The Puzzle of Life

The changes in the air bring about excitement. The feeling is similar to the one experienced when you are about to complete a puzzle you have been working on for a long time. And that is what we actually do our whole life.

We begin to collect the pieces for our puzzle early in the childhood. We do not know what the result will be, but we somehow know exactly the pieces that are part of our unique picture. This changes as we grow and struggle to fit into an external picture created "for" us by authorities in our life. At that point we are given foreign fragments that do not fit into our unique creation, and to please our parents and teachers, striving to be "good", we are letting go of the pieces we have already found and identified as ours. We stop drawing on walls and school assignments, playing with food, dancing and singing in public places; we learn to hide our feelings even from ourselves, and laugh more and more seldom.

But the good news is the pieces we once collected did not disappear; we can still find them - if only we look.

The puzzle we assemble now requires some diligence, and plenty of intuitive feelings. How do you know if this red piece is part of your blue sea background? If it is not yours, it is best to let go of it and move on. And what if your picture includes not the grayish waters of Hudson, but vibrant colors of southern coral reefs? Then, the red piece would fit right in - if you have enough patience and imagination to figure it out, that is.

Imagination is the key, for only you can see what you are going to create, and only you know if you are going to implement your vision. One just have to remember a couple of things.

You can only work on your puzzle, and no one else's. Others can be inspired by your work, and benefit from your experience when you accomplish the results. But if you work on another's picture, you will never see the completion of yours.

As you move around collecting your pieces, do not look at the pictures left and right of you for an answer but only for inspiration. Only your unique pieces will fit in to your picture, and the opposite is true too: You will find no use for alien pieces, so it is best to let go of them and not to hoard.

Your puzzle is the most exciting picture for you, and only you know how it is going to look at the end. The whole world is waiting, for your picture is an integral part of the universal Puzzle of Life.

No pressure...