{"id":5210,"date":"2017-12-07T09:57:28","date_gmt":"2017-12-07T14:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nearariver.com\/?p=5210"},"modified":"2026-09-10T11:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T15:23:08","slug":"game-of-life-encouragement-words-near-river-bj-rae-eagle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/game-of-life-encouragement-words-near-river-bj-rae-eagle\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Play the Game of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">You can play the game of life successfully!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The best players of the game of life are on the bench, the piano bench, that is.\u00a0 Why?<\/p>\n<p>When you play piano, you realize that life and playing piano have much in common. Here are some points about this.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4>The piano keys<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The white keys (naturals) represent happiness and the black (sharps and flats) sadness, but as you travel through music and life, you realize that you need both to make music and have a life.<\/p>\n<p>Some players, like myself, have more sharps and flats in their lives and others more naturals, but when we put them all together each one of us has a life song.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4>Easiest in the beginning<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Vladimir Horowitz said that the piano is the easiest instrument to play in the beginning and the most difficult to master in the end.\u00a0 Life is the same way.<\/p>\n<p>Life for a child is fairly easy.\u00a0 Children do not have to worry about paying bills, relationships, or survival.\u00a0 But as a person gets older, he must be concerned about these things.<\/p>\n<p>When I started piano lessons in March of 2016, my teacher taught me during my first lesson how to sit on the bench, how to hold my hands, and how to play the C scale. Now I am learning to play a difficult song with a Spanish rhythm called \u201cGuantanamera\u201d.\u00a0 I have been working on it now for almost three weeks and am just now starting to play it decently.<\/p>\n<p>When life and playing piano get harder, a good pianist does not give up.\u00a0 And a strong person does not give up in the game of life.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4>How you play<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Albert Einstein wrote that life is like a piano, because what you get out of it depends on how you play it.<\/p>\n<p>When I play piano, I have to pay attention to incidentals, crescendos, the pedal, the rhythm, and many other things.\u00a0 Learning to play the piano has not been easy for me because I have traumatic brain injury and struggle to focus on so many things at once.\u00a0 So when I practice a new song, I first pay attention to notes, then to rhythm until I get that down, and then I learn the other aspects of the song.\u00a0 It is very important for me to keep adding up the aspects of the song until I make music when I play it.<\/p>\n<p>My life is the same way.\u00a0 On the very hard days when my brain struggles to focus, I just have to keep working to pay attention to the details until I accomplish my goals.<\/p>\n<p>Living a good life can be a challenge, just like playing the piano is.\u00a0 But if you play the game of life well, you can make a beautiful life.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h4>First play by the rules<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In life and piano playing, you must play by all the rules at first, and then you can follow your heart.<\/p>\n<p>When I first learned to play \u201cThe Entertainer\u201d, I had to play it by all the music rules.\u00a0 The when I had truly learned the song well, I could follow my heart and add my own touches to the song.<\/p>\n<p>In life, you first must manage your relationships by the rules.\u00a0 Then after the rules become ingrained in your mind, you can follow your heart instead of the rules.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>The best players are on the bench.\u00a0 On the bench, you cope with your depression and anxiety much better.\u00a0 Also, on the bench you must persevere to learn to play a song. Hearing the music you play gives you confidence to try to do new things and a greater since of self-worth.\u00a0 Therefore, you play the game of life better.<\/p>\n<p>But not everyone can play piano.\u00a0 Those who do not play piano can still learn these lessons and play the game of life well.<\/p>\n<p>Play the game of life as though you are on the piano bench!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">Let the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/us\/dictionary\/english\/encouraging\" slimstat=\"5\">encouraging words<\/a>\u00a0in these\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/us\/dictionary\/english\/river\" slimstat=\"5\">near\u00a0a\u00a0river<\/a>\u00a0posts help you<\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">soar like an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/us\/dictionary\/english\/eagle\" slimstat=\"5\">eagle<\/a>\u00a0above life\u2019s storms.<\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">How can music\u00a0change your life?<\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">Ndamukong Suh&#8217;s advice for coping&#8230;<\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/reading-with-child-eagle-near-river-bj-rae-encouraging-words\/\">Every child deserves the gift of a successful life.<\/a><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/reduce-stress-eagle-bj-rae-near-river-encouraging-words\/\">Here is a gift that will surely bring smiles to everyone.<\/a><\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">If you enjoyed this post, remember that BJ writes\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/browse\/children\">children\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/browse\/book\">books<\/a>.<\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">Her <a href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/us\/dictionary\/english\/encouraging\">encouraging<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dictionary.com\/browse\/children\">children\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/us\/dictionary\/english\/eagle\">eagle<\/a><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/us\/dictionary\/english\/river\" slimstat=\"5\">Near\u00a0a River<\/a><\/u>\u00a0common core\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.collinsdictionary.com\/dictionary\/english\/reading-book\">reading book<\/a><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">is available on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/\">Amazon.com<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Barnesandnoble.com.<\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">Buy BJ\u2019s\u00a0<u><a href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/us\/dictionary\/english\/river\" slimstat=\"5\">Near\u00a0a River<\/a><\/u>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/us\/dictionary\/english\/encouraging\">encouraging<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/us\/dictionary\/english\/eagle\">eagle\u00a0<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.collinsdictionary.com\/dictionary\/english\/reading-book\">reading book<\/a><\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">for a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/us\/dictionary\/english\/child\">child<\/a>\u00a0you care about today!<\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can play the game of life successfully! The best players of the game of life are on the bench, the piano bench, that is.\u00a0 Why? When you play piano, you realize that life and playing piano have much in <a href=\"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/game-of-life-encouragement-words-near-river-bj-rae-eagle\/\"> Read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,416,133],"tags":[1588,1031,77,1271,1269,1328,1334,1270,1329,1337,1332,1321,12,1331,1330,1320,1273,1322,1302,1274,1323,1325,1326,1324,19,1275,1319,1318,716,1190,1194,1186,1327,1336,1335,1268,1193,1189,1333,1191,297,1192,1299],"class_list":["post-5210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-power-positive-thinking-near-river-bj-rae","category-successful-bj-rae","tag-common-core-eagle-reading-book","tag-albert-einstein","tag-bj-rae","tag-books-for-children","tag-books-for-kids","tag-child-eagle-reading-book","tag-childrens-book","tag-childrens-books","tag-childrens-eagle-reading-book","tag-childrens-reading-book","tag-common-core-reading-book","tag-core-reading-book","tag-eagle","tag-eagle-book-for-child","tag-eagle-child-book","tag-eagle-children-book","tag-eagle-childrens-book","tag-eagle-core-reading-book","tag-eagle-kid-book","tag-eagle-kids-book","tag-eagle-reading-book","tag-eagle-reading-book-for-child","tag-eagle-reading-book-for-children","tag-eagle-reading-book-for-kids","tag-encouragement","tag-encouraging","tag-encouraging-childrens-book","tag-encouraging-kids-book","tag-encouraging-words","tag-flats","tag-flats-and-sharps-on-the-piano","tag-game-of-life","tag-kid-eagle-reading-book","tag-kid-reading-book","tag-kids-book","tag-kids-books","tag-learn-how-to-play-the-piano","tag-naturals","tag-reading-book","tag-sharps","tag-soar-like-an-eagle","tag-vladimir-horowitz","tag-words-of-encouragement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5210"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21239,"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5210\/revisions\/21239"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bobbiejrae.com\/nearariver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}