400 years ago a tea bowl was broken. A favourite piece of the Japanese shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa. He sent it to China for repair and it returned held together by metal pins. Not pleased, he sent it to local craftsmen who chose to repair the piece with golden lacquer, enhancing the beauty of the tea bowl.
In the 15th century, the Japanese art of Kintsugi was born. The concept of embracing our damage and not hiding our scars. The metaphor, that when we heal we become more beautiful, more resilient.
When I sit with myself and the people I work with. I ask, what has this experience brought you, rather than what you may feel it took from you. Let yourself feel the breaking, the falling a part. Crumble in your tears and then dry your face.
What have you been given that will take you forward, rather than hold you back. How does the breaking, the pain, present you with the opportunity to be more. To live more authentically. To come to know your truth.
So when Life comes crashing down on us – and it will. Stop, and rather than want to trash the pieces of yourself. Gather them up and put them back together with love and light and gold and be richer for it.
No hiding – let the healing be seen.
We’re all broken, that’s how the light gets in.
Ernest Hemingway
Photos: Sculpture of Woman; “Expansion” by Paige Bradley
Stock photos; woman’s face, stone heart