On my way to Yoga last weekend, I popped by a shop as I was a little too early for class. I came across something I was familiar with from the 1990s: a Tetris game console. It is a pure and simple, Tetris only, black and white screen, with buttons; just like in the old days, these days pronounced “vintage game console.” I decided to get it, as I liked playing this game back in the day.
In the days when I was in University in the mid-1990s, many of us students were on the computer playing Tetris, as we were trying to avoid/procrastinate our fate of dealing with studying for exams and working on our due papers. I guess it was our way of escapism; from the stress of finishing certain tasks within a certain amount of time or possibly even the fact that we would be finished with our education and forced to face the uncertainty of our unknown futures after school. Not such an unhealthy manner of procrastination, if it was balanced out with eventually getting to work on your paper; compared to hanging out in bars and drinking alcohol till the wee hours of the morning, as well as cheaper too.
If you don’t know Tetris, this is what it is. Shapes fall from above to land downward, like rain from Heaven to Earth. The shapes, Tetrominoes, are all made up of 4 little squares, which include: a square, L-shape, reverse L-shape, a long line, Z-shape, reverse Z-shape and a T-shape. The goal of the game is to line the Earth on the bottom with the Tetrominoes, which will eventually disappear and score you points, as well as clear the screen so you could progress on to the next level. The only moves you can make are to flip the position of shape to get it to fit into the existing line or make them move down faster. At every level, the task gets harder as the speed increases; at the beginning it is like drizzling-rain speed and by the end like monsoon-rain speed.
As I describe this, I realize why I like this game. It’s like the Heavens send down rain to the Earth and I have to deal with how it gets distributed on the Earth. If I manage to organize it well, the Earth can transform the rain but if I can’t, it will overflow and flood the Tetris world into destruction. As luck would have it, there is a possibility for a restart, a rebirth; I can press the button and start a new game. In fact, the more training I get, the easier it becomes to see the possibilities to get the Tetraminoes stacked in a horizontal line on the Earth. For me, it is a game of hope, as I get many chances to mess-up, restart and in the process have practice to better my skill. I do not get the chance to choose which shape comes when, but I do get a view of the next 3 shapes that will be dropped down; so I do have a little possibility to plan my next few moves.
When I played it the 1990s, I was in a different state-of-mind; sometimes when I didn’t get a line perfectly and completely filled with no empty spaces, I would just restart the game. Now almost 30 years later, I observe that it does not bother me at all and I just continue to fill the lines above the baseline and eventually I get to work on the baseline again, to finally get it to transform. I notice that I have learned to let go of being “perfect,” to be aware of the bigger picture and to be focused in the present moment. The score is just secondary for me, if I get a high-score, great, if not, no worries. When it’s time to let it go, I just shut it off and let go of the game. It is just a game but it’s how I approach it that matters. Tetris, like so many things in life, can be a tool for transformation or it can be a hindrance to life. I have the choice to determine what it is for me.
Image by Henriksen19 on Pixabay
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