THE WHY GAME - For The Best Life Possible

By Brent Evans http://www.learningsuccess.com
 

As you think, so you are is one of the most powerful concepts ever discovered. It can change your life and its mastery can help assure your children the best start to the best life possible. It is a simple concept, but with profound implications. You are what you think. Your thoughts determine who you are. They are also the world in which you primarily live, and determine the role you play in that world. Pleasant thoughts make your world a pleasing one. Discouraging thoughts covers your world with a gloomy pallor. Positive thoughts make your world a hopeful one. It has been wisely said, If you think you can or if you think you can’t, you’re right. Your actions are determined by your thoughts, and your actions create consequences. You certainly don’t want your thoughts to accumulate by chance and impulse. You wouldn’t build a house that way. Just putting some boards here and driving a few nails there, etc. You would first design a blueprint for the house of your dreams. You would consult with experts and use the best principles available so your house will turn out just the way you want it. So it is with your life. You need a blueprint for your best possible life based on the most powerful principles available. With that blueprint your perceptions, thoughts, and actions become organized and work together to bring to pass the life of your dreams. That is the purpose of this game. It will help you understand how true health, true wealth, and your personal yearnings for what you want out of life can become a blueprint for your success.
 

To live a fulfilling life, you need to clearly identify what that personally means to you and then live your life in such a way as to bring it to pass. This brings to mind the story of Aladdin’s Lamp, which teaches how to obtain what you really want in life. The genie first asked, Who are you? It is important that we know who we are. He then asked, What do you want?

Go to http://www.learningsuccess.com/power_of_aladdin.htm to read about the 25 super powers of Aladdin’s Lamp that you and I can receive and use if we are able to answer the genie’s two questions in our own lives.

We need to know our most important aims in life. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote fabulous stories about the search for treasure, but in real life he stated: An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding; and it is not to be found in foreign lands, but in the heart itself.

A beautiful description of the process of purpose is found in a front page of the book Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future by Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski, and Betty Sue Flowers.
 

It’s common to say that trees come from seeds. But how could a tiny seed create a huge tree? Seeds do not contain the resources needed to grow a tree. These must come from the medium or environment within which the tree grows. But the seed does provide something that is crucial: a place where the whole of the tree starts to form. As resources such as water and nutrients are drawn in, the seed organizes the process that generates growth. In a sense, the seed is a gateway through which the future possibility of the living tree emerges.
 
As we live our lives, we need to use our time, efforts, thoughts, experiences, and reactions to bring to pass our priority purposes for living. Anything else might well be termed scrap because it diverts us away from our purpose. Take note that if a tree engaged in too much scrap it would not fulfill its purpose of flourishing as a tree. So it is in our own lives. Here is an acronym for scrap to help you avoid it in your own life:
 
  Spurious -
 		 not coming from the right source: not genuine; false; sham
 		  
  Considerations -
 		 thinking about in order to decide; like getting answers from the stars – con: from/together sider: stars   
  Railing -
 		 fence made of rails – also to complain bitterly; use violent and reproachful language  
  Against -
 		 in opposition to; in an opposite direction to
 		  
  Purpose -
 		 object or end for which a thing is made
 		  
 

Our definition of scrap for use in this game is spurious considerations railing against purpose or "Super CRAP"! It is to be avoided in your life whenever possible! Throw it out!

Directions:

To understand how to play the WHY game and its relationship to your own success in life, first consider the letters in WHY.

 
The Y in WHY refers to Yearnings.
 

Yearnings are what you consider most important in life and gives it the most meaning. It would be the answer to the genie’s question of what are your three wishes. You might desire many things, but you must decide what three things are most important if you are to obtain the power of the lamp. The key to your success in life is to identify a clear, personal life’s mission and then use your life to fulfill it.
 

Great it is to believe the dream
When we stand in youth by the starring stream;
But a greater thing is to fight life through
And say at the end, “The dream was true.”

   (Edwin Markham)
 
What are your three yearnings or wishes?
 
1.
2.
3.
 
The H in WHY refers to Health.
 

We can do much without good health, but it is quite an advantage to have it, so make sure you do what you can to have as much of it as you can. As one person wisely noted, If you don’t take care of your body, where will you live?

