In our last +1, we talked about Stephen Joseph’s “shattered vase” metaphor to help us understand one powerful way to respond to trauma: rather than try to tape and glue the shattered vase back together, we take the pieces and make a mosaic.
I recently shared that wisdom in one of our 2.5-hour marathon Coaching sessions with our Coaches. (Note: Spending time Coaching our Coaches is one of my favorite things. 😘)
Right after I shared the wisdom, our Head Coach Michael said it reminded him of the Japanese art of repairing broken vases and ceramics with gold.
Enter: Google search to learn more about this beautiful art form.
Search = “Japanese broken pottery gold”
Enter: Kintsugi.
Result #1 from Wikipedia tells us:
Kintsugi (金継ぎ, “golden joinery”), also known as Kintsukuroi (金繕い, “golden repair”) is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum… As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.
Result #2 is entitled “Kintsugi: the art of precious scars” and tells us:
By repairing broken ceramics it’s possible to give a new lease of life to pottery that becomes even more refined thanks to its “scars.” The Japanese art of kintsugi teaches that broken objects are not something to hide but to display with pride.
And continues:
When a bowl, teapot or precious vase falls and breaks into a thousand pieces, we throw them away angrily and regretfully. Yet there is an alternative, a Japanese practice that highlights and enhances the breaks thus adding value to the broken object. It’s called kintsugi (金継ぎ), or kintsukuroi (金繕い), literally golden (“kin”) and repair (“tsugi”).
Kintsugi.
The word literally means “golden repair.”
👆 How awesome is THAT?
Today’s +1.
Got any broken parts in your life?
(Echo: OF COURSE YOU DO. YOU’RE HUMAN!)
Rather than try to hide them, let’s wear those precious scars like medals and make them part of our life’s art.
TODAY.
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