Unleash the Wabi Sabi in your life!

Our beauty is in our Imperfections …

“And the day came when the risk (it took) to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”  Anais nin

When I saw the image below on a face-book post the other day, it reminded me of  the quirky term Wabi Sabi. It refers to a Japanese philosophy that teaches beauty and wisdom are not “out there” to be discovered, but are instead here in this moment.

Through the lens of wabi-sabi, everything — from a home-made piece of art to the window frames that are begging for a coat of paint — presents an opportunity to see beauty in the ordinary – beauty in the modest and humble, the irregular and earthy, beauty that allows for age and the changes that come from use. It celebrates the idea that beauty is in the cracks and the worn spots, in corrosion and the moss on the stone.

I have a teapot handed down from my grandma, it’s lid is broken in several pieces and it resists staying glued for longer than a few months at a time. It also dribbles tea everywhere unless you want to stand and pour it out drop by drop into your cup.

And yet, each time I pour myself, my daughter, a friend a cup of tea from this pot, I am reminded of my Grandma and the wonderful playful creative moments I spent with her and my cousins.

This morning pouring tea, I felt a sudden deepening of my appreciation for this ordinary little pot. I wondered especially how many sorrows has this little tea pot soothed, how many celebrations has it been a party to, and how many ordinary moments has it accompanied?

One idea of Wabi-Sabi is the moment where you perceive something is beautiful and meaningful. You realize that it’s temporary, but you can appreciate it in that moment. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and it doesn’t have to last, but you’re there noticing it.

I think this is something I have been trying to do for some time in my life, I just didn’t have the word for it.  The idea of living and celebrating all that each of us have already, being able to rest in this moment with real intentional appreciation for the things and people in our lives and noticing how that makes us feel. Not having to flit from one distraction to another, but being able to stay more grounded and focused in feeling good just because you can.

How can we Give Ourselves a Break – to be fabulously, Awesomely Ordinary Mortals!

I think being a Human Bean we have to accept that there will always be an “ongoing urge” in us to become an improved model, this just is part of the territory. No matter what goal we reach, what success we gain, there will always be another dream hot on it’s heels. Perhaps chasing shiny things was built into our DNA.

The moment we  succeed hiding one wrinkle, another takes it’s place. We take classes to improve ourselves, read books, follow the idea of enlightenment as if it were something we don’t already have!

And yet, it is the Perfectly Imperfect-ness of each one of us all that connects us to each other, it’s often the little things we love about each other.  As one of my friend says jokingly about himself “Gotta just love my wonderfulness!” This is the real birth place of our compassion and our capacity for wholeheartedness.

Can you look in the mirror and love your frailties and the beauty of yourself, just as you are now. And if you could? Can you see that in others and love them all the more for it because you know exactly how that feels to always be struggling and hoping to be more.

We’re all in this crazy mad world together, it has its impossible moments and it has it’s aching beautiful experiences. We fall off the tracks of our pathways when we are constantly chasing after all the shiny things and momentary pleasures, or when our attention gets stuck in only seeing all we don’t want or like.

I believe we are supposed to notice all of our life’s experiences, trust they are supposed to be here and find the gift within each one. But, more importantly, here to seek out and experience all the pleasures and the love we can hold so we can share them, expand them and then celebrate them with each other.

YOU have questions? Drop me a line. I’m be delighted to help.

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