Health determines your length of life, your energy, and your freedom from degenerative disease.  The first decision you need to make in life is: Who is in charge, me or my body? Unless you are in charge and can
make good decisions and take the actions we now know can add years to your life, give you more energy, and prevent most degenerative disease, your efforts at fulfillment are limited. The acronym for health used in this game is:
 
  Hope -
 		 with health and vitality you can always take action, so you always have hope  
  Energy (interior) -
 		 this is your own personal energy available to achieve your purposes  
  Adventure -
 		 with health and vitality you can take on personal challenges and try new things  
  Life -
 		 if your life is sufficiently long & free from degenerative disease, you can enjoy more of what life has to offer  
  Time -
 		 good health practices can give you 7 to 14+ of longer life and less time has to be spent dealing with illness and disease  
  Happiness & Joy -
 		 there is a certain happiness and joy experienced when we are healthy & able to pursue what is most important to us  
 
The W in WHY refers to Wealth.  
 

Wealth determines the money and resources available to you to provide for your personal and family needs as well as fulfilling your purpose (yearnings). The acronym for wealth we use in this game is:

 

 

 
 
  Way -
 		 true wealth means having the ways or resources needed to achieve what is most important to you  
  Energy (exterior)-
 		 true wealth gives you the opportunity to use the energy of others or of tools to achieve your purposes  
  Adventure -
 		 with true wealth you can take on challenges of your choosing & contribute to the success adventures of others  
  Life -
 		 true wealth you gain extra opportunities to live life in ways of your choosing, not how you have to in order to survive  
  Time -
 		 the less time worrying about earning a living, the more time to pursue other priorities  
  Happiness & Joy -
 		 more is attainable when our wealth is sufficient to support our life’s primary mission & yearnings  
 
How to Play:
 

Each player has a Why game sheet that contains the words WEALTH, HEALTH, and YEARNINGS. Those words represent the Best Life Possible Equation: WEALTH X HEALTH X YEARNINGS. If you don’t have a game sheet, simple write the words on any sheet of paper. To win the game, a player needs to be able to circle (or capture) all the letters in WEALTH, HEALTH, the Y in Yearnings, plus the beginning letter of a representative word for each of your three wishes or yearnings.

Select any written material: chapter in a book, article in a newspaper, to use as a resource. First player takes the first word and tries to select a letter he or she can match with a letter in the words above. If the resource word is the, player could use the t and match it with the T in WEALTH and circles it (or on the game sheet places a marker on that space) indicating he or she has accomplished that part of true wealth (Time – the less time worrying about earning a living, the more time to pursue other priorities). Two letters are left over from the resource word. Luckily, player can use those letters to make the word he. Any letters left over that can’t be used to make words are scrap, and you are limited to accumulating only 7 letters of scrap. More than this results in losing the game. Actually, so it is with life itself. If we allow too much scrap in our life we lose out on what is important in life.

Players take turns using whatever resource word comes next to circle or capture letters in their Best Life Possible Equation. Let us assume the second player gets newspaper as a resource word. Player is able to circle the W in WEALTH, and can use paper, but can’t figure out what to do with the letters n –e – s. They are put in the scrap box. Remember, player is limited to 7 letters in the scrap box. He or she could have decided to pass up newspaper by declaring the whole word and not attempting to circle or capture a letter. It then becomes the next player’s turn. But also, player might be able to use those scrap letters with letters available from his or her next resource word. For example, let us assume empty as the player’s next resource word. Player decides to use the y for Yearnings, leaving the letters e – m – p – t.  Player is then able to make the word steep. The letters e and s are removed from the old scrap, but letter m has been added, so the scrap box now contains two letters: m – n.

First player to circle or capture all the letters in his or her Best Life Possible Equation wins the game and is entitled to bask in the glory of that great achievement. The other players, humbled but still somewhat pleased with their own individual efforts, but must identify in what ways their Best Possible Life came up short. Did they have too much scrap? Were there elements in health and wealth they were not able to capture? Were there any of their three wishes or yearnings left unfulfilled? After feeling the disappointment that this will undoubtedly cause, players can shake it off with a firm resolution to win the next game, or better yet, do whatever is necessary to win the "best life possible" for real. 
 

Click here for "THE WHY GAME - For The Best Life Possible" Gameboard
 

To organize and write down your own thoughts and priorities in regard to
wealth - health - yearnings:
   Click here for "MY PERSONAL GAME PLAN" Worksheet

 

To get a quick overview of how the USANA game plan could work for you:
Click here for "MY PERSONAL USANA GAME PLAN