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Puzzled?
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"Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle."
- Lewis Carroll
This week, The Weekly Beet reports on the incredible healing effects that puzzles can have on the mind. Mary Kent gets puzzled, while putting the final pieces together to create a new set of wings.
 Puzzles! They're perplexing, challenging, and downright overwhelming. With hundreds of pieces coming in all shapes and sizes, puzzles are so very symbolic of life that whoever coined the saying is an absolute genius. Life is a puzzle! And, I can totally attest to this statement, as my path in life has lead me down a confusing and perplexing search towards health and happiness. With so many missing pieces and a never-ending quest to fit them together in a timely manner, there have been times in my life where I can honestly say I became obsessed with trying to figure out this puzzle we call life. Admittingly, I tried to control which pieces fit where, whether it was with my health or with my relationships, and became unhappy when the missing ones that finally did arrive were not fitting into my so-called divine plan. You can't force a piece to fit, even if it does look like the perfect match. Lucky for me, I found the perfect solution that would take my mind away from my mercury experience and place it on something a bit more healing. And, as divine timing would serve, that's when the butterfly puzzle flew down to teach me a few things about this puzzling life I was leading! Not only are puzzles one of the most powerful tools used to exercise and focus the mind, I can now say they have the power to teach us lessons about ourselves if we are willing to listen. While healing at my beach house, I found an unopened Josephine Wall butterfly puzzle of 1000 pieces waiting to be pieced together. I knew there was a reason this butterfly landed in my lap, as there was something truly special about this puzzle. I knew the butterfly to be a powerful symbol of transformation and change and was determined to figure out the lesson this was about to teach me. As I started putting the puzzle together, my determination was incessant, a piece that was already giving me a clue about my character. I kept working on the puzzle, dying to get to the end so I could feel proud over my winged victory.
I remembered laughing hysterically with my boyfriend, as I told him I couldn't stop working on this puzzle. On the third night at four o'clock in the morning, I started to observe myself and began to realize that the way in which I was approaching the puzzle was an exact reflection of how I had been orchestrating my life for years. I had worked too hard in the past, trying to force pieces to work where they clearly had no business fitting. I was constantly picking up pieces and looking for their right place in my life, instead of simply allowing them to be. I had moved through life too quickly, without enjoying the journey of arranging the pieces carefully. I was as Esther Hicks says, "Flowing upstream, when all the universe wants is for us to flow downstream." As I put the puzzle together I focused on the exterior first because it is the frame that is always the easiest to complete. In life, these pieces symbolize the exterior aspects that we successfully strive to achieve: career, wealth, education, money, notoriety, and relationships. Many of us focus on the exterior, working harder on the framework for the world to see, yet are unaware that doing so only covers the hidden core of our true selves. As I moved into the center of the puzzle, I noticed that it was here that kept me working the longest. The center pieces symbolize the many aspects of the self that lie deep within us that must be cared for, nourished, and brought to light in order to heal.  I observed my determination to finish, but also my sheer obsession to get to the end. These are just a few of the aspects of our personality both light and dark that paint the most intriguing picture of ourselves. They are the parts of ourselves that are truly the most puzzling and must be embraced instead of hidden. And, if we remain unaware these are the aspects of ourselves that can keep us out of relationships because of an insecurity to show off our inner core. I began to see that in some way I was working on myself while doing this puzzle. I started to slow down and observe my overactive mind, and as I did so my mind began to quiet down. I could clearly see that my puzzling life was teaching me that the center of the puzzle can exist without the frame, but, unfortunately, not vice versa. It's the center pieces of ourselves: the love, the fear, the joy, the sadness, the courage, the determination, and the sheer proudness - the incredibly baffling parts of our beautiful selves that can stand alone no matter what frame surrounds us. In other words, what's an expensive frame without a priceless work of art to go along with it? The inside of ourselves are those priceless works of art.
With puzzles, mazes, brainteasers, crosswords, word games, and for the emotionally insecure, mind games, there are so many ways to give the mind a good work-out! Our minds like nothing more than to solve puzzles, create problems (I am oh so guilty of this), and stir up trouble just so that they can stay active, alert, and, of course, in control. Our mind never wants to feel like it isn't actively participating in life. But, instead of creating endless amounts of drama outside ourselves, it's better to give our minds a puzzling and perplexing project to solve. A puzzle or game provides the perfect space to do so. With the twists and turns of a maze or the constant search for a missing piece, puzzles give our mind the ultimate in instant gratification, making it feel as if it's tackling the biggest problem. In this way, puzzles, also known as brain teasers, have the ability to literally tease the mind into improving its vital functioning. Here's why your brain will thank you when you give it a puzzle to complete. Puzzles: - Help quiet the mind.
 - Increase creativity.
- Help balance our left and right brains, increasing our ability to learn.
- Help children with ADD by improving
focus and concentration.
- Increase life expectancy.
- Decrease chances of dementia, memory loss,
and Alzheimer's.
- Encourage the production of dopamine, the brain chemical responsible for improving memory and learning.
- Increase the ability to problem solve.
What I have learned now is that the puzzle of life never ends, as it is never meant to be solved. Instead, it is meant to be enjoyed from the inside out - this journey of putting the pieces together. We never truly stop working on our puzzle, but we will in the end find the missing pieces. I believe that to be true! And, that's what I call unBEETable!
Work your mind! Do a puzzle! Click here to play a mind bending puzzle! Don't miss a Beet. Stay tuned for next week.
Love,
Mary Kent
PS. Mary Kent is wearing gold bug necklace by Jane Pope and dress available at Sienna in LA.
PPS. Check out Joan Barnes, Principal Owner, YOGASTUDIO, and Founder/Former CEO of Gymboree on Ladies Who Launch
PPPS. Check out Eat Pray Love. We love this book!
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