The Mind: What A Puzzle
A poem, what inspired me to write and its relation to Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
The mind a jigsaw puzzle,
Each piece representing a part of the puzzle:
Different sensation, passing emotions
Scattered thoughts that might be present.
So hard the task of connecting the pieces,
So the mind remains scattered.
Maybe there is time to focus,
Maybe connecting the pieces,
Commit to the task.
If not, they will stay scattered,
The full picture never to be seen.
A choice to pay attention,
A non-judgmental attention;
Then all the pieces can be seen,
One by one, be linked.
The relevance of one piece to another
Can slowly be uncovered,
To recognise and acknowledge
The pieces of the mind
That were previously scattered.
To connect and reconnect,
To step back and see the bigger picture
For what it really is.
Oh, how beautiful this mosaic
When seen for what it is,
When taken as a mindful puzzle!
- by Dr Clayton Micallef
Inspiration for “The Mind: What a Puzzle” and MBCT
I am currently doing my teacher training pathway in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), and the inspiration to write this poem came from the experiences I had while doing the first part of the MBCT teacher training. Although I am a long-time practitioner, I had moments during this training where my mind was all over the place, taken over by emotions, thoughts, sensations and impulses.
Attending the first part of the training as a trainee teacher but mostly as a participant helped in seeing all of this with a sense of clarity of perception that I have not previously experienced. I think this came out of a foundational theme emphasised throughout the whole of the 8 weeks of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, what is called the 5-part model of experience, a model from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy sometimes called the “Hot Cross Bun Model” (McManus, 2022; Segal et al., 2012).
The premise of this model is how the environment, thoughts, emotions, physical sensations and behaviour all influence each other. They are so closely intertwined that changes in one of these usually leads to changes in the others. This model also states that it is not the situation that causes us to feel in a particular way but our interpretation of it and how this, in turn, influences how we feel. So, as Choden and Regan-Addis (2018) would say, it is driven by “preference” or, as Jon Kabat-Zinn (2013) would say, by “judgment”.
And this is what struck me: when my mind was all over the place, it was like the pieces of a scattered puzzle, hence the poem’s title. And similarly, to how when seeing for the first time the scattered pieces of a puzzle at first glance, this can feel overwhelming so to the scattered mind at a first glance can seem overwhelming. As the poem says in the fifth verse, “So hard the task of connecting the pieces”.
And I have learnt through the first part of the teacher training in MBCT that MBCT invites us to stop and look at all of this without preference and judgment. Or, as the poem says in verses 6 and 10, the mind will remain scattered.
So, there is a choice, a choice to stop, take a breath and consciously acknowledge all of this and bring a non-judgmental awareness to it; if not, as the poem says in verse 11, the full picture will never be seen.
And for me I saw this epitomised during my MBCT teacher training in “The Breathing Space Practice” and how it is weaved throughout the whole of the MBCT curriculum as this short foundational mindfulness practice that we can use at any time which invites us:
To acknowledge and bring a non-judgmental awareness to experience whatever the feeling tone might be - pleasant, unpleasant or neutral - to acknowledge this and notice thoughts, feelings, sensations and impulses that might be there as a matter of fact, that is what there is right not (verses 12, 13, 14, 18).
To gather attention - to focus, to pay attention in the present moment, as mentioned in verses 7, 12 and 13. To gather the scattered mind by focusing on an anchor like the breath.
Once gathered, there is this sense of stepping back, as in verse 22, to open up awareness to experience whatever it is. Here, we can bring in the different faces of the breathing space according to what we notice present in awareness. To meet and respond to whatever is in experience with kindness and compassion, with a choice to respond from a place of wisdom. As Viktor Frankl is famously attributed to have said,
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
And this is what struck me from my MBCT teacher training: how such a short practice, like the breathing space which, invites us to stop and pay non-judgmental attention to experience. Can help create that space from where we can step back and take a moment “to recognise and acknowledge” (verse 18) experience to see, “the pieces of the mind that were previously scattered” (verses 19, 20), “to step back and see the bigger picture for what it really is” (verse 22, 23). This is what inspired me to write this poem.
To sum it up, this poem emerged from my experiences during the first part of the MBCT teacher training. I would say that the poem’s central metaphor of a jigsaw puzzle was inspired in part by MBCT’s emphasis on the 5-part model of experience (also known as the “Hot Cross Bun Model” in cognitive behavioural therapy) and how environment, thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and behaviour are interconnected, with changes in one area affecting the others.
With the key MBCT principles reflected in the poem being:
Non-judgmental awareness of our experiences
The choice to pay attention to the present moment
The practice of “The Breathing Space,” which involves:
Acknowledging current experiences
Gathering attention (often using the breath as an anchor)
Expanding awareness to respond wisely to our experiences
Where the poem’s progression aims to mirror these steps, moving from scattered pieces to a coherent whole by emphasising the importance of pausing, acknowledging our current state, and choosing to respond mindfully rather than react automatically. As Viktor Frankl is attributed to have said,
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
This poem is an invitational exploration of that space and the beauty of what we can discover when we approach our minds with patience and mindful attention. It also shows how mindfulness offers a path to seeing the mind with clarity. By slowing down and acknowledging our thoughts as thoughts, as is said in MBCT, “thoughts are not facts; they’re mental events” (Segal et al., 2012) and by allowing them to exist without judgment and pass, we can connect the pieces of the mental puzzle that the mind is and gain greater insight into ourselves and our reactive patterns of behaviour.
Thank you for reading this article from Now About Meditation. If you enjoyed this or think it could be helpful to someone, please do share or forward it to a friend or two, or share it on social media. 😊 It is freely available for anyone to read. 😊
If you enjoyed reading this and want to support my work, why not subscribe? 📚 Never miss a post – it's free! If you're feeling extra awesome, you can become a paid subscriber to the publication. No need for Substack, just your email address. Your support means a lot and keeps me going. 😊 Thank you! 😊
Bibliography
Choden, & Regan-Addis, H. (2018). Mindfulness based living course. New Alresford: John Hunt Publishing.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2013). Full catastrophe living: How to cope with stress, pain and illness using mindfulness meditation (Revised and updated ed.). New York, NY: Random House USA Inc.
McManus, F. (2022). Cognitive tehavioural therapy: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M., & Teasdale, J. D. (2012). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guildford Publications.