Challenge Bridge is a variation of a historic card game. The point of the game is not to win the hand or score the most tricks, but rather to do the best you can with the cards you have been dealt. You compare your score on a hand with experts who played the same hand.

Living the conscious life is a lot like Challenge Bridge. We are not trying to be the best or the greatest; we are simply trying to do the absolute best we can with the cards we’ve been dealt.

Therefore, there is no reason to be upset if we cannot lift as much weight as someone else, or don’t know as much, or can’t speak as well. Our goal, as conscious individuals is not to be better than someone else, but rather to reach our full potential. This may look very different from someone’s else’s potential.

So perhaps you were dealt some raunchy cards. Maybe you have a genetic health problem, or grew up in a bad environment, or have become disabled in some respect.

Instead of becoming bitter at the Almighty, the world, your parents, or yourself, accept the cards you have been dealt and play them well. Who knows, you may surpass your wildest expectations. For unlike Challenge Bridge, the cards you are dealt in life do have the possibility of changing.

Perhaps you are overweight. Instead of making excuses for it or just being depressed about it, just start doing the best you can to combat the problem. This may be as simple as cutting out one desert a week or exercising for 5 minutes a day. Then just keep loving yourself and developing yourself. Where you end up is not all that important; the journey is what matters.

However, be prepared to astonish yourself. When you start living consciously, amazing things happen!