Chess for Change

Playing chess is not only fun, but it changes you, it seems.  As you play more and more, and mind you I am not a great player, it seems to change the very way that you think about and approach things in your life.  I have noticed that I am calmer under pressure now and that I can visualize things better at work.  Even things that have nothing to do with strategy seem to be changing, an example, the other day I was installing a piece of equipment for my personal use, and I had missed something, made a wrong connection somewhere and it didn't quite work right the first time.  Well my first reaction was frustration, but instantly I thought to myself, "How lucky am I to even have this piece of equipment in the first place, so many of us on this planet don't have anything, not even adequate food or water to live a healthy life.  Yet here I stand frustrated over a little thing that will only take a minute to fix."  Now I don't mean to get on a soapbox and I am not trying to preach, my point is, the game of chess seems to be having an overall effect on my ability to reason and think things through more thoroughly.  It truly is amazing.  I would like everyone who reads this to stop a minute and take a look at yourselves and tell me how chess has changed you.  Cheers everyone and good games to all!