TL;DR

• Adopting a game-like mindset helped me overcome deep depression and feel neutral about my life--eventually even good.
  
  
• Viewing life as a means of fulfilling basic emotional needs and sparking curiosity, challenges akin to those in video games satisfy human needs. The game is exploration-oriented, focusing on finding "crossroads" for change.
  
  
• Your thoughts and feelings were "coded" into your brain by society, family, friends, media, etc. The course aims to teach you how to code your own game to live a life you're okay with using neuroscience and psychological principles I've studied.
  
  
• The objective of the game is to choose new paths at each "crossroads," or decision point in your life, that align with your idea of a neutral life. New choices drive new results and circumstances (AKA new levels), getting you closer to "life neutrality."
  
  
• Note: This process isn't as linear as a video game. It's an exploration. It's cyclical. You learn to play better as time goes on.
  
  
• This process helped me feel okay, so I want to pass along the knowledge I learned.
  
  
• Follow @mindfulcheatcodes for tips on playing life's game.
  
  

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The full version:

Imagine if life were a game. It wouldn’t feel so serious. If you get hit with something unpleasant, you’d feel better knowing you have an idea of what’s coming up next and can change directions to handle it better next time. You would put wild outfits on your avatar just because. You wouldn’t worry about what the other avatars think about your new look. 

Changing my brain to adopt this attitude towards life is how I increased my motivation to live when I was deeply depressed. I aimed to get neutral about life. And I got so much more than that.

When I say life is a game, I am not intending to trivialize it in any way. I see life as a game because it helped me meet my basic human emotional needs and create curiosity about my future rather than dread.

In video games, there are always challenges put in between you and the next level. That’s what makes the game a game—the contrast between obstacles and wins. Video games help fulfill the human needs of skill-building and interesting stimulation.

This is more of an exploration game than a “win/lose” game. The only objective of the game is to consciously find “crossroads,” which are opportunities to do and/or think about things differently, eventually leading you to different experiences you want to witness or perceptions you want to create in your life (AKA "getting to a new level"). The more you choose to do things differently at each crossroads, the closer you'll get to the next "level," which is just another set of experiences in a particular area of life.

This game works based on the process of neuroplasticity, or the way your brain changes based on the repetition of new associations. Most of the automatic thoughts that come up in your head were “coded” into your brain by society, your family, your friends, teachers, peers, TV, media, etc. These "lines of code" are, in essence, associations. They’re just your brain sending a message either in response to a certain external or internal stimulus. For example, you might associate yourself with "bad." You can add new lines of code that override this belief and make it obsolete. I'll go through that process in the course.

Before learning to create brain and nervous system changes, we've been playing a game without even knowing that someone else built it for us. This course is meant to introduce you to the concept of coding the game yourself so you can better "play" it.

The exercises laid out in this course are meant to help you use your pre-frontal cortex, (which helps you with judgment, reasoning, and executive function) to add new lines of code to your brain that make the old unhelpful ones irrelevant.

Once the old ones become less relevant to your brain (meaning they don’t have as much emotion tied to them anymore), your new perception will help drive your results and circumstances. The more you code new associations into your brain, the better you'll be able to overcome the obstacles that come your way. And that gets you to a new "level" (AKA a new set of circumstances or perception of your circumstances).*

This process is how I found reasons to live and got to "life neutrality."

In the next sections, we'll go into detail how the game works.

Not ready to commit to the course yet? Follow us on @mindfulcheatcodes for pro tips on how to play the game.

*This process isn't as linear as a video game. It's an exploration. It's cyclical. You just get better at playing it.

About the organization behind this course:

Mindful Cheat Codes is a peer-run organization built to support people living with mental health conditions in between therapy and/or psychiatry. Our approach is to reframe life as a game to help reduce symptoms, seeing symptom management as overcoming obstacles to get to the next level.

mindfulcheatcodes.com | IG: @mindfulcheatcodes | [email protected]

Note: I am not a medical professional. As a mental health peer advisor, I am not providing healthcare, medical, or nutritional therapy services or attempting to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any physical, mental, or emotional issue.

The information provided in this course is for informational purposes only and is not intended to substitute professional medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment. Always seek advice from your physician or other qualified healthcare provider before undertaking a new health regimen.

Do not disregard medical advice or delay seeking medical advice because of the information you received in this course. Do not start or stop any medications without speaking to your medical or mental health provider.