Musings | Kintsugi
“I always find beauty in things that are odd and imperfect – they are much more interesting”
Today’s post introduces a concept to help remind us that all our life experiences contribute to uniqueness as human beings. Our culture places an expectation of perfection upon us, but perfection is an impossibility – we are human! At some point, we have all experienced circumstances that have broken us, or we have made mistakes we wish we could undo, or we encountered unexpected hardship. We tend to hide these experiences, to cover them up and pretend they are not there. However, it is the fault lines created through mistakes, trauma, and life experience that really make us who we are; unique beings who deserve to celebrate our breaks and our need for repair. The Japanese call this Kintsugi; it is the art of repairing broken pottery with gold. Once repaired, the broken objects become something not to be hidden but something to display with pride. “The kintsugi approach instead makes the most of what already is, highlights the beauty of what we do have, flaws and all, rather than leaving us eternally grasping for more, different, other, better.” (Andrea Mantovani)
The word Kintsugi comes from Kin (gold) and Sugi (joinery). Kintsugi is both a philosophy and an art form, and it literally means to join with gold. When we can change our perspective to view our imperfections in this way (i.e., beautiful scars we can be proud of), we change our narrative and shift the stories we tell ourselves.
When we learn to see our flaws as the building blocks of our unique experience, we can learn to share them with others and be proud of our journey. At some point, all of us have been broken, or hurt, or experienced something that did not align with a societal view of perfection. We do not need to pretend those things didn’t happen to us. Instead, we can learn from them, acknowledge them and wear our scars with pride. Remember, every scar tells a story. When we embrace this mindset, perfection is not as interesting.
To learn more about Kintsugi, check out the resources below:
Resources
Kintsugi and the art of repair: Life is what makes us (article)
Kintsugi: Our beauty is in our scars (Ted Talk, 6 min: 1:35 – 5:00 are the most relevant)
Kintsugi – The Japanese Philosophy About Imperfect Beauty (7-minute video)