Fitting The Pieces Together

We finally finished the bezillion-piece puzzle we started while my parents were visiting. It's been a welcome distraction, and a useful reminder that eventually things all fall into place.

My mom wasn't feeling well during their visit, but she was happy to sort puzzle pieces. First we found the four corners and the pieces with straight edges. Then we searched for the pieces with the red and white title. Next we worked the map. After my folks left, I worked on the rest of the pieces with text and the faces. While I was at Sievers, Bill filled in the inner border. When I got home, we were down to the hard part -- lots of blue and gray without clear distinguishing marks to help place the pieces. And some of the pieces were not "puzzle shaped." Out of context, they wouldn't hold together while you searched for what went with them.

Does this sound like a metaphor? It sure seems like one to me.

Working on the puzzle has been a good distraction at a time when I need a little distraction. I'm trying not to think too hard about some stuff I have incubating. As Paul Williams wrote a while back on Think For A Change, incubation is:

...a bit like grabbing a wet bar of soap...the harder you squeeze, the more difficult it is to hang onto it. 

I'm at a natural transition point in my work where it makes sense to step back and take a fresh look at possibilities. This puzzle has a lot of pieces, and I have no clue how some of them fit it. For now.

Life doesn't come with a helpful picture on the box of what things are supposed to look like when you get it all put together. Sometimes I kind of wish it did. And sometimes I squeeze the soap.

But there isn't a timetable for this process. There's no expiration date on possibility. I've learned to be more patient than I ever dreamed was possible. That may be because I have better tools now for making sure I'm paying attention when all these ideas start to hatch and the pieces start to fit together.

Next time I'll tell you about my "unmuddling" notebook. In the meantime, what tools to you use to keep from squeezing the soap?