I Love Sudoku (02/09/2015)

I love playing the game Sudoku. I have a version on my phone. It is really nice, as it lets me list all the possible numbers in a square so I can easily keep track of possibilities, and it lets me choose whether or not I want it to tell me if there is already an entered number in the row/block, and if I enter an error.

It also has different levels: easy, medium, hard, extreme.

It hones my observation and sorting abilities. I like working with numbers. I can be systematic, and that helps my problem solving abilities -- at least my problem solving abilities for sudoku.

I can play against the clock. It was an exciting day when I solved an 'extreme' puzzle. Initially, they were too hard for me and I had to use the 'assistance' tools that show me what I have wrong, or that tell me where the next number should be.

It was another exciting day when I got so I could do the extreme puzzles easily and consistently.

Of course, to do them consistently, I have to do a lot of them. And that is great, because I can do them when I am out and about waiting in line, when there is no conversation going on at home, when I am trying to wake up in the morning (math wakes up my brain), or when I am trying to get my eyes tired at night to fall asleep.

It helps fill the void for all of those situations.

One Problem

There is only one problem.

As with any 'level' game, or 'beat the clock' game, it is constructed so that you "think next time, I can do a little better, or a little faster". When you solve it, you wonder if you could do it faster in the next game, or how easy will the next puzzle be, or that one was too easy and didn't really challenge my thinking well enough, or I'll do just one more, or ...

These kinds of games are addicting. I hate to admit it (so pretend I'm not) but at night when I'm going to sleep I have occasionally (actually, it is only occasionally) ended up playing the sudoku game for 2 to 3 hours. A difficult puzzle can take 35 min to an hour and a quarter or more. Since our family routine already gets me to bed between 11:30 pm and midnight, I have (just occasionally) played sudoku until 2am.

That is too late.

I decided that I would no longer play it because it was kind of addicting. I deleted it from my phone. But later, I decided I would exercise control and I reinstalled it. I did exercise control. I had no more long night sessions, I would not let it get in the way of other things I was suppose to be doing. I was better.

Is Better Enough?

But then in my morning reading I was struck by 2 Nephi9:51. Jacob is speaking to the people of Nephi. He says, "Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy. (Italics added.)

Woah! 'That which cannot satisfy' is a good definition of the addicting feeling of 'level' and 'beat the clock' games. In spite of the 'skills' it may refine in us, or any other 'rational' reason we my find that honors these types of games, they really are not productive. They really are addicting, and that is not off-set by the benefits they may offer.

Satify is defined (by www.thefreedictionary.com) as:
1. To gratify the need, desire, or expectation of.
2. To fulfill (a need or desire).

Satisfy does not include the urge to do 'just one more.'

I feel intensely satisfied when I complete a task. But when I complete a sudoku puzzle, I am not. I just want to do another one. The same goes for the drop-down blocks you line up, or any other game.

So the Lord through Jacob, is telling me to not spend my energy with addictive activities, even if I can control how much I do of it. Don't waste my time.

So, I've stopped playing sudoku. I've left it on my phone so that it is my will power to stop I am strengthening now, not my speed and number elimination skills.

The Resulting 'Mind Void', aka Addiction Perpetuates Itself

I found that through the day when I would normally play a game while waiting for something, I'd experience a 'mind void.' That is the feeling when my mind feels bored and wants something somewhat mindless, but occupying to do. Or when I want to numb out what I may be feeling or thinking. The mind-numbing aspects of level games is an additional huge subject on which one could pontificate, but I won't here. You're free to do it if you wish. The more months that had gone by playing sudoku, the more easily and more frequently this mind void feeling would come requesting a quick sudoku game. The more time consumed with playing sudoku, the even more frequently the 'mind void' feeling surfaced. If I honestly look back at it, it was creating the feeling and need that it was fulfilling. That is a self-perpetuating cycle. One more sign of addiction.

I've had a week or more of trying to resolve the resulting 'mind void.'

Fill Me with A Better Activity

So I've had to find something else to do to shift the mind void feeling. Otherwise there is a void that any other addiction activity can fill.  It is like the evil sprit cast out of a man's house in Matt 12:43-45.

43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

Instead of just stopping the addiction,  I need to replace it. I found the perfect replacement.

I pull up my scriptures on my phone and read a little. I don't see it as scripture study. I can't really stop and ponder and write, or follow a topic, etc,. when I am reading to fill in the cracks of time in my day or schedule. But I do see it as beneficial time use. I see it as an activity that increases my ability to keep the Holy Ghost closer to my heart. I see it as an activity that satisfies me. I'm sure I'll have small insights as I read here and there, even though it is not a sit-down study time.

The bigger benefit was that the more I read my scriptures in the little time segments (and ignore the mind void requesting sudoku), the less intense and less frequent the 'mind voids' become.

Previously when I have given up playing sudoku and would have a mind-void asking to play sudoku, I used to have to go through a thought process reminding me that I decided to quit because of the addictive nature and my vulnerability to it, etc. Sometimes I would not play, sometimes I would play.

Now when I have a mind-void asking to play sudoku, I remember that Jacob said to not spend my 'labor for that which cannot satisfy.'

So I don't.

That in itself is satisfying.