Wabi-Sabi + Kintsugi = Resilience

G'Tis the season....for Wabi-Sabi. For those of you who aren't familiar with this term, it is a Japanese aesthetic honoring and celebrating the beauty of imperfection. Wow, what an amazing reframing of our obsession with perfection, especially during the holiday season!

I have written about the concept of wabi-sabi on this blog and you may want to read some of the archived posts. I recently came across another wonderful  Japanese term, related to the essence of wabi-sabi called kintsugi ("golden joinery").

Kintsugi is the centuries-old Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with a special lacquer dusted with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Instead of discarding treasures when they become broken, they are repaired with jewel-like metal; acknowledging, with visibility, that while they may have once been broken they are now strengthened, and more valuable because of their repair. What a message of resilience not just for pottery but for ourselves. Repairing with gold the scars of a life well-lived as a indication of resilience is a metaphor that I can wholeheartedly embrace.

Will you join me this holiday season in using the gold and silver glittering decorations as reminders to engage in the practice wabi-sabi and kintsugi? Let's celebrate the beauty of imperfection and acknowledge the strength and courage of repairing adversity with gold.

Happy Holidays...wishing you a month of celebrating wabi-sabi and kintsugi, 
Pam   

Haiku Rally #30 Holidays

Today is the last day of November and the final day of my month-long Haiku Rally. I have enjoyed my challenge and have found that I became more mindful as I created a haiku from my day to day experiences. Thank you to those of you who contributed your own haiku creations to my blog. While the official Haiku Rally is over for this year, I welcome you to continue to create and post your mindful haiku to the comment section of my blog at any time.

As we enter the holiday season full steam tomorrow the calendar turns to December, I encourage you to practice the fine art of wabi-sabi (the beauty and wholeness of imperfection) and remember to breathe....

Holidays
Holiday bustle
Practicing wabi-sabi
Noticing the breath

Happy Wabi-Sabi Thanksgiving


In the November Stress Resources Newsletter, I contrasted the Japanese aesthetic of Wabi-Sabi, the beauty of imperfection, to our westernized view of perfection (think Hallmark card, Norman Rockwell illustration, Martha Stewart anything) continually fueling our stress levels during the holiday season. I asked readers to send in their version of what a wabi-sabi holiday in their home looks like. Thanks to my sister, Hilary Katz Gould, from Huntsville, Alabama, for sending along her thoughts....have a wabi-sabi day, little sis.


Wabi-sabi Thanksgiving table at the Gould's

The pumpkin pie will have a crack in the middle, and the crust will not be flaky or gourmet. It will be made by Sam, and her middle school recipe from 7th grade. Store bought crust and easy canned ingredients. It will be tasty though, and we will only have a few more years of Sam's pumpkin pie to enjoy before college sweeps her away.

Daniela's cranberry sauce will consist of a bag of berries, and a cup of sugar, maybe some orange zest... if we happen to have oranges around. It will end up cooling in what ever bowl is around at the time. May even end up in a plastic cup, if that is the easiest for her 11 year old hands to work with.

Derrick's turkey will be stuffed with a loaf of ripped up white bread with paprika, mushrooms and some chopped onions. His mother's recipe from her Hungarian mother.

None of these dishes will be beautiful, or gourmet, or color coordinated. But, years from now, the picture of the imperfection, or wabi-sabi table will bring back wonderful memories of our family Thanksgiving.

Wishing you all a wabi-sabi Thanksgiving...filled with mindful moments and gratitude.