In the last 2 years I have discovered Bridge. Not only is this a ceaselessly, never ending learning thrill, it is an amazing experience. Learning to communicate with your partner in a new mathematical based language; an unbelievable exercise for your mind, and a true life-long learning event. I have become a learning machine when it comes to Bridge. I take classes and try to play at least 2 times a week. Is it an obsession? Maybe – but, it allows me to be in the complete moment, totally focusing on something other than myself, and true to this blog – it is a friendship generator. I have met so many other wonderfully obsessed people who share this passion, and are so committed to improving their game and learning Bridge. I also have a wonderfully compassionate partner who is on this journey with me. Bridge, it appears to me, trickles down to the way I live my life, the way I think, the way I want to behave and interact with others, and the way I want to totally live in the moment. In Bridge you must be trusting and trustworthy. You have a special language that you maintain with your partner, and when you promise her something you better well mean it. There is an honesty that must be enforced, and you must be able to rely on your partner. You need to develop your level of self awareness. I believe that the purpose of life is not happiness, but rather experience and growth. Happiness comes as a natural byproduct. Here’s something else I have learned from Bridge – to be vulnerable is to be courageous. In fact there is a tremendous Ted talk by Dr. Brené Brown about the Power of Vulnerability.
I also am grateful to have found Bridge as I get older, and dealing on a day to day basis with people – like my mother, who have started to drastically decline. I take great notice of the way they have lived their lives up to this point. Have they taken care of their bodies along with their minds? Have they interacted with people in meaningful ways? Have they continued to learn and grow and maintain interests and friends?
Interesting, I started reading about Warren Buffett and his love of Bridge. He is 88 years old right now and of course is an unbelievable investor and mentor. But he is also aging in a way that I totally admire and hope to age that way myself. This man does not stop. The Oracle said he enjoys the game for the intellectual stimulation. It’s neither relaxing nor tension-filled. Just good mind exercise.“It really is a game that you are never going to see the same hand twice,” Buffett said. “You can play a hand every six or seven minutes every day for the rest of your life, and you will never see the same hand. It’s a game you can enjoy when you are in your 90s, and you are seeing a different intellectual challenge every seven minutes. It’s the best exercise there is for the brain.” He seems to approach life in the same way that he approaches investing. And he invests in himself. Reading about him I have also found that he is kind, considerate of others and an honest person… Traits that I value deeply in my friendships and in myself. I’ve always wondered who I would love to meet – living or dead. Without a doubt the person I would pick now is Warren Buffett. Interested in people and the events of world. A learning machine, a thinker, a good friend, a moral person. Who also, it appears has a passion for life, and loves be alive. WOW. How I would love to meet him…maybe even play a hand or two of Bridge with him.