Puzzled

It just so happens; I’ve become a puzzler. Yes, staying in has led me to a new past time. (Now I know why they call it a past time!) While working on my latest 1000-piece challenge- The cliché that life is like a puzzle, kept popping into my head.
At first it seemed overwhelming. Lots of pieces with little or no direction. However, you instinctively know somehow they will eventually fit together.

So, how to do I make sense of the 1,000 pieces in front of me?
I start with the edges. Doesn’t everyone? Next, I sort the colors… At first, pieces feel indescript. An edge, a red piece, a yellowish tint and the “I don’t even know” misc pile. Neuroscience teaches us that our brains are like file cabinets.

Look for what you know and categorize everything you see. While this is helpful and part of the way hunters and gatherers learned to survive, it only gets one so far. To finish the puzzle, you have to get to know the details. You have to look at the intricacies. A little but of blue, a letter or number or pattern – a beautiful hint of something that tells me THIS is the one and only piece that will fit.

Yes… life is like a puzzle. Each of us is special and unique. There is ONLY ONE just like you. We are the pieces that surround each other and together we are all part of a bigger picture. In the end, we can categorize all day long, but recognizing the intricacies is what matters the most. We are so interconnected and by coming together we make things whole – time well spent making something beautiful.

Who is the missing piece in your puzzle? What details are you needing to complete your beautiful work of art called life? I know sometimes it feels almost impossible. But, I promise that we do fit together.

Leanne Rubenstein 
Compassion Cultivator
Compassionate Atlanta