Published in 1925, ‘The Game of Life and How to Play It’ by Florence Scovel Shinn, is a self-help classic that mixes spirituality and practical tips with a sprinkling of anecdotes to illustrate the points.
It recommends that we consider life a ‘game’ played under the rules of ‘affirmations’, ‘forgiveness’, and ‘nonresistance’. The language in some places might be a little formal and old-fashioned for some modern readers, but the wisdom is as relevant as ever!
Key Takeaways
1) The Power of Words
Shinn says our words make reality. Negative talk—like casually talking about misfortune—’seeds’ in a person’s subconscious, which has an effect later. Just as focusing on the negative can draw more of the negative into your life, focusing on speaking the positive and with intention can help invite success, health and happiness into your life. She says that “your word is your wand,” good or bad, according to how you handle the words.
2) Non-Resistance
According to the law of non-resistance we stop fighting against difficulties. Resistance, Shinn says, builds up that very thing you want to avoid — fear, failure, frustration. Instead, she encourages readers to relax and know that right solution will present itself on its own. Overcoming obstacles with time and ease, just like water wears down rock, a nonresistant approach is a thing.
3) Karma and Forgiveness
The book combines two important concepts here. What you put out, is what you get back – the karma. But the book also highlights how it’s possible to forgive, releasing both yourself (the forgiver) and forgiven from negative cycles. Holding on to resentment is like carrying a heavy weight that keeps dragging you down. Forgiveness, on the other hand, allows you to break free from the cycle of unwanted consequences. As Shinn puts it, life is a game of boomerangs—what you throw out comes back to you.
4) Faith and Affirmations
Shinn teaches readers how to use affirmations to bring their desires into divine alignment. Affirmations such as, ‘Thy will be done this day! Today is the day of completion, I give thanks for this perfect day, miracle shall follow miracle and wonders shall never cease,’ help to establish a mindset of abundance and trust. Faith plays a key role on the path to our dreams, and we’re reminded that 100% belief is essential to overcome the invisible roadblock that is worry.
5) Divine Design and Intuition
Shinn suggests that within us, we each have an exclusive Divine Design for life—part of the superconscious mind. Instead of forcing an outcome to happen she advises allowing the right path to unfold. Often, the right opportunities present themselves at the right time when we take our hands off the wheel. The advice is to follow your inner guide, or ‘hunches’ to stay aligned with your true purpose, which gives you the best chance of progressing smoothly through life.
Verdict
As long as you can adapt to the language some dated concepts, The Game of Life and How to Play It actually offers useful practical and spiritual guidance to living a fulfilling and abundant life.
Shinn’s affirmations and mindset tips fit seamlessly with today’s thinking on manifestation best practices. She also stresses forgiveness and non-resistance, which tie in nicely with modern manifestation activities such as gratitude journaling and vibration-raising methods.
The notion that we can actively use the power of thought to shape our reality hasn’t been lost over the past 100 years and wildly popular across social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok
We’re encouraged to play life like a game knowing we have the power to make ourselves happy and successful. By applying the principles outlined, Shinn believes that we can transform our lives and play the game of life with joy and purpose.
The Game of Life and How to Play It Quotes
Chapter 1 – The Game
“Most people consider life a battle but it is not a battle, it is a game.”
“The imagination has been called, ‘The Scissors of The Mind,’ and it is ever cutting, cutting, day by day, the pictures man sees there, and sooner or later he meets his own creations in his outer world. To train the imagination successfully, man must understand the workings of his mind. The Greeks said: Know Thyself.’”
“There is a place that you are to fill and no one else can fill, something you are to do, which no one else can do.”
“There is always plenty on man’s pathway; but it can only be brought into manifestation through desire, faith or the spoken word. Jesus Christ brought out clearly that man must make the first move. ‘Ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you.’ (Mat. 7:7).”
“Nothing stands between man and his highest ideals and every desire of his heart, but doubt and fear. When man can ‘wish without worrying,’ every desire will be instantly fulfilled.”
