Pawn or King

Full disclosure - I'm not a chess wiz...in fact the last time I played a 9 year old beat me in like four or five moves. But I like this idea as a concept and I think it works without being 100% applicable to chess...I think.

The basic framework is to ask the following question: Am I the King or am I the Pawn?

When I am the King, I see the board and the game unfold as what external things are happening that impact me. How does the universe move for me? Am I protected here? How does someone impact my day or my life? Etc.

When I am the Pawn, I see it differently. When I'm the Pawn, I think not of how things unfold for me, but how can I be the piece that helps something unfold for another. How am I the tool for another.

I have often had a perspective that I was meant to do something (I know, such a millennial) and that there was a path ready to unfold for me. So I interpreted events or people in my life with an openness to trying to see what the universe/God was trying to guide me toward or show me. I'm not saying that isn't possible. But I am saying that maybe instead of paying so much attention to that perspective, I could flip my game and think of myself as the Pawn for others. Rather than thinking of how a particular person impacts me, I focus on how I can impact them.

I don't think it's all that original an idea. I mean it sure sounds a lot like the obvious that I am not the center of the universe, right? Or the emphasis of serving others. It's just interesting to me because (as unbiased as possible here) I have never thought of myself as selfish. I've always tried to think of others. I've always tried to have an open perspective. But the way I interpreted life was how was life moving around me, for me. And for whatever reason, it wasn't until thinking about the Pawn or King that it really sank in.

I'll admit, it's hard to not view ourselves as the King when it comes to our own individual life. But maybe that's fine and what really matters is to remember that the greater "game" being played is beyond just ourselves. And maybe by thinking of ourselves as a Pawn in the game of other Kings we can do more good. And maybe we can learn how to care more about doing good than about what good may come to us. Maybe we can learn to let go of the nature to control our outcome and accept our ability to impact others.

Maybe.