Things do not always turn out exactly as we had hoped.

It’s important to try to laugh in the face of adversity

Which is why today’s Words of Wisdom are Mind the Gap, which helps to remind us that we are often times presented with flaws, problematic scenarios, or less than ideal circumstances, but have to make do all the same, in sorting through life’s problems, both big and small.

I was reminded of of an old art found within the pottery realm of Japanese culture referred to as “Kintsugi”, which roughly translates to “golden repair”, and is seen in a philosophical way of dealing with the damages involved with the artistry involving pottery itself by observing the obvious, and that’s by treating the breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise. An underestimated but invaluable approach in dealing with the elements of reality, in more ways than one.

As I’m sure many of you have already pieced together some connections and started considering how to reapply this very concept to other aspects of your own lives, and even things like hobbyism involving video games, it’s important to always consider the bigger picture of any aspect of your own life, in all of it’s flawed glory, and take into account not just the spatial qualities of it, but also the temporal aspects of it as well. Life is all about hills and valleys, and no existence is care free or without its issues, leaving us with the reminder that, instead of dismissing the notion of damage, flaw, or imperfection, and maybe even trying to deny their existence through the powers of cognitive dissonance, we should magnify, focus on, and even enhance the cracks that experience has left within us, and magnify them through the reconsideration of celebrating their presence in helping to create the fully fledged entities that represent, and continue to exist as today.

We can do this through the re-appropriation process of repair, much like the process of Kintsugi does with damaged pottery, by minding the gaps of damage through the reclamation of aestheticism, owning the spaces that represent what is missing, and how it helps to create the beauty of the imperfection by the acknowledgment of what the absence has left in its wake by creating a “golden standard” of sorts, and the amazingly enduring nature of what is left as a result. This helps to wield what could be seen as a shaming negative, and retools it into a positive, empowering aspect of our lives that we can proudly claim as our own definitional standard, flaws and all, and how it makes us shiny.

As always, take care of yourself, and others.

~Pashford