“The object of the game of life is to see clearly one’s good and obliterate all mental pictures of evil. This must be done by impressing the subconscious mind with a realization of good. A very brilliant man, who has attained great success, told me that he had suddenly erased all fear from his subconscious by reading a sign which hung in a room. He saw printed, in large letters this statement – Why worry, it will probably never happen.’ These words were stamped indelibly upon his subconscious mind, and he has now a firm conviction that only good can come into his life, therefore only good can manifest.”
“Speak these words aloud, with power and conviction: ‘I now smash and demolish (by my spoken word) every untrue record in my subconscious mind. They shall return to the dust-heap of their native nothingness, for they came from my own vain imaginings. Now I make my perfect records through the Christ within – The records of Health, Wealth, Love and perfect self-expression.’ This is the square of life, The Game completed.”
Chapter 2 – The Law of Prosperity
“If one asks for success and prepares for failure, he will get the situation he has prepared for.”
“Getting into the spiritual swing of things is no easy matter for the average person. The adverse thoughts of doubt and fear surge from the subconscious. They are the ‘army of the aliens’ which must be put to flight. This explains why it is so often, ‘darkest before the dawn.’”
“Having made a statement of high spiritual truth one challenges the old beliefs in the subconscious, and ‘error is exposed’ to be put out. This is the time when one must make his affirmations of truth repeatedly, and rejoice and give thanks that he has already received, ‘Before ye call I shall answer,’ This means that ‘every good and perfect gift’ is already man’s awaiting his recognition. Man can only receive what he sees himself receiving.”
“Jesus Christ gave a wonderful example of this. He said to his disciples: ‘Say not ye, there are yet four months and then cometh the harvest? Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields; for they are ripe already to harvest.’ His clear vision pierced the ‘world of matter’ and he saw clearly the fourth dimensional world, things as they really are, perfect and complete in Divine Mind. So man must ever hold the vision of his journey’s end and demand the manifestation of that which he has already received. It may be his perfect, health, love, supply, self-expression, home or friends.”
“You can control any situation if you first control yourself.”
“A keen observer of life once said, ‘no man can fail, if some one person sees him successful.’ Such is the power of the vision, and many a great man owed his success to a wife, or sister, or a friend who ‘believed in him’ and held without wavering to the perfect pattern!”
Chapter 3 – The Power of the Word
“A person knowing the power of the word, becomes very careful of his conversation. He has only to watch the reaction of his words to know that they do ‘not return void.’ Through his spoken word man is continually making laws for himself.”
“I have a friend who said nothing could induce her to walk under a ladder. I said, íf you are afraid, you are giving in to a belief in two powers, Good and Evil, instead of one. As God is absolute, there can be no opposing power, unless man makes the false of evil for himself. To show you believe in only One Power, God, and that there is no power or reality in evil, walk under the next ladder you see.”
“Someone has said that courage contains genius and magic. Face a situation fearlessly, and there is no situation to face; it falls away of its own weight.”
“Öwing to the vibratory power of words, whatever man voices he begins to attract. People who continually speak of disease, invariably attract it.”
“There is an old saying that man only dares use his words for three purposes, to ‘heal, bless or prosper.’ What man says of others will be said of him, and what he wishes for another he is wishing for himself.”
“If a man wishes someone ‘bad luck,’ he is sure to attract bad luck himself. If he wishes to aid someone to success, he is wishing and aiding himself to success.”
“The body may be renewed and transformed through the spoken word and clear vision, and disease be completely wiped out of the consciousness. The metaphysician knows that all disease has a mental correspondence, and in order to heal the body one must first ‘heal the soul.’”
“The soul is the subconscious mind, and it must be ‘saved’ from wrong thinking.”`
“The enlightened man, therefore, endeavours to perfect himself upon his neighbor. His work is with himself, to send out goodwill and blessings to every man, and the marvelous thing is, that if one blesses a man he has no power to harm him.”
“But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you and persecute you.”
“Good-will produces a great aura of protection about the one who sends it, and ‘No weapon that is formed against him shall prosper.’ In other words, love and good-will destroy the enemies with one’s self, therefore, one has no enemies on the external.”
