I love jigsaw puzzles. I feel they are good for the brain. And it is no brainer that I got lots of jigsaw puzzles for Aaryan when he was a kid. From simple 10-20 pieces jigsaw puzzles we graduated to 500 pieces puzzles. 
We were in Jammu then. One evening, Aaryan and I were engrossed in assembling this jigsaw puzzle when some friends came over. While Aaryan went off to play with the kids, a friend joined me and we worked on the puzzle together.
We looked at the complete picture (given on the box) from time to time to keep in our mind, the end result and then searched for the missing pieces. If we got stuck somewhere, we abandoned that part of the picture and focused on the other part. We tried to fit a piece in various places. Sometimes, we looked at the picture real hard and tried to find out where the piece in hand would find its place. We came back again on the earlier abandoned part of the puzzle and sorted it out. We rejoiced when a piece found its place and we got frustrated too, if a part remained elusive for long. With patience, determination, focus, we finally completed the picture and it was an Aha! moment.
Once we were done, this friend who was (God, bless his soul. We lost him to the Big C last year!) very spiritual and a well read person, said, “What if we apply this jigsaw puzzle in our life?” This intrigued us so we asked him to elaborate on it.
He explained. Suppose, the relationship between a couple had lost its charm and you want to enrich it with love and warmth, once again, the concept of solving a jigsaw puzzle can be applied here.
The first thing that we need to do is to visualize a happy and a fulfilling picture of that relationship (similar to the complete picture on the box of the jigsaw puzzle). Then start by putting in efforts that would bring happiness to the relationship (like assembling the pieces in the jigsaw puzzle). If they seem to work and start making a difference in the relationship, it’s great. It means that we are moving closer in our mission of enriching our relationship. In case the efforts or the ingredients we put in to bring a change in our relationship don’t work, we try a different strategy. The more pieces we keep adding to complete the picture, the clearer the picture becomes and in this case, better is the relationship.
We marvelled at the way he explained that life is like a jigsaw puzzle, you have to see the whole picture, then put it together piece by piece.
Isn’t this amazing? And this concept can be applied in every aspect of our life, a new project, or striving towards leading a healthy life or fighting any battle of life… Thank you B for sharing such a wonderful insight with us.
Linking to the Write Tribe’s Wednesday Prompt : “Life is like a jigsaw puzzle, you have to see the whole picture, then put it together piece by piece”
28 Responses
Very true, Shilpa. The quote has significance for life too. Better to make wise investments in relationships. After all, “as you sow, so you reap”. 🙂
I guess that’s how we do things already – treat our goals as a big puzzle to complete and see what fits and what doesn’t. I think if we take it as a challenge and are excited to face it, the process will become interesting. But most of the time we take it as a fight to win and the experience becomes a bitter one.
I don’t know much about relationships, from what I assume – trust is a big factor (required from both sides) that keeps relationships going.
Destination Infinity
There is such an important message in your post and it’s so true… Shilpa you truly know how to interpret something like this so beautifully..
I love jigsaw puzzles too but that’s an interesting way of looking at life. And yes I think we can apply this for any aspect of life.
Beautiful message Shilpa..
and your friend has explained it just right.
I love doing jigsaw puzzles too!
Yes, maintaining relationships can be a jigsaw. many different pieces that are so hard to fit.
you have to see the whole picture, then put it together piece by piece. – I think you nailed it with that line. I love jigsaw puzzles too. My son and I are into 3D architecture ones at present.
that’s a nice post with a beautiful lesson for life indeed! sometimes we just have to go with flow to see the beautiful big picture in future!
Interesting!
One needs a lot of patience to solve a jigsaw puzzle, and much, much more patience to solve the jigsaw puzzle called life.
Yes, indeed the thought behind using the jig saw puzzle to sort life can be very interesting. I liked how you used your own example and led the article back home. Nice!
Wonderfully explained Shilpa and holds so true.
I love how you used the concept of solving jigsaw puzzles to explain how to solve life’s problems. Pure brilliance here! I would never have thought about it that way. Amazing when you think of it…piece by piece and then the whole picture and back. ♥
yes very true we can apply it in our life’s too.nice story
You are so right, life is a puzzle, and we have to use every ounce of our brain to be focused, and not let ourselves drift away even for a second. At least Puzzles can be dismantled again and we can start assembling it again from the scratch, but unfortunately, life is a game that cannot be dealt with in the same manner. Am I making some sense?
Very true, Shilpa ji 🙂 Life is so much like a jigsaw puzzle…sometimes we may not be able to make out why something is happening to us, but later something else happens, and the whole picture becomes clear…!
Shilpa this was just beautiful…such a lovely message…so simple and wonderfully written! 🙂 the first step I think makes all the difference – visualizing a happy and fulfilling picture!!
Life is indeed a jigsaw, Shilpa. Thanks for this 1:)
What a beautiful way of think (your friend explained).
Looking at the happy bigger picture we have to fit in the correct pieces with lots of patience . This is akin to building relationships.
Hey…this is so beautifully explained !! Love it 🙂
A very deep interpretation of the puzzle…my kids are into it, but I lose patience after a while 🙂
I love solving puzzles… But when life throws one… That’s when it becomes challenging. Very thoughtful write Shilpa
Great message to what life is about; a jigsaw puzzle that is put together piece by piece 🙂
Very true Shilpa, life is like a multiple level jigsaw puzzle. It is always about looking for the bigger picture to help you fit in the missing pieces.
A very insightful takeaway from a simple game. Very true, applies to every sphere of life. Thanks for sharing, shilpa:)
Wonderfully related. I always have this habit of dreaming or visualizing how I would like things to be and start working towards it. Though these were considerably trivial. Nice to know that the same can be applied for life too. Very interesting. 🙂
Yes,Yes..Life is a puzzle.
God has created the puzzle and expects each one of us to concentrate and put all bits together.
Very logical post
Nicely put. Life is a big jigsaw puzzle, and we need to rejuvenate our relationships from time to time.
Very insightful.
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