Thirty Thousand Days - Fall 2013 Vol 18 No. 1 | Page 10

Make the Best of the Situation
b y G regg K re c h

One of my favorite maxims from Japanese Psychology is:

"Just make the best of the situation at this very moment"

T

here is really great wisdom in this teaching.
Our life passes by, moment by moment, but how
often does the moment meet our expectations?
How often are the conditions “ideal” according to our
own desires and preferences? If we cultivate the talent
of making the best of our situation at this moment, then
we’re doing whatever we can to accept the situation and
find something valuable, meaningful or joyful in our
circumstances.
Let me give you an example. Yesterday I was playing
basketball with my teenage daughter, Abbie. We had the
whole gym to ourselves, because all the other players had
left. We played a game called “two bounce.” Essentially,
this is how the game is played: One player shoots. If they
score, they get points. If they miss, the other player has to
get the ball, but they have to wait until it bounces twice on
the floor. If you touch the ball before it bounces twice, or
if you allow it to bounce more than twice, you lose your
turn. After the ball bounces twice, you grab the ball and
then you have to shoot from that spot. If you make the shot,
you get points. If you miss, the other player faces the same
challenge – waiting for the ball to bounce twice and then
shooting from that spot.
This is a wonderful game about how to live your life.
First, you have no control over the other player. Whether
they make or miss their shots – there’s nothing you can
really do about that. But if they miss, you have to be paying attention so you’re ready to go after the ball. Sometimes
the ball just rolls off the rim and you let it bounce twice
and now you’re standing right next to the basket – an easy
shot. But sometimes it hits the rim with great force and
bounces away quickly and by the time it has bounced
twice it is 25 feet from the basket. It can bounce so far
away that even if you throw the ball with all your strength
it probably won’t hit any part of the basket. So this is really
a game about making the best of the situation at any given
moment. If it lands four feet away from the basket, that’s
great and you try to make your shot. If it lands ten feet
away, that’s OK. You just aim and try your best to get it
in. And if it lands 30 feet away, you just laugh about it and

10 • Fall 2013

maybe throw it like a baseball and just try to hit some part
of the basket. And then your opponent laughs and you
laugh and now you’re having fun, despite the fact that
you’re losing.
Can you see how this resembles our lives? Things happen that are beyond our control and we find ourselves in a
particular spot facing a difficult and even unpleasant challenge. So what can we do? Well, sometimes we can change
the situation. That’s great, if you can do it. But in other
cases, all we can do is make the best of our situation at
that moment. So we accept the conditions of life and do
our best to address the situation we face. And sometimes
there is nothing to do but laugh at ourselves and just do
something silly. If we’re lucky, the game will continue and
we’ll have another chance from another spot. Even if we’re
frustrated or in despair, we should be grateful that the
game continues, grateful for the opportunity to play.
I once read an essay by a woman who is a naturalist.
She loves trees. She said she admired trees because they
really had no choice about where they get planted. A seed
lands somewhere and germinates and a tree begins to
grow. Some trees end up in a great spot – there’s good soil,
lots of sun, and no other trees crowding them. But periodically, I see trees that are growing out of a crack in a cliff.
I usually think, “Wow, how did that tree manage to grow
out of that little crack between two rocks. That’s amazing.”
But what else can the tree do, except to try it’s best to grow
in the conditions it is given. It doesn’t complain or get angry
or say “why me?” or “it’s just not fair.” I think we could learn
a lot from trees. The next time you find yourself in an
unfavorable situation – one that disappoints you or fails to
meet your expectations – try to be like a tree. Just make
the best of the situation in that very moment.
If you can do this, you may not always win the game,
but you’ll enjoy the game.
First bounce. Second bounce. Are you paying attention?

Gregg Krech is basketball player/coach and the author of several books
including, A Natural Approach to Mental Wellness. He will be teaching
the distance learning course, Living on Purpose, which begins on January
10, 2014. http://www.todoinstitute.org/ldlp_purpose.html

Thirty Thousand Days