“There is peace on earth for him who sends good-will to man!”
Chapter 4 – The Law of Nonresistance
“However, the man who is centered and established in right thinking, the man who sends out only good-will to his fellowman, and who is without fear, cannot be touched or influenced by the negative thoughts of others. In fact, he could then receive only good thoughts, as he himself, send forth only thoughts.”
“‘Bless your enemy, and you rob him of his ammunition.’ His arrows will be transmuted into blessings.”
“Man can only get the right idea of nonresistance, through spiritual understanding. My students have often said: ‘I don’t want to be a door-mat.’ I reply ‘when you use nonresistance with wisdom, no one will ever be able to walk over you.’”
“When there is, in him, no emotional response to an inharmonious situation, it fades away forever, from his pathway.”
“The robbers of time are the past and the future. Man should bless the past, and forget it, if it keeps him in bondage, and bless the future, knowing it has in store for him endless joys, but live fully in the now.”
“Thy will be done this day! Today is a day of completion, I give thanks for this perfect day, miracle shall follow miracle and wonders shall never cease.”
“However, one should never use an affirmation unless it is absolutely satisfying and convincing to his own consciousness, and often an affirmation is changed to suit different people.”
Chapter 5 – The Law of Karma and the Law of Forgiveness
“Man receives only that which he gives. The Game of Life is a game of boomerangs. Man’s thoughts, deeds and words, return to him sooner or later, with astounding accuracy.”
“This is the law of Karma, which is Sanskrit for ‘Comeback.’ ‘Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.’”
“The more man knows, the more he is responsible for, and a person with a knowledge of Spiritual Law, which he does not practice, suffers greatly, in consequence. ‘The fear of the Lord (law) is the beginning of wisdom.’ If we read the word Lord, law, it will make many passages in the Bible much clearer.”
“Man sees first his failure or success, his joy or sorrow, before it swings into visibility from the scenes set in his own imagination. We have observed this in the mother picturing disease for her child, or a woman seeing success for her husband.”
“Obedience precedes authority, and the law obeys man when he obeys the law. The law of electricity must be obeyed before it becomes man’s servant. When handled ignorantly, it becomes man’s deadly foe. So with laws of Mind!”
“If he desires riches, he must first be rich first in consciousness.”
“Many people are in ignorance of the fact that gifts and things are investments, and that hoarding and saving invariably lead to loss.”
“Jesus Christ brought the news (the gospel) that there was a higher law than the law of Karma – and that law transcends the law of Karma. It is the law of Grace, or forgiveness. It is the law which frees man from the law of cause and effect – the law of consequence.”
Chapter 6 – Casting the Burden
“When man knows his own powers and the workings of his mind, his great desire is to find an easy and quick way to impress the subconscious with good, for simply an intellectual knowledge of the Truth will not bring results.”
“This indicates that the superconscious mind (or Christ within) is the department which fights man’s battle and relieves him of burdens.”
“We see, therefore, that man violates law if he carries a burden, and a burden is an adverse thought or condition and this thought or condition has its root in the subconscious.”
“It seems almost impossible to make any headway directing the subconscious from the conscious, or reasoning mind, as the reasoning mind (the intellect) is limited in its conceptions and filled with doubts and fears.”
“How scientific it then is, to cast the burden upon the superconscious mind (or Christ within) where it is ‘made light,’ or dissolved into its native nothingness.”
“In steadily repeating the affirmation, ‘I cast this burden on Christ within and go free,’ the vision clears, and with it a feeling of relief, and sooner or later comes the manifestation of good, be it health, happiness or supply.”
“The subconscious is often impressed through music. Music has a fourth dimensional quality and releases the soul from imprisonment. It makes wonderful things seem possible, and easy of accomplishment!”
“Invariably, before a demonstration, come ‘signs of land.’ Before Columbus reached America, he saw birds and twigs which showed him land was near. So it is with a demonstration; but often the student mistakes it for the demonstration itself, and is disappointed.”
“Continually ‘making-believe,’ impresses the subconscious. If one makes believe he is rich, and makes believe he is successful, in ‘due time he will reap.’”
