Tag Archives: #gamefullife

One Minute Read from the Gameful Isolation

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Here is the sixth blog post in a series featuring videos on YouTube, where I read from one of my motivational books for one minute.

In this video, I read from Gameful Isolation: Making the Best of a Crisis, the Self-Gamification Way (Book 3 in the “Gameful Life” series).

I am reading the extract from chapter 6 “Resourcefulness.”

Here it is if you want to read along, prior, or afterward.

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Excerpt from the Gameful Isolation

The third tool Self-Gamification offers in the form of a strong synergy is gamification. Or rather, anything gameful and playful.

When people ask me why turning various projects and activities into fun games makes sense, I often start with a version of the following. If we perceive what we are up to, or what life brings our way, as fun games, of which we are both the designers (or at the very least co-designers) and players, then the drama and seriousness fall away.

But what should we do, if the situation we are in — such as the COVID-19 pandemic right now — is so dramatic, that lifting any burden seems like a drop of water on a hot stone (in German “Tropfen auf dem heißen Stein”), in other words, of no help at all?

Experiencing lockdown and the changing rhythm of my day brought another reason to the foreground. I was reminded that through the continuous practice of Self-Gamification, resourcefulness unfolded easily for me and was a readily available tool.

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The next step

If you want to find out how you can support yourself during these times of crisis with considerably less effort than you might expect, then I invite you to read Gameful Isolation. It can support you on your journey in these unsecured and unpredictable times. To look at the book and buy it on Amazon, click on its title above or this image below:

If you want to see where else you can buy it, then go to the book’s page on this website here.

Alternatively, you can subscribe to my page, Optimist Writer, on ko-fi for $5 a month, and besides supporting what I do, you will also get access to all my motivational books, which I share there once a month or each time a book is out. Right now, you can get access to four of my books there — one upon subscription or one-time support and three in the posts solely for subscribers. Gameful Isolation will appear later this year or sooner upon explicit request from the subscribers.

I wish you a beautiful, resourceful, and gameful day!

One Minute Read from the Gameful Healing

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Here is the fifth blog post in a series featuring videos on YouTube, where I read from one of my motivational books for one minute.

In this video, I read from Gameful Healing: Almost a Memoir; Not Quite a Parable (Book 2 in Gameful Life series).

I am reading the extract from chapter 28, “Perfume.”

Here it is if you want to read along, prior, or afterward.

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Excerpt from the Gameful Healing

My story with perfume turned out to be very similar, but maybe a little more “ancient,” to the one with sorbitol.

I loved bragging about my sensitive nose. I wanted to have special abilities, like my father and sister, and I wanted something unique, shared by no one else in my family.

My father had incredible eyesight. Once, in Algeria, driving at night along a road with no streetlights, he stopped the car, got out, and disappeared into the darkness, returning with a black umbrella. My mom still wonders how he could have seen the black umbrella lying there, while driving past it. She often recalls this “incident” when thinking of my father’s extraordinary eyesight. We used this umbrella for many years afterwards, including after returning from Algeria to Moldova.

[A side-story: As a child, I lived in Algeria for three years. My father was a guest-lecturer in the physics of semiconductors at Annaba University in Algeria between 1979 and 1982. He died scarcely half a year after our return to Moldova. Thus Africa, and especially Algeria, have a special place in my heart because most of my memories of my father — I was between 6 and 9 years old then — were gathered there.]

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The next step

If you want to find out how I support myself in healing and dealing with my multiple health conditions by turning my life into fun games, then I invite you to read Gameful Healing. It can support you on your journey of healing and well-being. Knowing that we are not alone is always helpful. To look at the book and buy it on Amazon, click on its title above or this image below:

If you want to see where else you can buy it, then go to the book’s page on this website here.

Alternatively, you can subscribe to my page, Optimist Writer, on ko-fi for $5 a month, and besides supporting what I do, you will also get access to all my motivational books, which I share there once a month or each time a book is out. Right now, you can get access to four of my books there — one upon subscription or one-time support and three in the posts solely for subscribers. Gameful Healing will appear later this year or sooner upon explicit request from the subscribers.

I wish you a beautiful and gameful day!

One Minute Read from The Who, What, When, Where, Why & How of Turning Life into Fun Games

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Here is the third blog post in a series featuring videos on YouTube, where I read from one of my motivational books for one minute.

In this video, I read from The Who, What, When, Where, Why & How of Turning Life into Fun Games: A Compressed Version of the Self-Gamification Happiness Formula.

The extract I am reading is from the chapter titled “How?”.

Here it is if you want to read along, prior, or afterward.

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Excerpt from The Who, What, When, Where, Why & How of Turning Life into Fun Games

1. Self-Gamification is a lifestyle

So far, we have considered all the five “W” questions — those starting with the words “who,” “what,” “when,” “where” and “why.”

The remaining question is how to turn something or anything into games.

The answer is multi-faceted, and in a way, the whole book is about how to do it, because the “how?” embraces the answers to all the “W” questions: “who?”, “what?”, “when?”, “where?” and “why?”.

