9 Transformative Appreciation Games — Introduction

The bulk of last month — March, of 2022, as of when this essay was written — for this Medium blog, was devoted to my “40 Investments In 5-Minutes” series.

I’m proud of that series.

Or, rather, I’m proud of the investments I shared.

Outside of that, the series is, for the most part, mediocre.

My intention is to rectify that series, which failed to offer the quality that all of my work should — but, perhaps, often fails to — offer, with this one.

The series you are about to step into serves as a guide to nine appreciation games.

Each one of these appreciation games is a fun, practical way of tapping into your limitless creative abilities, while also engaging with the unending power of appreciation.

My hope is that you will enjoy this series and, most importantly, play these games.

Even more than that, my hope is that playing these games will be a valuable, delightful act.

That is my hope and, to begin bringing this hope to life, let’s dive in!

What Is An Appreciation Game?

Every game is a structure.

A structure composed of rules.

Rules that facilitate play.

Every appreciation game within this series is a structure that facilitates play.

The central rule of each structure is that of appreciation.

To play these games, you must appreciate.

Thinking of what you appreciate will, ideally, evoke a sense of appreciation.

To find what you appreciate, you must explore a theme.

A theme that is, in essence, a question.

A question regarding what you appreciate and why.

To properly answer this question, you must come up with a certain number of answers.

The act of coming up with these answers will aid in evoking a sense of appreciation.

A sense of appreciation that will allow you to bring creativity, novelty, inspiration, blessings, achievements, possibilities — and so on and so forth, endlessly and infinitely — into your life.

Or, at least, that’s the idea.

I do not claim to have any genuine answers or an understanding of “the Truth”.

But, what I do claim to be is curious.

I am very curious about our innate creative abilities, the ways in which we can sculpt our lives, the power of our feelings, the power of appreciation; along with other, related, themes.

Each one of the games in this series is my way of engaging with that curiosity and, in doing so, bringing forth engaging structures that may be of value to you.

The value they offer is allowing you to more easily bring what you desire into your life.

To go along with that, though, these games are open-ended, allowing a rich abundance of new paths and possibilities to present themselves to you, as you play.

For this reason, my advice is to play these games with curiosity as your guide.

Rather than coming into these games with fixed assumptions — not that there’s anything wrong with this — hold a loose, flexible understanding of what you are looking to experience and allow that to guide you.

You will, if my experience is anything to go by, receive an abundance of lovely surprises.

To end this section, and in keeping with what was just written, the rules that compose these games are open-ended and malleable.

Since this is the case, if you wish to change the rules of a game, please do so.

Let yourself find what works for you and allow your curiosity to guide that.

I promise you that, in doing so, you will be rewarded with memorable experiences.

I cannot claim to know much but, again, if my experience is anything to go by, what’s written above is the absolute truth.

Why Play These Appreciation Games?

Every appreciation game in this series is a play structure intended to facilitate transformation.

Transformation of what?

Transformation of your state of being, your perspective, your sense of self, your life; and so on and so forth, endlessly and infinitely.

To create these transformations, you can harness the power of appreciation.

Appreciation is a feeling that opens new perspectives — perspectives of abundance and possibility, novelty and creativity — and new possibilities.

You can engage with the feeling of appreciation and allow transformations to arise.

To engage with the feeling of appreciation, in a way that is productive and fun, while also being open-ended and capable of revealing so very much, is the purpose of these games.

To create desired transformations in any aspect or facet of your life; this, too, is the purpose of these games.

No matter what you want — a new job, to travel, a new relationship, new ideas, a sense of inspiration; ad infinitum — my belief is that these appreciation games can aid you in bringing that desire to life.

Conclusion

The next three entries in this series will each contain three appreciation games.

Each one of these appreciation games is easy and fun to play.

Each one of these appreciation games is creative and transformative.

My hope is that you will play these games and, in playing them, enjoy some lovely experiences.

I am not sure what those experiences will be, but I hope that they resonate with you.

To go along with that, my hope is that playing these games allows you to feel appreciative and grateful, for such feelings are always lovely and always welcome.

Regardless of that, though, thank you so much for reading!

As always, if you want to speak to me, for any reason at all, you can do so at “maxwellcakin@gmail.com”.

Best wishes, and have a lovely day!