“There is no peace or happiness for man, until he has erased all fear from the subconscious.”
“I am asked, so often by my students, ‘How can I get rid of fear?’ I reply, ‘By walking up to the thing you are afraid of.’ ‘The lion takes its fierceness from your fear.’ Walk up to the lion, and he will disappear; run away and he runs after you.”
Chapter 7 – Love
“Real love is selfless and free from fear. It pours itself out upon the object of its affection, without demanding any return. Its joy is the joy of giving. Love is God in manifestation, and the strongest magnetic force in the universe. Pure, unselfish love draws to itself its own; it does not need to seek or demand. Scarcely anyone has the faintest conception of real love. Man is selfish, tyrannical or fearful of his affections, thereby losing the thing he loves. Jealousy is the worst enemy of love, for the imagination runs riot, seeing the loved one attracted to another, and invariably these fears objectify if they are not neutralized.”
“Suffering is not necessary for a man’s development; it is the result of violation of spiritual law, but few people seem able to rouse themselves from their ‘soul sleep’ without it. When people are happy, they usually become selfish, and automatically the law of Karma is set in action. Man often suffers loss trough lack of appreciation.”
“No man can attract money if he despises it. Many people are kept in poverty by saying: ‘Money means nothing to me, and I have contempt for people who have it.’”
“Money is God in manifestation, as freedom from want and limitation, but it must always be kept in circulation and put to right uses. Hoarding and saving react with grim vengeance.”
“This does not mean that man should not have houses and lots, stocks and bonds, for ‘the barns of the righteous man shall be full.’ It means man should not hoard even the principal if an occasion arises, when money is necessary. In letting it go out fearlessly and cheerfully he opens the way for more to come in, for God is man’s unfailing and inexhaustible supply.”
“This is the spiritual attitude towards money and the great Bank of Universal never fails.”
“Money in itself, is good and beneficial, but used for destructive purposes, hoarded and saved, or considered more important than love, brings disease and disaster, and the loss of the money itself.”
“Follow the path of love, and all things are added, for God is love, and God is supply; follow the path of selfishness and greed, and the supply vanishes, or man is separated from it.”
“All disease, all unhappiness, come from the violation of the law of Love. Man’s boomerangs of hate, resentment and criticism, come back laden with sickness and sorrow. Love seems almost a lost art, but the man with the knowledge of spiritual law know it must be regained, for without it, he has ‘become as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals.”
“People are sometimes filled with remorse for having done someone an unkindness, perhaps years ago. If the wrong cannot be righted, its effect can be neutralized by doing some one a kindness in the present.”
“Sorrow, regret and remorse tear down the cells of the body, and poison the atmosphere of the individual.”
“So man is his brother’s keeper (in thought) and every man should know that the thing he loves ”
Chapter 8 – Intuition or Guidance
“There is nothing too great of accomplishment for the man who knows the power of his word, and who follows his intuitive leads. By the word he starts in action unseen forces and can rebuild his body or remold his affairs. | It is, therefore, of the utmost importance, to choose the right words, and the student carefully selects the affirmation he wishes to catapult into the invisible.”
“Giving opens the way for receiving. In order to create activity in finances, one should give. Tithing or giving one-tenth of one’s income, is an old Jewish custom, and is sure to bring increase. Many of the richest men in this country have been tithers, and I have never known it to fail as an investment. | The tenth-part goes forth and returns blessed and multiplied. But the gift or tithe must be given with love and cheerfulness, for ‘God loveth a cheerful giver.’ Bills should be paid cheerfully, all money should be sent forth fearlessly and with a blessing. | This attitude of mind makes man master money. It is his to obey, and his spoken word then opens vast reservoirs of wealth.”
“People little dream of how their affairs react on the body. There is a mental correspondence for every disease. A person might receive instantaneous healing through the realization of his body being a perfect idea in Divine Mind, and, therefore, whole and perfect, but if he continues his destructive thinking, hoarding, hating, fearing, condemning, the disease will return.”
