Piece by Piece

by Beth Haley

Puzzles are like Life

Christmas Puzzle 2019

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Potential

How do you pick the puzzle? You probably liked something about the picture on the box, and then you open it – and it’s a mess. It’s just a chaos of jumbled pieces. It’s not the pretty picture… not yet. At that moment, it’s potential. You know what it can become.

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Organizing Chaos

Have you ever had a strong vision for a project or for your life as a whole? And, what does it look like? You may see the full picture down the line of time. Yet in this moment, it may just be pieces of ideas, thoughts, or hopes. So, where do you start? Do you start with the details in the center, or the foundation and framework around the edges?

Out of the mess, you notice certain colors. Those can be grouped together, like supporting ideas.

With the straight edges, an outline of becoming can be built. Piece by piece, you build the foundation, but the whole picture is not there yet, even though you know the picture well.

The foundation of a home may hold it up, but without building the details of the home on it, it is not yet a home. It is the blueprint, the outline and the forming of order from the pile of pieces or ideas.

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The Process

Some say the edge pieces are the easy part of the puzzle. That’s where you begin to make sense of all the mess. From the edge (the foundation and outline), the details of the picture begin to evolve.

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If you can’t see the full picture of your dreams, take some time to really visualize what you want or need:

See it. It looks like sunshine on a glorious day!

Taste it. It tastes like sweetness. It tastes like milk and honey.

Smell it. It smells fresh and clean: like the smell of damp earth after the rain. Is that incense? What kind?

Hear it. It sounds like laughter and communion. It also sounds quiet and peaceful. It sounds like birds singing in the woods and the trickle of the stream.

Experience it in full. It feels like joy. It feels like easy flow. It feels like happiness and fulfillment in the art of creating. It feels abundant. It feels like goodness and kindness. It feels like warmth. It feels like success. It feels like rest of body, mind and spirit – and like action as well – the right action at the right time. It feels like home. If feels like a warm fire on a cold night and the relief of shade on a hot day. If feels like safe travel for the journey. It feels like the life I’ll never want a vacation from!

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The full vision is in both the foundational pieces, and in the details we build from it, on it, and around it.

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Missing Pieces

Sometimes you can almost have the complete picture and find that there are missing pieces. If you know what you’re looking for, the chances of finding it or re-creating (creating) it, are much higher.

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A Helping Hand

Thank you to the brave soul who stuck their arm down the heater vent to fish the fallen piece of the puzzle out. If it had been up to me, this picture would have just remained as is, with one piece missing.

Sometimes, we just need a helping hand on the journey 😊