happiful september 2021

Picking up the pieces
What is it that makes a simple jigsaw puzzle
such an effective mindfulness practice?
Writing | Kathryn Wheeler
It’s the rainy day classic that
became a lockdown essential,
and while there’s nothing
new about puzzles (the first
jigsaw is thought to have been
created in 1762), many of us
are just starting to realise the
potentially mindful boost that
comes with putting the pieces of
a puzzle together.
Picture this: you’ve got the
whole of the day ahead of you, no
commitments, no meetings, no
chores – the time is yours. So you
sit down with a puzzle. There’s no
rush, no deadline and, piece by
piece, a beautiful picture starts to
form in front of you. It’s a homey,
mindful scene but, in lockdown,
hobbies like puzzling took on a
whole new meaning.
“I was furloughed in April
2020, and it struck me that I had
all this extra time and nothing
to fill it with,” Jody Kenny tells
us, as she reflects on when
she discovered her passion for
puzzles. “I hadn’t long moved to
a new town to be closer to work,
but it meant I’d moved away
from family – I didn’t realise how
difficult it would be to occupy
every minute of the day.”
Jodie started off with some
jigsaw apps on her phone,
before digging out some puzzles
she’d had for years, but had
never opened.
“I get deep into doing jigsaws,
and time tends to fly. I hyperfocus
on tasks because I have
Asperger’s, but the concentration
needed specifically to complete
jigsaws took my mind away from
being alone,” she explains.
There’s much
more to those
oddly shaped
pieces of joy than
meets the eye
“The puzzle piece has long been
used as a symbol of autism, but it
doesn’t have positive connotations
in the autistic community,
because it’s thought that autistic
people are puzzles that need to
be fixed,” Jodie explains. “Doing
jigsaws has re-wired my brain
into believing that the puzzle isn’t
broken because it’s not complete,
but rather it’s one small piece that
makes up the whole. Jigsaws have
helped me to accept myself.”
Echoing the wellbeing benefits
of jigsaws, James Edwards, cofounder
of Piece & Quiet puzzles,
is passionate about their holistic
value. “Jigsaw puzzles are making
a comeback, and there’s much
more to those oddly shaped pieces
of joy than meets the eye,” he
says. And that comeback is taking
place on a huge scale, with the
Guardian reporting that UK sales
of jigsaws totalled £100 million
in 2020, up 38% on the previous
year. So what’s behind the draw
to simple pastimes like puzzles?
James thinks he knows and, here,
he breaks down some of the major
wellbeing benefits:
1. Improving brain
function and memory
The oh-so-satisfying act of
successfully placing a puzzle
piece does more than just get you
one step closer to finishing your
piece of art. It actually encourages
the production of dopamine,
a chemical in the brain that
contributes to learning, brain
health, and memory.
70 | September 2021 | happiful.com