So me and this last year will politely part ways, cordially say our goodbyes and secretly be very glad for the relationship to come to it’s natural conclusion – but that doesn’t mean that I’m gonna leave it for dead and bury all the evidence.
Quite the contrary: it’s the perfect opportunity to intentionally set aside time and space for a ritual of golden repair and the Japanese art of Kintsukuroi shows us why.
Kintsukuroi is when broken pottery is reset with great care and attention to detail using a lacquer made of powered gold, silver or platinum.
This application is underpinned by a philosophy of recognising and honouring the history (broken or otherwise) of an object. This idea is also reflected in the Japanese philosophy of ‘wabi-sabi’ which embraces the flawed or imperfect as a mark of life and part of the history of an object, not representative of it’s failure or damage.
Isn’t this freaking brilliant? Also if you see pictures of this type of artistic practice via a Google search – it really is bloody gorgeous.
Wouldn’t it be nice to think of our scars and damages as not only repairable, but also something great?
Did I hear a ‘yes’?! ‘Cause that’s the only correct answer here. Yes, yes, yes! It would! So that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Seriously.
Set aside an hour (alone) to pay your respects to the chips and cracks endured during the year. Why? Because this type of reflective time and self-awareness practice is compassion in action.
It’s an act of self-love that really says ‘Hey, these things happened and some were great and some were frankly super shitty, but I survived and am the wiser for it’ or ‘I did a whole bunch of stuff and need to figure out what was worth the time and what was a life-drainer’.
Let’s use the space between now and the impending New Year to highlight or recognise the beauty in our realities – difficult or otherwise.
Give them tender consideration (golden repair) and then go forward, confidently knowing that you are the embodied beauty of a woman who endures, thrives and is growing more vibrant with every shining repair.
May the festive season bring you joy and time for golden repair Beauty!
