Board Games

Board Games

My friends and I were recently spending some time together just telling stories and laughing as friends do. The conversation revolved around how life was going for us. Life can be so good at times. Life can be so hard at times. We decided our days sometimes play out as if we are little characters making their way around a board game as we try to figure out what our next best move should be.

There are times we can feel as if luck is involved. And certainly we are ahead in the game if we implement strategy with our lists and our plans. We see others move ahead or fall behind. But it’s fun; we really want to win.

In recent years, many of us have admitted we have come to the realization that we don’t live in the world we thought we lived in. It’s quite disappointing, but we had no reason to doubt the information in our history or government books. No reason for mistrust. No reason to have asked if there was more to the story.

Many of us have stated our truth is no longer our truth as we learn that theories and half-truths have been accepted as general knowledge.

We’ve even been misguided in our health books. We were not taught the ways in which the body can take us through all the days of our life in a state of wellness. If only we had known the good steps to take and the bad moves to avoid.

My friends and I went on to discuss the topics of conversation that are often regarded as taboo. We laughed as we came up with a name for a modern day board game: “The Rabbit Hole.”

We decided there are people who would start to play The Rabbit Hole board game but wouldn’t want to continue after they learn what’s really going on in the world. Many would simply choose to put the game into the trash can or sell it at a garage sale. Others may leave it on a shelf and decide to play it later.  

Those who continue to play The Rabbit Hole game would do so simply to learn more and to see if they can help make the world a better place. For me, The Rabbit Hole game actually led to my improved health. From there came a great desire to study wellness and to share what I had learned with my friends and family.   

Unfortunately, I used to be a big player in the Head In The Sand game, but I didn’t know it. Thank God someone woke me up and helped me start playing a more productive game.

The characters in the Head In The Sand board game are shaped like little ostriches. It really is a fun game to play. Our troubles are very real in this game, but we don’t have to learn what is causing our problems. We rarely get to learn about the simple fixes.  

Without a doubt, the creators of the Head In The Sand game would never let the players know that ostriches do not really put their heads in the sand. That is a myth. If ostriches put their heads in the sand, they would suffocate.

In the Head In The Sand game, we watch television. We listen to and read the mainstream news. We fit in with the crowd. We don’t know much about 5G or related dangers. We do not have to study both sides of the vaccine industry. We can eat and drink anything we like, because the Head In The Sand game operates on myths and theories as well as on a belief system in which we were raised.

Speaking of “operates,” there is a popular board game by a similar name. Playing the fictional version of this game is certainly good for us – it would likely mean we have turned off the electronics and are spending time with each other. The fictional game causes laughter. 

But in real life, it’s quite unfortunate the players are rarely given the chance to draw a card or two that would inform them that simple diet and lifestyle changes would make many of those nagging problems go away.

If surgery cannot be avoided, that means the Non-Elective Surgery card has been drawn. We then find the Thank God card in our hands as truly skilled and brilliant people are stepping into the game and making  great things happen in the operating room.

Unfortunately, the Elective Surgery card is often drawn, and players do not know this card will make them travel down Connect the Dots Road. It seems their support beams were removed from the bridge that now has to be crossed, and they didn’t know they would likely draw the Back Pain card and the Digestive Issues card from the makeshift pile.

The Take Digestive Enzymes cards or Learn About Minerals cards are valuable cards indeed, but the creators of this game made them rare.

The Regeneration Of Joints card is rarely drawn. The Natural Anti-Inflammatory Ways card is a gem, but players do not know it’s a choice. They haven’t learned there is strategy in this area of the game of life.

Cards we don’t want to find in our hands would be those which mention processed foods, plastic bottled water or unfiltered tap water, vaccines, pills, pesticides, perfume and cologne, fabric softener and detergent, non-organic anything, GMOs, cleaning supplies, styrofoam and plastics, suntan lotion, harmful ingredients in makeup, and the list goes on.

In addition to the Go To Jail card, the Spray Your Lawn card is not a good one. Apply Hand Sanitizer is also a very harmful card.

Most people have never heard of the Black Box Warning card. They should look it up. It’s been around for a while, yet those who think they are holding many In the Know cards have no idea the danger of the black box warning.  

Winning cards are plentiful in The Rabbit Hole game. They would include: well-done supplements, real food, sauna, monthly chiropractic visits, laughter, scrapbooking, journaling, plants all over the house, gardening, hugs and kisses, sunshine, time outdoors, time with children, and the many gifts God has placed on this earth for us – too numerous to list.

