Chain of Thought

I've always had a knack for untangling jewelry. There was a secret thrill at the sight of the mishmash of chains when I threw open my jewelry box. Untangling seemed to frustrate others, and I often would find myself assisting in getting out the tightened knot that had formed on a gold necklace, or untwisting a web of beaded bracelets. The truth was it wasn't that difficult; you simply had to wait for the pattern to present itself. Inevitably in a knot or a tangle of chains, there will emerge a clear pattern as to which chain you should pull first. I'd often lay the jewelery piece down flat, to see what kind of space there lie between the knots. In some of the pieces, the process of untangling seemed hopeless. The knot was tight, each piece of metal aligned tightly against another. There was seemingly no path to follow. It was often in those situations that I would wind up making it worse, pulling too tightly out of desperation and instead, squeezing the small knot further into itself. It oftentimes took fine picking away at it with an eyebrow tweezer before any discernible order of things would emerge.
As I sat unraveling a corded knot of headphones this afternoon, I thought about how similar untying a knot is to our approach to our life's pattern. It seems as if we are beings that constantly struggle with internal questioning-What should I be? Where should I go? What should I do with my life?--and the more we try to pull on what we think we want for ourselves, the messier a web of doubt we find ourselves tangled in. I had to let the tangled headphones dangle in the air for a moment, until I saw the lifeline. A bobbing earspeaker, its black head waving back at me. I trailed its wire until the center and there found my next move.
I say the easiest way to figure out our next move in life is to let our situation hang there awhile. Take in what's around you, I don't believe any of it is there by accident. The less you tug, the clearer your path will be. And if the situation seems hopeless, don't forget about the lifeline.