10 Lessons From A Jigsaw Puzzle

Staying indoors for the past few months finally gave me time to solve a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. There were simple lessons waiting to unfold.

1. No one has an idea of the bigger picture and what it looks like. But because you know it’s a jigsaw puzzle and all the pieces are meant to fit, you’ll keep trying to solve the puzzle.
2. If each human is a piece of the puzzle, then why is there a rush to fit into the bigger picture immediately? There are pieces that’ll fit sooner than you and that doesn’t mean you are not successful. There are pieces that won’t fit till the very end – even that doesn’t mean they are unsuccessful!
3. Each piece is significant and necessary. There are no extras. Like Babuji says – ‘Doesn’t everything have its raison d’être?’
4. In a rush to fit yourself in this world, this bigger picture, you may end up connecting to a wrong piece that you believe to be proper. In one move, the bigger picture gets distorted and when things fall apart, you find yourself getting angry, miserable, and frustrated.
5. Do we give up? Are those pieces really wrong? Or do we belong someplace else? And, isn’t our goal the same?
6. There are other pieces waiting to connect to you. Places where you’ll fit, belong, and make sense. Pieces that help you reach the goal of the larger picture, and you help them too.
7. There comes a time when for days at a stretch you can only fit 3-4 pieces. No more. Patience will lead you slowly to the bigger picture. Impatience will lead you to be discouraged. The more you meditate, the more the pieces start becoming familiar.
8. If every piece of a jigsaw puzzle though itself wholely and solely important, then the hundreds of similar blue pieces would never be able to form the sky. In their uniqueness they are part of the bigger picture.
9. Pause and wonder and look for a guide who can help you locate exactly where you’ll fit in the bigger picture. Have faith and surrender. You have your reason to be here. There is a plan for you.
10. Once you’re done, smile and marvel at the joy of solving the puzzle. Don’t be attached. Scatter the pieces again and pass this game to the next person, so they too may enjoy the joy of puzzle solving. And perhaps, locate the dot that they are in the bigger picture, the universe.