The Book In Your Hand card is plentiful in both games, but the authors vary greatly and the reader must be picky about the books they choose.

The Dis-Ease card would be a losing card in any board game. Some players in this game become owners of their problems, and others decide to keep it a secret for as long as they can.

Get To The Root Of The Problem card is the only winning card after the Dis-Ease card is drawn.

Sometimes the Check Engine Light card is chosen. It is mistakenly regarded as a simple fix if the experts advise it is okay to put dark tape over the light on the dashboard. The drug store then issues the Symptoms Are Masked card. We get to drive away after unloading some of our play money. See you in three months back at the body shop, because the Check-Up card is now required.   

The player now finds themselves choosing cards from a new pile: The Backfire cards.

When forced to choose from the Backfire pile of cards, the players unwittingly choose the Exhaust Problems card, Stones in Odd Places cards, Upset Balance cards, and the dreaded Clogged Hoses card.

Then those oddball Domino Effect cards end up in our hands, and our pains and ailments pop up like a Jack-in-the-box. How startling!

But no worries – the players just make more appointments, and the new set of bodily breakdown can be masked just as easily as the first. The game really gets fun from here as we draw the Iatrogenic card, the Idiopathic card, and the Exponential Side Effects cards.

We can always choose what games we would like to play in life. We can choose to give up the My Body is Falling Apart card, and go play another game.

Many of us have found we like to have dessert while we are playing our games, and thankfully the day comes when we learn how to pop a humble pie into our little toy oven. Thankfully there are plenty of recipes all over the internet that help us draw from the Eat Well stack of cards.

It’s okay to draw the Learning Curve card and spend time studying and reading after we discover the Be Fascinated card is in our hands.  

It is a wonderful thing to see our player move towards health after they draw the Change Of Lifestyle card.  And they don’t end up giving away too much of their wealth. The players are stepping into wellness and away from illness as they implement strategy and study.  All generations should be included as we move through this game of life.

My own mother was 87 years old when she asked me to help her start playing the wellness game. She was so happy to be a player; she couldn’t play the game fast enough. She started playing her cards right and lived comfortably for another five years, passing away quite peacefully at the age of 92.

She had drawn the Make Great Salads card and learned about the good-for-you toppings and salad dressings. She learned the value of nuts and seeds. She had been misled in her previous game when she held the card that said No Nuts Or Seeds For You.

My mother educated herself and found the Real Food card. Soon she was back in the game with the valuable food God had placed on this earth just for her. It was a good thing she was a Bible-believing lady and had learned what is in the very first chapter of God’s Book to her.

She didn’t know there was such a thing as Grow Your Own Sprouts card. She said those little sprouts tasted like something straight out of her garden from years ago, so she loved it when a jar of sprouts found their way to her refrigerator. She could put sprouts on her salads and sandwiches and even blend them into her smoothies.

She learned the value of a pastured egg and how to select good meat. She said she just couldn’t believe the difference in the taste. And she decided her printed money had more value when she placed it in the correct corner of the board game.

Next thing she knew, she had the Blood Sugars Will Normalize card in her hand. She knew there was a bonus card such as that one, but she didn’t expect it to happen so quickly in the wellness game.  She had a list of physical complaints that left her body, and those around her were in awe.

Mom was amazed at what the Chiropractor Monthly Adjustment card did for her. She was not about to give that card away but was willing to offer referrals. She was winning the game and thought enough of her friends to give them a chance to catch up with her. 

She also drew the Get Off Six Medications Safely card and weaned herself from the need for prescriptions at the age of 87 after a 20-year run. The key word on that card is “safely.”

At the age of 92, bragging is not something we often get to do, but my mother drew the Bragging Rights card. She was a person who felt a renewed purpose in her life.

It may be safe to say that my mother, who had raised 11 children and never drew the wonderful Empty Nester card, had an ace in her back pocket: The No Excuses card.

So there you have it. Are you too old or too set in your ways to make any changes? Are you willing to play the Wellness game? Please remember, whatever card you have in your hand may be trumped with the No Excuses card.

Disclaimer Card:

You already know you have drawn the Educational Purposes Only card, and you have not drawn any kind of treat, prevent, diagnose, or cure card.

You did draw the Smart Cookie card, and you know further instructions can be found nearly anywhere, but please read the Extreme Study cards and Informed Consent cards before you Advance Go.

© Marlene Oxender 2022

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