Chess and climbing

I played the best game of chess of my life the other day.

It was the first time I had played in years, so I was pretty relaxed going in, since I was expecting to lose.  That relaxation allowed me to think more clearly without judging and doubting every thought and every analysis, and avoid making simple errors.  It allowed my thoughts to just flow, and to keep moving without getting stuck on something or fixated on an idea or a problem.

I kept this principal in mind throughout the whole game: good moves are NOT impossible to find, and in the opening stages, I just wanted every move to count.  Don't waste your early moves.  Don't bring out your Queen or Bishop only to have it driven back immediately.  Hold your best pieces back, but get them into striking positions where they can work together.  Control the center of the board.   Know where you want your pieces to be and simply start working towards that position without wasting a move.  The best way to make your moves count is to force your opponent to keep responding to them rather than advancing their own agenda.  Following these principals will create tactical opportunities you can't anticipate.

And the final principal was - choose the _fun_ moves.  The moves that created drama, complexity and interest.  If a move was interesting, I played it, even when I wasn't 100% confident in it.

In the end, this led to one of the most complicated and interesting middle games I've ever played, with action in three out of four corners, and the cleverest checkmate combo I had ever come up with.  The strong strategic position created that opportunity.  It's hard to find water in a desert.  I wish I had recorded the game.

Climbing

I did the best climb of my life today.  The key was _keep moving_.  Whenever I stop to rest on a wall, it ends up draining more strength.  When the time comes to make a move, just make it.  Trust your body and go for it.  If you can do it, you may surprise yourself.  If you can't, try again next time.  But the point is, true rest comes from movement.  Keep things flowing and relaxed and you'll last a lot longer.  If you can't make the big move yet, just keep adjusting until you find a better vantage point.  You'll get a lot more creative in your climbs if you move by instinct and just keep moving.

Happiness

Make the moves that feel good, that lead to fun, interest and challenge.  Happiness is not a fixed state, a stasis, a static position.  Happiness is a process.  A river is not happy when it gets stuck in a hole.  It wants to keep flowing.  You've got to keep moving, progressing and flowing.  This is life.  Life moves, life flows.  Life needs to keep moving to be happy.