Turn Gripes into Gifts

Whenever I feel disappointed or encounter a painful or difficult situation, I play the Game of Gripes to Gifts. I ask myself: Even though I’m not feeling positive about this, what could be the GIFT in it? In other words:

What does this remind me to be Grateful for?

What does this Inspire me to do? eg to stop procrastinating, learn a new skill, reassess my priorities, be more patient, the list can go on …

What is this telling me to Focus on? I need to Focus on what I want, not on what I don’t want. 

What has this Taught me? About myself, about human nature or about life?

Grateful, Inspired, Focused and Taught form the acronym GIFT.

Yes, this is another Mind Game. The purpose of Mind Games is to switch on the parts of my brain that enable me to deal with a situation in the most effective and uplifting way. The brain loves games. The brain is invigorated by games. The brain seeks pleasure and wants to avoid pain. The brain associates games with fun, play and creativity. The brain wants to win games – so when you play the GIFT Game, your brain revs up to achieve a positive outcome.

I may not always be able to change or rectify what happened. And I don’t always come up with an immediate answer to each of the four questions. But I can always answer at least one of the questions and I always feel better for playing the game. Try it next time you feel like burying your feelings in a box of chocolate.

Showing 4 comments
  • Stephen Cox
    Reply

    Thank you for that. I am trying these things with mind games and socialising by going to Men’s shed and exercise classes plus going to the Library and Church and its functions. I enjoy playing with play dough with the kids making lots of shapes and animals. Race cars and painting.

    • Diane
      Reply

      Hi Stephen, thought your comment was a delight. Keep up with your activities, that time with the kids will be treasured by them throughout their life.

  • Bernadette Thorne
    Reply

    Talk about perfect timing. I recently had a difficult situation where I got very upset, cried and was angry with two people. All I’ve been able to do is think about boundaries that I can put in place to make things better in the future. On reflection – I now think that these boundaries were more like rules!! and not that helpful to me. The questions you provided:
    1. What does this remind me to be Grateful for?
    2. What does this Inspire me to do? eg to stop procrastinating, learn a new skill, reassess my priorities, be more patient, the list can go on …
    3. What is this telling me to Focus on? I need to Focus on what I want, not on what I don’t want.
    4. What has this Taught me? About myself, about human nature or about life?
    Grateful, Inspired, Focused and Taught form the acronym GIFT.
    is a much more productive framework for me – my mind. I love mind games.
    Thank you. So much.

    • Helena Popovic
      Reply

      I’m so pleased the GIFT game provided you with a helpful perspective. Were you able to answer the four questions? If we view life through a playful lens, we discover that we’re far more resourceful than we realised. Good on you! Helena

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