Puzzling through
Jan 28, 24
551 piece puzzle of various teddy bears, partially complete, with extra pieces around the edges
I’m in the middle of making a teddy bear puzzle on my own. Average size, 551 pieces, lots of colors. As I sit here with my tea, finding bear parts and ribbons, struggling a little with the larger bears, one life lesson after another fills my mind. They are not original thoughts, the puzzle being one of our most common metaphors. But I learned long ago doing the Landmark Forum that you can hear wisdom over and over externally, but it doesn’t really hit until we “come up with it”, as it were, on our own. When we have an “aha!” moment, and it all makes sense.
For instance, starting my business feels a little like making this puzzle. I want the whole puzzle to be done before it’s “good enough” to show the world (all my marketing in place, office done, therapeutic plans made), when it looks pretty great already. I can trust that I will find the right fuzzy foot when the time comes to complete that bear. I have precedent to believe it, and I already have so many bears to offer anyway! Maybe I don’t like some part of the puzzle, or it’s more challenging. But when I zoom out, the whole fits together just right. I don’t enjoy puzzles with large swaths of one color, or little variation overall, and it’s a good reminder of how I also want to live my life and run my business, colorfully, with diversity of style/content, and inspiring sensory stimulation. I am not 100% certain all the pieces are even there, since I found it in my parent’s basement. My perfectionist side rattles around, wondering at the value of even making an incomplete puzzle. Are any of us complete though? Is not our beauty found in our bumpy edges, our relatable human “imperfections”? Writing this, I almost hope there IS a piece missing. How refreshing to question the set of rules we were given to live by!
You can play this wisdom game in many ways, looking for guidance. I find it helps to try and quiet the mind, get into as much of a flow state as possible, and let the answers just come. Perhaps puzzling works for you, perhaps crafting. Maybe it’s a walk in nature, where you allow your senses to perceive an answer to your question, such as “how do I cope with this pain?” Perhaps a storm ravaged tree appears around the bend, and you notice the torn branches. Perhaps you allow yourself to resonate with the tree for a moment, sharing empathy, wondering how it copes. Maybe you notice its will to keep living, notice the birds chirping joyfully in its remaining branches, how the tree gently accepts that there will be both storms and joy along the way. Or maybe that’s not what you perceive that day. Perhaps you consider how it looks rough, and then remember how the roots beneath are so intertwined with others around it, how the fungal network connects all trees, and you feel reminded of your own community and how it sustains you.
Or you miss the tree altogether, favoring the large toads mating vigorously nearby (seriously, it’s intense)! Whatever works ;)
Wishing you inspiration, gentleness and many “aha!” moments.
NB: Update, there were in fact 4 “missing” pieces. I can tell I’ve come a long way, because I dared to try the ancient puzzle without knowing what the results would be. I suspected that not all 551 pieces were present. And a big part of me finds the puzzle more beautiful this way.
Completed 551 piece teddy bear puzzle, minus 4 “missing” pieces.
