Did you ever play cards? More specifically, the card game 45? I was reared on it by my grandmother! Her phrase ‘Play the hand you are dealt’ ringing in my ears today so I feel compelled to honour her wisdom and put pen to paper.
In the card game 45, each player gets 5 random cards. When the player gets to view the cards, the player doesn’t know if they have a good hand, mediocre hand or bad hand until the game progresses. Each player keeps their hand secret from the other players. There are some sure trump cards and when they are viewed there is certainty around their weighting but until the game is played, even a trump card can be wasted.
Here’s what I know about the game of life to date. I have been dealt some cards and as I play the game of life, I am learning that some cards are fixed and others variable. What I mean by this (and my alluding to accounting language) is that some things in life are fixed and others are not. At one point I believed where I lived was fixed until I changed that last year to live in my dream, peaceful, wholesome location. Now my home is most definitely one of my trump cards which it wasn’t before then until I changed that. I used to be married and believed that was a fixed card but due to many issues, I changed that card and traded it for most definitely a trump card in my life partner. I have three children and without a shadow of a doubt each one of them enrich my life and also teach me so much and are for sure a trump card. Once upon a time, I didn’t have children but one day I got to be a Mommy and got a wonderful trump card to continue with as a fixed card in the rest of the game. I have other cards in my hand but I don’t know how they will roll in the game until the game actually takes place.
My grandmother would always dish out advise about the way we played as children; cleverly, cheating, cunning, lots more colourful terms. When the game was over, she would keep score and would mull over how we could have played better knowing what cards each other had. That’s the thing about life; you never know how things could have worked out until they have actually worked out.
It’s not about the cards you are dealt but how you play them.
Therefore her words ring in my ear…’Play the hand you are dealt’.
Belinda Murphy, Wellness Consultant
belinda@belindamurphy.com, 00353 87 9584430