But the most important facet of how to turn our lives into games is that the gameful approach to life, Self-Gamification, just like those for our health, well-being, and happiness, is not a one-time pill to fix a problem once and for all, but a lifestyle. Because:

“Happiness is not a destination. It is a way of life.” — Anonymous

2. What is Self-Gamification?

So, what is this new approach to increasing self-motivation and bringing ourselves back on our happy path? And why the need for a new term?

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The next step

To take this game to the next level, I invite you to read the book. To look at The Who, What, When, Where, Why & How of Turning Life into Fun Games and buy it on Amazon, click on its title or the image below:

If you want to see where else you can buy it, then go to the book’s page on this website here.

Alternatively, you can subscribe to my page, Optimist Writer, on ko-fi for $5 a month, and besides supporting what I do, you will also get access to all my motivational books, which I share there once a month or each time a book is out. Right now, you can get access to four of my books there — one upon subscription or one-time support and three in the posts solely for subscribers. The Self-Gamification Happiness Formula is one of the three. The Who, What, When, Where, Why & How of Turning Life into Fun Games will be one of the next books I will share there.

Enjoy answering any question you receive or ask yourself in a gameful and joyful way!

What Is the Difference Between the Preferred Path to Your Goal and the Actual One

(Image courtesy of the author)

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Have you ever tried to illustrate the preferred path to your goals geometrically?

Our stubborn concentration on the goals brings the illusion of this path as being a straight line. At least this straight line is our preferred path. “That would be so great if I would already have been there and achieved that,” we think.

But similar to the way on land to the airport from where we live, our lives are rarely straight lines.

Neither the paths to the wins in the games. They are never straight lines. Because — let’s admit it — straight lines are not very exciting. Yes, they are simple and straightforward, but they are not fun.

Over thousands of years, people shaped their games along with their experience of fun and put many fun obstacles and challenges on the path to the wins in those games.

Fun can rarely be found in a straight line to your goals in life either. At least not in the long run.

And thankfully, our brains don’t function linearly either. Especially the subconscious parts of our minds are very gameful and playful.

I invite you to observe your thought processes, their quirkiness, and how life unfolds with the eyes of a curious and passionate game designer and player. You will discover so many possibilities, as well as your resourceful and gameful powers.

To take the exploration of the enigmatic puzzle of your subconscious a step further, I invite you to read my new book Gameful Mind: Solve the Puzzle of Your Enigmatic Subconscious.

To take a look at the book and buy it on Amazon, click on its title above or this image:

If you want to see where else you can buy it, then go to the book’s page on this website here.

How to Use Doubts as Assets in Turning Life into Fun Games

(Image by the author)

If you open any of my books or other resources on turning life into fun games, you will discover — among others — the recommendations to add some quirky and even silly rules, and not to forget to record your progress in any project or activity you want to pursue by giving yourself points, badges, and observing the levels you reach in your games.

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The doubts and skepticism

You might wonder if this could hinder you in progressing in what you want to accomplish.

You can have your doubts.

I must say, I “slid” into turning my life into games. I just followed my curiosity and became utterly engaged and even addicted. Now, I don’t escape into games or reading from my life, as I used to in the past. Instead, I turn everything in my life, including playing games and reading, but also everything else, including work, private life, relaxing, exercising, sleep, dealing with health issues, and so much more, into fun games for myself.

But I still resonate with the doubts. In fact, I discovered that any doubts in this approach are a brilliant way to test it. I must confess that I am in a constant testing phase of my self-motivational games. I don’t stop developing them, testing, then again tweaking their design, and playing again.

Besides, these doubts and experiences of those I know and myself in life have helped me write my first ever parable called Gameful Writing.

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What is Gameful Writing about?

Gameful Writing is about turning writing into fun games. It considers writing not from the point of view of possible genres but by how we treat it or think of it. Most of us deal with writing something every day, be it a novel we want to write but don’t manage, a blog post for the company we work for, a report, a thesis, an e-mail, or simply expressing ourselves to our loved ones — be it in writing or over a video or phone call. And we fear, resist, and overthink all those types of writing.

This little book acknowledges all these fears and overthinking because it features seven people who face them and manage to shift their focus from upsets into something uplifting and empowering them. They achieve it by turning their writing and lives into fun games — the Self-Gamification way.

This book is a work of fiction, but it features many real-life experiences from those I know and myself. Losing loved ones to illnesses and despair, grieving, letting other people grieve, forgiving ourselves, others, and even life itself for whatever grief they and we might have caused us, and instead find empowerment in the moment of now and with what we have available. These stories are braided strongly into the stories of turning writing and life into games.

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Your gain and savings from investing into turning your life into fun games

I invite you on this gentle and awakening journey of discovery to turning anything into something joyful for yourself.

Why is it worth it?

First of all, you will be able to save yourself the costs of drama and seriousness and instead gain resourcefulness and joy in whatever you set out to turn into fun games for yourself.

By reading the seven stories in this little book, you will see what you can gain from turning your life into fun games, and you will be able to join the characters in the book in this fun adventure of playing a fantastic game collection called life.

To take a look at the book and buy it on Amazon, click on its title above or this image here:

If you want to see where else you can buy it, then go to the book’s page on this website here.