a jigsaw guide to life?
Why a jigsaw guide to life? Well, it’s not too difficult to look at life like a giant jigsaw puzzle. This world is broken. Life is confusing. We’re surrounded by all these pieces and not sure what to do with them.
Jigsaw puzzles can be exceptional teachers. They impart patience, determination, stamina, self-control and powerful bursts of gratification.
(And I just started a 1000 piece puzzle last night!)
And that also forced me to reflect on important life questions like, “Why am I still sitting here staring at these tiny pieces when I could be in bed?”
But jigsaw puzzles offer a sense of order and reason, even when the real world doesn’t. Every piece has its place, and we are bound to figure things out eventually.
Some lessons we can learn from jigsaw puzzles:
- Look at the big picture. We need a mental vision of what we want to achieve in life. A target. There is a goal and we can envision the result. Just look at the picture on the puzzle box.
2. Every piece that fits together correctly is a step forward, and the puzzle would be incomplete without it. Just like our lives, puzzles include many diverse components. Relationships, personal development, career, school, and self-care, to name a few.
3. Set up our boundaries. When working on a jigsaw puzzle, it’s best to establish the border first. Boundaries give us clarity and provide a sense of security. Boundaries help keep us focused on what is essential to us while also protecting our rights.
If the pieces we are using right now don’t form the picture of life we want, we need to change the pieces or perhaps even the picture. Perhaps not all at once, but systematically, with a plan in front of us. This is not complicated, but it does require commitment.
Is the picture you have the one you want?
Is the picture you want worth the effort?
Are you working on changing anything?
1 Comment
Great analogy! And one can finish a puzzle and feel like they have accomplished something.