The TROUBLE with Trouble

Do you have those games that you or your kids “think” they love to play, but ALWAYS end up in a fight and someone storming off? My sister used to call Phase 10 “the contention game”.

Someone gave my kids the game Trouble for Christmas. They were so excited, but inside I cringed. Trouble is one of THOSE games that has seriously caused trouble in the past.

Rewind to a couple of weeks earlier when I had listened to Hank Smith on VidAngel’s Dry Comedy. He told a story about his sister and golfing, which you can read here. The lesson I got from it is that when you don’t help others do their best, you can’t be your best either. I decided to see if I could make this play out with the game Trouble.

I would tell the boys when I saw a good move for them to make, even if it was bad for my chances of winning. I would say to them, “You do your best, and help everyone else do their best.” It was amazing. Now it’s such a fun game to play. No one gets upset when they get put back to start over and over and over again. To be honest, it wasn’t just the kids that got mad or annoyed in the past. I tend to be competitive when it comes to games. So whenever I was tempted to not say something that I saw would be a good move for them, but not good for me I would repeat my own mantra, “You do your best, and help everyone else do their best.” I enjoyed it so much better. Winning totally has a lot to do with chance, and let’s be real, it’s ONLY a board game. But I know there are those of you out there that hear me! We don’t have the angry/annoyed problem over this game anymore. It’s a good game. It’s not players just “being nice”. Everyone is really playing their best, and it’s a good competition (as far as board games go), and everyone has fun.

This is such a great lesson in life. And brings up the very famous quote from Marianne Williamson again:

“Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.”

When have you helped someone do their best when it seemed counter-intuitive?

Until later…