Life is like a box of chocolates...

As Forest Gump once famously said...you never know what you're going to get.

While I agree with Forest, I have also recently learned that life is also very similar to a game of chess, because you never know what your opponent's next move is going to be.

Through existence, we are often ill fated against one dominant opponent, and that is life itself. No matter how much we plan and set goals we will inevitably always face a number of obstacles that show up just in time to ruin the party.

I was only able to draw the comparison between life and chess very recently, as I just learned to play chess over the Christmas holidays. After only five games or so (at which I was beaten very badly), I began to reflect on why I was loosing so badly. The answer to this question brought me to a much deeper conclusion, not just about myself as a chess player, but rather, myself as a player in the game of life.

I approached chess with the same attitude that I approach life with: a very structured, presupposed attitude. Each time, I thought I could beat my opponent with the master plan I constructed in my head before hand, however, through each game it became more and more clear that one cannot win the game with a plan, because this plan, inevitably, always excludes your opponent's moves.

Instead of being proactive, it seems as though chess is better played by responding to each of your opponent's individual moves. It may be possible to anticipate some moves, or even try to distract him from what you are really plotting in your head, but in the end the game will always been won unpredictably.

In relating back to the game of life, I am beginning to understand that those people who win at the ultimate game are likely to have a more reactive attitude towards life. They are the ones who are able to respond to upsets and challenges by seizing the opportunity to learn something new and move on to the next square.

Learning how to shift my own perspective is definitely a challenge I have been struggling with for months - if not years. I have always been a planner, and thus have often been the victim of failures, upsets and disappointments. Not to say that everyone doesn't have disappointments, but I think the blow comes much harder when you always expect that things are going to turn out exactly how you planned them. They usually don't.

As I continue on my journey to find my own winning strategy for life, I am going to hold faith that the chess board has something to teach me in the mean time. Once I have finally figured out how to beat my opponent, then maybe I'll be on the road to having a better understand of myself and my relation to the world.