Snakes and Ladders

Thought you were here for a nice little game? Or just another daft cartoon. Well yes there is a daft cartoon, but I want your minds and emotions too (in a non evil way).
For my new readers, I have to admit I have lulled you into a false sense of fun. You see I am not as mad as toast all the time, in fact at times I am as deep as the deepest ocean while at other times as shallow as a puddle. I admit I am splashing in the puddle a lot of the time, but hey its mucho fun.
Yes I am getting to the point of my little ramble. During the process of becoming a counsellor, you learn a lot about yourself, some good and some bad. Even in the most simple exercises things crop up.
In class on Wednesday we did a 'Snakes and Ladders' exercise, chutes and ladders to my American readers. I thought it was going to be a cute game, but that's not quite the way it turned out.

Snakes and Ladders

It works like this, you think of your life as the game board. The ladders are the things/people that have made you happy and/or got you through a rough patch in your life. The Snakes are the things/people that have brought you down. In class we picked 5 Ladders and 5 Snakes, but you can do more if you like. Then for each Ladder we then gave it mark out of ten, ten feeling the absolute best . This was repeated for each Snake, with ten in this case being the absolute worse feeling.

Example of one of my Ladders : The nephews being born, the most important men in my life and they fill me with joy.
Others used children being born, getting married, passing driving test, passing exams etc.

Example of one of my Snakes: My Grandma having a stroke, one of the worst days in my life and I will never forget it.
Others used deaths, illnesses, losing jobs, getting divorced etc.

When added my own scores, the ladders had won, not by much though. I think if I had done this on a bad day then the snakes would of definitely had it in the bag.

Whats the point of this exercise? In a simplified way it just makes you more aware of your own thoughts and feelings. If you have more snakes in your life than ladders, what can be done about that?

I hope you enjoyed this? If you have a bash at it feel free to let me know :)