Those small blocks of Black, Yellow, and Green have been making rounds on most Whatsapp Statuses, Facebook Stories & Instagram posts. At first, it intrigued, later confused, and then pushed many of us to explore it. Few quizzed their friends on social channels, others brought it up in a family gathering. Some discovered it on the internet randomly while most others turned to their last resort – GOOGLE & searched. Turned out to be a Mobile Word puzzle – WORDLE.
Available on PlayStore and AppStore and clones many versions. More or less, each have the same architecture.
Once dowloaded, it starts with a very very basic and very crisp introduction to the game – HOW TO PLAY!
- Random guess a 5-letter word.
- The result would be these tiles of black, yellow, and green.
- BLACK: The letter doesn’t appear in the word in ANY spot.
- YELLOW: The letter is in the word but in the WRONG spot.
- GREEN: The letter is in the word and in the RIGHT spot.
- No special characters are allowed.
- 6 options before you finally crack THE word.
- No hints, No life, No second chance (after you SUBMIT)
- Next word is to be revealed 24 hours later.
- Share (read Flaunt) your results.
I started with the 21st word and got it Wrong :-(. It had to be. I rushed into the game without knowing the fine nuances and by the time I realized what was happening, the game was over!
Later, it was a restless 24 hours, before the next word was revealed. However, meanwhile, I continued seeing people show off their skill in cracking the puzzle on 4th, 5th, or 6th options/attempts. I must have opened the game almost 30+ times only to encounter the slow-paced timer that simply added to my dismay. I desperately wanted to join this race and avoid FOMO, let alone flaunt that I could do it too – this time more carefully. I did crack it then.
And hey! It unfolded something about us all; our temperaments, our attitude, ourselves in general, and most importantly our LIFE. This discovery about myself set me thinking, isn’t this the way our lives are structured? Could there be a key takeaway from this, if at all there is one? Is there a signal from the higher power to revisit our life situations and probably re-engineer the way we respond to them? To set the premise right, let me quote the USB example. We have all experienced at some point that we insert the USB in the slot ‘wrongly’ and quickly change to the right side. We do this almost unknowingly, without any conscious thoughts to it. We take rejection by the machine so playfully that we hardly pay heed to it and focus on getting the work done. But do we switch over so swiftly in life too? Do we forgive more often? Do we forget things unconsciously only to re-start afresh? Should we not? Probably the next time we plug the USB in, we are sure to chance a rejection and we are even more sure to flip the side and proceed. Why can’t our impulses function similarly in life too? Wouldn’t lives be more joyful, if we do not carry baggages, grudges, rejections like the USB slot, which hardly has any relevance in our lives.
This narrative is an attempt to playfully decode the Game and apply it to the Game of Life.
- RANDOM START
Each morning is a random start to our lives. While we surely plans and to-do’s in place, the very nature of life is being unpredictable, isn’t it? Do all our plans fall in place exactly how we want them to? Doesn’t life throw up new challenges, completely uncalled for and is full of surprises? Do our course of actions are the same each day? Probably not.
Yet we still encounter one day at a time and approach each of life situations with either a past lesson or a new experiment. In either case, we aren’t too sure of the results although we hope them to be as desired. Just like the Game, we can only give it our best shot and expect a favourable result. The moves we make could have any of those 3 outcomes – Black, Yellow or Green, which then decides our next step. The next step is more calculated than the previous one and set us thinking of the best alternative from the available resources. It filters our thought processes and decodes “What NOT To Do” rather than What To Do”. And this I think is the key take away here. Also not all random starts tend to fail or call for a course correction, but it is imperative to apply the learnings time to time and avoid unwanted pitfalls.
- OUTCOME
Like in the game, our life offers us three distinct outcomes for each of our moves. Be it in a relationship or a professional career, in education or in business, in society or for the mankind at large, each of our actions do reap the following 3 results (& what it means).
Black – The move was totally wrong and should be avoided in future. This outcome reflects our true nature – impulsive or passionate, caring or aggressive, compassionate or judgemental. There is always an opportunity to re-design this nature, only if we are open to change, accepting change and not blinded by ego.
Yellow – This one is interesting. It specifies that there is a scope for course correction and may be there is a need to look more closely, more scientifically and more diligently. This outcome is the best out of the three as it assures us to be on the right path and probably our actions need a bit of tweaking. While our options narrow, we still have the right stepping stones to move ahead.
Green – This outcome denotes that we do take our life lessons seriously and apply it to the daily affairs. On the flip side – a word of caution though – This outcome is more of a jack-pot and could hit the bulls-eye thus making us complacent & relaxed. Hence, while one should thank the universe for making life a step simpler towards solving the final puzzle, the sense of being careful and cautious should prevail.
- NO SPECIAL CHARACTERS
Like the game, Life also doesn’t necessarily offer any special characters to us. Here by special characters I mean something that distinguishes us from the rest and puts a strong flashlight on us. The challenges and battles are our own and they need to be attended to on one’s own will and gut. Yes, there are our guarding angels, well-wishers, friends, family and supporters but in the end we are responsible for our karmic inputs and have to bear the results. These special characters emerge in our lives in form of conversations, examples, experiences, warning, caution, guide, debates, discussions, arguments and so forth. Most of the times we may sense them and a few other times we ignore them, either consciously or unconsciously. Their relevance doesn’t fade off though. Yet they continue to remain alternatives & come back to us as lessons which can be applied in future course of actions. Eg: A sentence that has few words within ““ lays emphasis on the content. A conversation, discussion or warnings are the ““. They lay emphasis on the subject matter pushing us to think twice before a decision is arrived at.
- LIMITED OPTIONS
Life offers boundless options albeit in a limited scope. There is only so much one can play in his/ her lifetime.
- NO SECOND CHANCE
In the game, once the submit button is activated, there is no second chance to rectify it. In life its is the decisions we take cannot be reversed and this decides the future outcomes. There are plenty of narratives citing the correlation between cause and effect. For every decision taken there is a cause and it sure is bound to generate a result. So that fact that each decision is independent, unique & offers a one-time opportunity cannot be negated. Hence it is imperative to analyse the event, gauge the consequences, assess the rates of success and failures, apply past experiences etc. before we arrive at any conclusion. It is better to rejoice on a second opinion than to repent on a failed chance. Well, it would still not guarantee a sure shot success but chances of repairing it, reengineering it, revisiting it and revising it could be a lot easier than otherwise.
- NEXT OPPORTUNITY
They say “Don’t take your life too seriously. No one does”. I strongly support this thought and therefore this is a key learning of Life (& the game too).
- SHOW-OFF
Well, a little bit of Showoff in life too is essential. The idea should be to inspire others, encourage others and motivate them to take newer challenges in life.
le rêveur!! 