The holidays are a time for sprucing up as we prepare for celebrations with family and friends. But in our rush to get things done, we often forget to take time out for ourselves to reflect - this year especially on our ability to survive life’s challenges, facing them with creativity, resilience, joy and love.
In Japan, there is a wonderful art that celebrates both the fragility and strength of life. Called ‘kintsugi’ or ‘mending with gold’, this practice of putting broken pieces of ceramic back together again in a way that honors the object by making it more beautiful with slivers of gold and silver. It may seem strange to us in the West to celebrate imperfections, but to the Japanese Zen philosophers, this was an acknowledgment of life’s frailties, as well as our ability to put the pieces back together again and to create something even more beautiful.
If you have a quiet moment to reflect on the year that’s been, perhaps embrace the Japanese philosophy of kintsugi for both the physical as well as the spiritual healing.
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