“Jesus Christ knew that all sickness came from sin, but admonished the leper after the healing, to go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon him.”
“Indecision is a stumbling-block in many a pathway. In order to overcome it, make the statement repeatedly, ‘I am always under direct inspiration; I make right decision, quickly.’ | These words impress the subconscious, and soon one finds himself awake and alert, making his right moves without hesitation, I have found it destructive to look to the psychic plane for guidance, as it is the plane of many minds and not the ‘The One Mind.’”
“As man opens his mind to subjectivity, he becomes a target for destructive forces. The psychic plane is the result of man’s mortal thought, and is on the ‘plane of opposites.’ He may receive either good or bad messages. | The science of numbers and the reading of horoscopes, keep man down on the mental (or mortal) plane, for they deal only with the karmic path. | I know of a man who should have been dead, years ago, according to his horoscope, but he is still alive and a leader of one of the biggest movements in this country for the uplift of humanity”
“It is God’s will to give every man, every righteous desire of his heart, and man’s will should be used to hold the perfect vision.”
“As man becomes spiritually awakened he recognizes that any external inharmony is the correspondence of mental inharmony. If he stumbles or falls, he may know he is stumbling or falling in consciousness.”
“When one has made his demands upon the Universal, he must be ready for surprises. Everything may seem to be going wrong, when in reality, it is going right.”
Chapter 9 – Perfect Self Expression or the Divine Design
There is for each man, perfect self-expression. There is a place which he is to fill and no one else can fill, something which he is to do, which no one else can do; it is his destiny. | This achievement is held, a perfect idea in Divine Mind, awaiting man’s recognition. As the imaging faculty is the creative faculty it is necessary for a man to see the idea, before it can manifest. | So man’s highest demand is for the Devine Design of his life. | He may not have the faintest conception of what it is, for there is, possibly, some marvelous talent, hidden deep within him.”
“The perfect plan includes health, wealth, love, and perfect self-expression. This is the square of life, which brings perfect happiness. When one has made this demand, he may find great changes taking place in his life, for nearly every man has wandered far from the Divine Design.”
“Perfect self-expression will never be labor; but of such absorbing interest that it will seem almost like play. The student knows, also, as man comes into the world financed by God, the supply needed for his perfect self-expression will be at hand.”
“Many a genius has struggled for years with the problem of supply, when his spoken word, and faith, would have released quickly, the necessary funds.”
“One should not visualize or force a mental picture. When he demands the Devine Design to come into his conscious mind, he will receive flashes of inspiration, and begin to see himself making some great accomplishment. This is the picture, or idea, he must hold without wavering.”
“The thing man seeks is seeking him – the telephone was seeking Bell.”
“Parents should not force careers and professions upon their children. With a knowledge of spiritual Truth, the Divine plan could be spoken for, early in childhood, or prenatally.”
“Often fear stands between man and his perfect self-expression. Stage-fright has hampered many a genius. This may be overcome by the spoken word or treatment The individual then loses all self-consciousness, and simply that he is a channel for Infinite intelligence to express Itself through.”
“Sometimes an insignificant incident may be the turning point in a man’s life. | Robert Fulton, watching some boiling water, simmering in a tea kettle, saw a steamboat.”
“Anger blurs the visions, poisons the blood, is the root of many diseases, and causes wrong decision leading to failure.”“I have been sometimes asked, ‘Suppose one has several talents, how is he to know which one to choose?’ Demand to be shown definitely, Say: ‘Infinite Spirit, give me a definite lead, reveal to me my perfect self-expression, show me which talent I am to make use of now.’”
“Some people are cheerful givers, but bad receivers. They refuse gifts through pride, or some negative reason, thereby blocking their channels, and invariably find themselves eventually with little or nothing.”
“There is always the perfect balance of giving and receiving, and though man should give without thinking of returns, he violates law if he does not accept the returns which come to him; for all gifts are from God, man being merely the channel.”
“The man born rich and healthy has had pictures in his subconscious mind, in his past life, of health and riches; and the poor and sick man, of disease and poverty. Man manifests, on any plane, the sum total of his subconscious beliefs.”