Knotty Problems

With the gardens (mostly) put to bed for their long winter sleep, my time turns to indoor pursuits. The months ahead are for knitting, embroidery, jigsaw puzzle solving, cooking, writing, reorganizing and reading.

As I returned something to my jewelry box this morning, the need to reorganize hit me squarely and I realized I had time to deal with it. 

I'm not a big jewelry wearer so I have no method when storing away the pieces others have cared enough to buy for me. I tend to put things in randomly and carelessly, eventually creating a writhing mess of chains interlocked with earrings and other flotsam. Looking at the jumble this morning, I realized I have neglected to give each piece the respect it deserved. 

Undoing the mess took longer than I would have expected as memories of occasions, trips and the thoughtfulness of my family and friends rolled over me. Long-forgotten treasures were revealed. Sorting through the jumbles uncovered matches to earrings long thought lost, a W.W.II pin of my father's and the necklace from Expo '67 that I was thrilled to buy with my own money.

I often wear a necklace, gifted to me by my father-in-law after my husband's mother had passed. Each time I do, I do so deliberately in an effort to channel her. For the brief few years I had her in my life, she stood as a guiding light and, forty years later, I still miss her.

I'm sure by now you can picture the clearing up of the jewelry box. This was one of those tasks that took me far beyond the original purpose, leading to daydreaming and thoughts of my life.

It was while attempting to untangle a fine silver chain that a metaphor for times in my life occurred to me.

The chain was defying my usual love for untangling. I was treating it with delicacy for fear of breaking it but had no success at clearing the knot. As minutes ticked on, my mind eventually wandered and I found myself thinking of completely unrelated things while I continued to play with the chain as one might try to solve a Rubix cube unconsciously.

Surprisingly, as my attention returned to the chain, I realized my inattention to the task at hand had loosened the chain considerably. Enter the metaphor.

How often in life have I desperately sought solutions to issues by giving my total concentration and time to them? Just as often as issues were resolved once I walked away from them, put aside my focus and went on with life.

Whether a knotty chain or a knotty problem, allowing our attention to shift elsewhere often leads us to the answer.