A tradition at Christmas in my family when my sister and I were older, was that someone always got my mother a jigsaw puzzle. We spread it out on the dining room table after dinner and put it together over the remaining part of the holidays as a family activity. It sometimes even involved an extra card table so various sections of the puzzle could be worked on in tandem. This lasted into our adult years, and my mother was usually left to finish it after we all went home. She would take a picture and send it to us as evidence of her final accomplishment.

My parents have passed on and Christmas is now held at my house. This year my sister saw fit to carry on the tradition by getting me a jigsaw puzzle. It is a 1,000 piece puzzle with sky, planets, rocky cliffs, and ocean populated by fish, seaweed and sea mammals. It didn’t get opened that day, but my husband pulled it out a few weekends later and I called my sister to see if she and her husband wanted to come help put it together. Alas, they weren’t able to make it! So, my husband located the edge pieces to start and I got drawn in to help.

As I started in on the puzzle, in my mind, up popped an old program. “ I’m really not good at spacial relationships. I really just liked the family interaction and never contributed all that much to the puzzle. I always found a few pieces, but it was usually a frustrating experience. My sister is so much better at this than me.” Wow! Even knowing what I know, there it loomed! The good news is that I recognized it as a false belief about myself and decided to just have fun. My husband and I worked on it a bit that day, then he went off to watch the football playoffs. It looked like I would be on my own. I did succeed in making some progress on a corner with some pretty colorful fish.  (The pictures in this post are my work in progress)

The next morning I woke up and started in on my morning routine. This particular morning I really went all out. I thought of some things I’m grateful for before getting out of bed. Then I paved my day with light, calling in the solar light and sending it out to the day. I listened to an Abraham-Hicks recording as I made breakfast and did a new vibration raising process they talked about. I was feeling good! Then I had a wonderful meditation and said some affirmations. I was set for a great day! I had no thoughts about the puzzle. But there it sat. It called to me. Well, I thought. I can do just a little. I was still feeling fabulous, a very high vibration.

As I looked at the puzzle, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice if I could find that piece that goes right there that would finish that fish.” As my eyes casually scanned the table one piece just leaped out at me. Could it be? I picked it up and fit to the fish. It was the right piece! I experienced a sense of satisfaction. That was easy! (Think Staples button) The amazing thing was this kept happening over and over. This had never happened to me before! The more it happened the more satisfaction I felt. Why was this so satisfying I wondered? It’s just a puzzle! But something about finding those pieces and seeing them snap together so nicely, revealing more and more of the picture was wonderful. I realized I was bringing order out of chaos. I had a great desire to keep going. It felt great!

There have been a few pieces I’ve had to hunt for, but if it starts to feel like frustration I back away and work on another section. Invariably, because I’ve released the frustration at that point, the piece I had been looking for turns up.

So–what’s the take-away here? I mean, this is just a puzzle, right? Yet I see it as a metaphor for life. I had taken the time that day to really set up my day for feeling good, which equals a day when my intuition would be available to me and things would be easy. It didn’t matter what I chose to do. Because I was in a high vibrational state I was a match to what I wanted. So, the puzzle flowed easily, I overcame my old program about my spacial abilities and the pieces fit together without struggle, creating an even more satisfying experience.

The pieces of our lives are just like the puzzle. When we do the most important work first–that of feeling good and connecting higher–life flows more easily and just keeps getting better. We bring focus and clarity to the picture of what we want to be, do and have. When you run into roadblocks, shift to another perspective and keep going and it will all come together in the end.

How do you start your day?