the next right thing right now.
It’s not about leading from our egos. Not about seeing our name in lights. But about what lights up our hearts. What feels right. And doing things that bring us joy.
“Do anything but let it produce joy.”
— Walt Witman —
As I’ve started to live a life motivated by what brings me joy — and I’m very early in the process — I have often wondered what it might look like if everyone did the same. If we could all find joy in each thing that we do. If we could all lead our lives moving from next right thing to next right thing. If we saw our lives as a game we get to play. Trying out different ways of being in the world.
It’s completely possible. All we need to do is spend a little more time in the here and now. Once we each remember who we are, once we recognize that our essential self is always there for us in every moment, we know we are safe. Safe to have more adventures. To unleash our creativity on the world. Free to live a life led by joy. To do the next right thing. To live a life led by what makes our hearts sing. And that, would transform our world.
