In honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday yesterday, I thought I’d share one of my very favorite quotes of his. Taken from Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

“Some times you’ll play lonely games too. Games you can’t win ’cause you’ll play against you.”

Comparing your body to someone else’s is a game you can’t win.

Bullying yourself into being better is a game you can’t win.

Ignoring your limits is a game you can’t win.

Sabotaging your passions is a game you can’t win.

Caring for everyone else except yourself is a game you can’t win.

Wishing for someone else’s marriage is a game you can’t win.

Pretending you are someone else is a game you can’t win.

Pleasing everyone is a game you can’t win.

Overriding your intuiting is a game you can’t win.

Editing yourself is a game you can’t win.

Thinking you can do it all on your own is a game you can’t win.

Depriving yourself is a game you can’t win.

But here’s a game you can’t lose: Believing you are WILDLY loved.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. How would I live? What would I say, do, create, change . . . if I actually fully believed I was wildly loved? If I trusted there was nothing to earn, nothing to prove, nothing to secure. It was all already done. And my job was to simply live and love and create and breathe.

What if I didn’t come into this world in a deficit, needing to make up for that lack the rest of my life? What if I came into this world in abundance, simply invited to celebrate that abundance with my particular and unique passions? What if? What then?

Too many of us are stuck in games we can’t win because we’re in the ring with ourselves. Let’s do the brave work of confronting the places in our lives where we’re locked in a lose/lose, where we’re trying to make up for a lack that the Spirit has already covered.

And, let’s do it together.

(Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss, and thanks for this truth.)