One day, a friend of mine called me, angry that he missed his train. He was sitting on the next train but was now going to be an hour late starting his day. I told him “play the game.” “Game, what game, did you hear me, I missed the train,” he said. “Look for the reason you missed the train, it will reveal itself to you.” “Okay,” he laughed, mocking me as he hung up the phone.

About an hour and a half later this friend called me again. “I ran into a friend from college who I have not seen in years,” he said before I even had a chance to say hello. “Really,” I said, smiling that the reason he missed the train was revealed so quickly and in such an obvious way. “Yes,” he continued “what is more important is I realized that maybe I would have run into this friend whether I was playing your little game or not. Without playing the game, I probably would have had the same friendly chat with him but I would have gone right back to being angry about missing the train. Or, maybe, I would not have been paying attention because I was angry and I would not have noticed this friend at all and walked right past him. I would have missed a fun opportunity."

Click - the pieces snapped into place.

Looking for the reasons and learning the lessons when things don’t go our way is a fun and rewarding way to live. The simple act of looking to find how the pieces click together eliminates the frustration and anger we sometimes feel when unexpected events disrupt our lives. It helps us see that our lives bring us where we need to be whether we agree with where we are or with where we are going at that particular time.

Sometimes the reasons or the lessons are not so obvious, and sometimes they are not revealed to us for a long time. But they are never revealed if we are not open or looking to find them.

Do not collect all your pieces and assemble them at the end of your life. Play the game and put the pieces of your life together as you live it.