Kintsugi, “golden jewelry”, also known as Kinsukuroi, “golden repair” is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Formerly imperfect and redundant receptacles once again function with a new beautiful aesthetic.
When we compare ourselves to a broken vase – shattered by grief, loss of income, or trying to manage our mental health – we can be assured that we too can still shine, in a new form, and enjoy the gift of life itself.
We deserve to live happily and fulfilled lives no matter how broken we may be feeling.
So, what can we do to find our own glue?
Firstly, I think we need to acknowledge that we’re going through hard times. The events in the world during recent years have shaken us, humans. Many of us feel a new surge of gratitude for all the little things which we formerly took for granted. You are not alone in how you feel, and that notion in itself is a further dollop of powdered gold.
We’ve all witnessed a pandemic, mostly not known in our lifetimes before, and it’s akin to an emotional hurricane. It’s toppled many of us from our shelves! Lots of us are looking for new fixatives. We are united in how we think.
Another invaluable component is an acceptance that our lifestyles have changed radically, too: the way we work, how we travel, and how we communicate. Being mindful of such changes is collecting the adhesive to help mend you.
Living in a conscious state, as opposed to the numb subconscious autopilot of yesterday, provides yet more glue. Testimony of this already happening is the relatively new love and concern for our planet: we are increasingly trying to reduce our carbon footprints.
We are already healing, and we are blessed to be one of the most resilient of species.
And, with a large sprinkling of universal kindness to all, and a sprinkling of self-care and self-love on top, we can look forward to mending ourselves and becoming an improved, beautiful race, proud of the imperfections that each and every one of us has.