Figuring it out

Life is like a Rubik's Cube...

Mom always said, “Life is like a Rubik’s Cube: freaking infuriating.” (My mother never said that.)

I wrote this back in January while in the midst of several big life changes. I won’t get into these changes right now, except to say there was a lot to figure out, and a lot of slowww progress. I’m at the other end of these big life changes now, and it’s nice to look back at this essay and see that progress has been made (though I still can’t complete a Rubik’s Cube).

It feels weird to publish a piece about self growth with so much happening in the world. The image of ICE agents with black ski masks abducting innocent people off the street comes to mind. The chaos is daunting, but we are still here as humans and we need to figure our sh*t out. It’s the only way to navigate turbulent times. If you take a moment to read, thank you humbly and have a great Friday.

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I babysit for a family, and sometimes when the kids fall asleep I’ll hang out in the living room and play with this little Rubik’s Cube that they have.

I love puzzles and I am pretty good at them, but Rubik’s Cubes have always had me stymied.

The first night I played around with it, I put pressure on myself to solve the whole thing before my babysitting shift was over. I’d feel momentary relief when I could get a few of the same colored blocks to align with each other - let’s say, 3 or 4 the blue squares. And then I’d realize my work aligning the blue squares disrupted my progress with the yellow squares, and this made me frustrated. I eventually got a headache and I had to put the thing down.

Last night was another babysitting night, and after the little people had gone to sleep I played around with the Rubik’s Cube again. This time I didn’t put pressure on myself to finish the whole thing - just one side, if I could - and I made better progress than before: 6 out of 9 purple squares on one side of the puzzle. I took it as a win.

Making progress in life can feel futile, where one step forward (seemingly) takes you back three steps you’ve already made.

But if you allow yourself to continue working toward a solution it will probably be okay. Maybe chaos is just part of a bigger formula that we can’t understand, where things have to get crazy before they get level. And maybe - just maybe! - I am finding a way to make things more complicated than they need to be at the present moment. To paraphrase my teacher, Guru, ‘Humans love to make things complicated.’

I’m believing that I will un-complicate things and find resolutions and I’m also believing that one day I’ll align all of the colors on this infuriating toy. It’s just going to take time, and even if that time is uncomfortable that’s okay! As my parents always drove home for me, and as my Spiritual Teacher teaches, learning and growth doesn’t happen overnight, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Stay believing, friends, un-complicate things when you can, and never ever give up on yourself.