Wednesday, December 31, 2008

life is like...


I'm working my first jigsaw puzzle in ages, and everytime I work one, I muse that life is like a puzzle. So many little pieces that come together to make something special. What can be a jumbled mess, with patience and attention, emerges into a state of order and completion.

Things not working out like you want? Try looking from a different perspective. It takes time to work a puzzle, it's not finished the first time you sit down to give it your attention. You do a lot of sorting, compartmentalizing. Think at first of the big picture, and set your boundaries. Get it straight along the outer edges, then start to see what goes where. See where you want to give your attention, and gather the bits to bring that into focus. But then again, you don't have to have just one focus...there are several parts to make the whole, and it's fun to figure out how to make the different parts of the puzzle, as with our lives, come together.

You might look and realize you have a piece in there that just doesn't fit. You've managed to jam it in there temporarily, and at a glance it looks as if it belongs. But when the other pieces try to fit in, it just doesn't work. We've all had this experience. While one side may jig in the jigsaw of life, the other sides do not. You have to pull it out of that spot and set it aside to see just how it will fit in the big picture. It may be a background piece...necessary for the picture to be complete, but not the main focal point.

Sometimes you don't see a piece fitting when you look at it individually. You may not recognize what that piece is until you join the parts to see the big picture. Sound familiar? Such is life. Sometimes things shift a bit, and you have to be able to adjust. Step back, take a look, and see if things have gotten askew. That particular row or section may have slipped, and once you set it right, the pieces go together easily.

Happy new year everyone. May the pieces of your puzzle be colorful and complete. And if you think you're missing a piece, take a look around. Maybe it's just dropped on the floor, waiting for you to pick it up again.

1 comment:

G'G'ma said...

Hello. Just discovered your blog. Got a kick out of the post about shoes. Yes, in 1951 I was wearing saddle shoes, size 4. I still have them, don't know why but I do. Now I only wear SAS's...have them in black, brown and bone!!!!. Putting those shoes on in the morning gets me going.