One Little Detail

I like to do puzzles.  I like jigsaw puzzles, but with the cats, I do not have a set up that I could use to start and leave a puzzle unfinished without the cats getting into it.  That is okay. I do a daily online jigsaw puzzle. I know with jigsaw puzzles, sometimes placing a certain few pieces can make a difference in completing the puzzle.

I love word puzzles:  jumbles, anagrams, crossword puzzles, acrosstics.  I will do word searches.  And I like fill in crosswords.  I think I have previously mentioned that until I went to work at my current place of employment, I did not understand that word puzzles could be a team sport.  Of course, they can. But they can also be an individual activity.

So often when working these puzzles, I can be stumped until I solve one little thing, one or two clues, and then everything else falls into place.

I do a lot of puzzles on line every day, and regularly work a paper acrosstic.

I have found a couple of sites for online crosswords.  I usually use the expert setting, that does not let me know if I have made an error as I am filling in an answer. Sometimes, I am stumped, and have to go to the regular level to find my errors, and correct them.

But at the expert setting, there is no such help.  So, after I complete a puzzle, and all the blanks are filled, and the puzzle does not indicate I have successfully completed it, I have to go back through and check it.  Sometimes, it is a stupid typo on my part. Sometimes, it is a questionable answer. Sometimes, I do not know the answer, and have to get help from the regular level.

The point is, I have to recheck every answer.  And, it does not matter how many correct responses I have made, if there is just one letter that is incorrect, I have not completed the puzzle correctly.

This is a lesson in life. There are many times in life when one little thing that is incorrect can effect us so that nothing appears to be correct.  This can be frustrating and discouraging, especially because we live in a society in which the majority rules and predominately right or correct is acceptable.  But that is not always so.

So often, everything must be correct for the situation.  This is true in health care. This is true in accounting, bookkeeping.  And, in reality in mechanics:  if all things are not in alignment, one thing off can and probably will effect other mechanical parts so things are not right.

Our bodies are much more forgiving than mechanical devises.  But it is amazing that if one thing is off in our body, so many other things are affected:  A joint out of alignment requires an adjustment by the rest of the body. This means the body moves, reacts, responds in a way that is not usual to its working, and other joints and muscles are affected, ache, hurt, inflame, are sore, or are injured.. 

There is a story about how one grain of sand, in a shoe, can impact a journey, by wearing away on the foot of the walker.

Those of us who are obsessive-compulsive endure derision because of our attention to detail. But some of us have had the experience that when we did not pay attention to detail, things did not go smoothly. 

So, for me, I ignore the derision and enjoy my sense of well being when I pay attention to detail and feel confident of the situation because of my attention to detail.

It is amazing to me how one little detail can put a very complex puzzle into perspective. But it can.  And, I am content to try to work on that one little detail.