A while back, I introduced a self-awareness game titled the “My Planet Game”. And people loved it so much that today, I want to introduce to you another self-awareness game that is similar but different. We spend a good deal of our time trying to get people to think like us, do things the way we do them, prefer the same things we do, hold the same opinions etc. Sometimes we do this to try to enhance the confluence in our relationships. But sometimes, we do this with an undertone of: The world would be better place if everyone was just like me. In this game, we actually entertain the idea of this actually happening.
To play this game, you imagine that the world is as it is today. But tomorrow, you wake up and mysteriously everyone has been transformed to be just like you. Same personality, same feelings, same needs, same preferences, same aversions, same beliefs, same interests, same personal truths, same vision for the world, same way of having relationships, same dysfunctional and functional patterns, same strengths, same weaknesses etc. etc. And you look straight at the negative and positive reality of what the world would actually become like if tomorrow, you woke up and everyone was suddenly exactly like you.
I know that it is tempting to project that everything would be good. After all, we would not be like we are if we did not think it were the best way to be. But, this exercise challenges you to see both how the world would be better and also how it would be worse if everyone were just like you. So maybe it is better to say that the goal of this game is to see how things would be different and how things would change and what reality would end up looking like if everyone were just like you.
When you are doing this exercise, the sky is the limit as far as things to consider. But to get you started, you could consider things like:
*What your political beliefs are and how things would change or be different if everyone had the exact same political beliefs as you do.
*What your interests are and what would happen if everyone had the exact same interests.
*What your vision for society is
*Your relationship to animals
*Your relationship to plants
* Your ideal lifestyle
* Your bad habits
*Your attitude towards family
*Your attitude towards kids
*Your strengths in the various different facets of life
*Your weaknesses in the various different facets of life
*Your sensitivities
*Your relationship to work
*Your spiritual or religious beliefs
*What it would be like if everyone acted the same in relationships that you do in relationships
*Your relationship to Earth
*Your pet peeves
*How you deal with problems
*How you act when things are going well
*Your relationship to temporal, physical existence
*Your mentality towards life
*Your social life
*Your exercise habits
*Your relationship to your body
*Your attitude towards emotions
*Your personality
* Your goals
*Your needs
*Your motivations
*Your values
* Your style of dealing with conflicts
*Your vices
*Your life choices
*your relationship with fun and recreation
*Your virtues
*What you specifically have to give to others and contribute to the world
*What you are really, really bad at
*What you perceive to be drudgeries
*What causes you the greatest Joy
*Your attitude towards home life
*What makes you the most upset
*Your sense of community
*How you deal with upset
*What you will not tolerate
*Your relationship with personal growth
*What you will tolerate, even when you shouldn’t
*The places you like to spend time
*Your attitude towards travel
*Your attitude towards society
*Your purchasing habits
*How you make others feel
*When it comes to you, what’s missing?
* What verb best describes you?
*Your food habits and or your relationship to food
*The way you present yourself
*Your tastes (ei. In decoration, style, preferences)
*Your aversions
* The worst thing about you
*The best thing about you
*What people ask you for help with
*What people avoid asking you for help with
*Your taste in music
*Why you do what you do
*Your talents and abilities
*What you stand for
*What you stand against
*What people compliment you on
*What people criticize you about
*Your relationship to sleep
*Your relationship to finances
*Your attitude towards health
*What bores you
*Your definition of success
*What you geek out about
*How you manage your time
*What you spend your time doing
*What you would spend your time doing if you could have everything your way
An enhanced way to do this game is to involve other people who know you well in the game. Since other people sometimes see things that we don’t, and when it comes to hypothetical situations, many minds are better than one. And, let’s face it, it’s more fun that way.
So that you can understand this game, here is an actual example of a write-up that someone did:
If everyone in the world was like me… we would have regressed a few hundred years. We would have no cities and everyone would live in a hut. Cities were abandoned because they require too much maintenance. Essentially, we go back to the farming age and only because I guess we have to eat. Everyone would begrudgingly have a job in that farm life not because we want to but because we have to in order to survive. And even though we are only having simple foods like corn, beans, whatever we can grow somehow, we manage to make it very unhealthy. Health is not a concern and therefore gyms are extinct like the dinosaurs. Because of this our life expectancy is not very high. That’s ok we make up for it by focusing on relationships. The two main focuses if everyone was like me would be relationships and shadow work. As a matter of fact, we would start off our day with shadow work. Everyone in this world would be super regulated. Oh you have a problem? That’s ok I have plenty of time to listen to you, to see you, to make changes according to what would be best for the relationship. Why would I gaslight you when we could both dive into reality. There wouldn’t be any loneliness or lack of belonging or feeling unsupported. We would all gather at night time around the fire to talk about how our day went. But don’t worry we would all point out what could go wrong so that we would have plenty of shadow work the next day.
Are you feeling like you are coming down with something? That’s ok we could just go get herbs from the garden or go see our local medicine woman that is just around the corner. And you know that because no one really moves away. You know everyone and everyone knows you. There are no fences separating you from anyone, there is no land ownership and there is no crime. We all make sure we are considering others and that is reflected in our trade system, we don’t use money. Everyone’s basic needs are met. I can’t say anyone is entertained but you know, who needs entertainment when you have shadow work. You also have the donkey you ride to travel and do the farm work. We could have had horses but we don’t… those guys are just too tall for us. Plus we are mostly women with no children so you know you have to be careful in all the places you can. Don’t worry about us women we rarely if ever get hurt, there’s not much of anything around that could do anything. The landscape is harmless. But if anything does happen you could just send word for your best friend and she would be there in a second. Why, because we value companionship more than anything. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t help you when you needed it?
Bored yet? I’m not sure what to do with that one? I can’t entertain you, can you do it for me? I guess we’ll just do more shadow work on it. Good thing we focused on relationships and shadow work. I’m not sure what else to do with my life than what I have already done. Hey, let’s integrate ourselves out of here. Sounds great to me, it’s not like we had kids. I guess it was good while it lasted….
This example is written in a humorous tone. The goal is not necessarily to have it be funny. So, yours may be humorous or serious. Either way, the goal is to conceptualize of the reality of a world where everyone was just like you.
Doing this exercise goes a long way towards helping you to love the ways that people are different and how those differences can create a richer, healthier life for us all. It goes a long way toward showing us how we need each other. It helps us to see our own dysfunction and function. It also shows us how it can be enough for us to be a certain way, or for someone else to be a certain way because having everyone be that way would be what would lead to problems. So, try it out for yourself and gain some new awareness.
