KINTSUGI : A Metaphor for life

Have you heard of Kintsugi?

Kintsugi is the custom of repairing broken things with liquid gold, silver or lacquer dusted with gold to bring together the pieces of the fractured pottery while at the same time enhancing its breaks. This process not only fixes the cracks but dramatically increases the value of the piece and usually results in something more beautiful than the original.

Kintsugi means “golden joinery” or “to patch with gold.” The process is also related to the Japanese philosophy wabi-sabi.

Life lessons we can draw from this ancient art:

You need glue

“Where there is no love, put love, and you will find love.” If we treat our emotional wounds with forgiveness and love, the healing of that wound will bring great value and strength to our life.

A simple, peaceful life is inadequate without the companionship of delightful company and occasions to enjoy with convivial people.

Are there pieces missing?

In Kintsugi, sometimes you discover that, when reconstructing a broken item, a piece is missing. If that happens, the missing piece can be created from rock dust and flour, mixed with lacquer, making a new piece to fill in the gap. The rock dust is called “tonoko.”

Your past is like a puzzle; examine, number, and assemble the pieces. Look at your personal history not so as to ruminate on your wounds, but to be more realistic and to rebuild yourself. 

Complete the repair with help from others.

To fill in gaps the mixture enriches and completes the final product. The same is true of our emotional wounds. We need to turn to our friends for help. Invite a trusted friend to your house to drink coffee and talk about your problems. Integrate your family and friends into your life, along with all the people who are an inspiration to you, for whatever reason.

A metaphor for life

“There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” ~ Leonard Cohen

When something breaks, it is changed forever. Shape, structure, form and function may all be affected, and the way it is put back together, the bonds forged to fix it, become as much a part of its new incarnation, as its older parts.

As a metaphor for personal development and healing, kintsugi is a powerful symbol, and is becoming an increasingly popular theme in the world of wellbeing and psychology. In an age when we are all too focused on perfection and strength, kintsugi teaches us that imperfection and fragility are two things to be celebrated. Increasingly, you can find these concepts being translated into life-coaching, counselling, art therapy, sports theory and team coaching, and even business management techniques and self-development.

An authentic life

KINTSUGI encourages us to live a full, rich life because we are not afraid of the things that might break us. Just as a ceramic is fragile, beautiful and strong, so are we. And just as ceramics can break, so too can they be repaired. “Ceramics and life can break into a thousand pieces, but that should be no reason to stop living life intensely, working intensely and keeping alive all our hopes and dreams,” says Navarro. “Adversity is nothing more than a challenge, so do some training to overcome it.”

Celebrating imperfections

“We humans are fragile; susceptible to breaks and knocks. Discover how to pick up the pieces and repair what may have been damaged in your life. Find out how to embrace your emotional scars and make them beautiful. They are proof that you have suffered; let them remind you that you are strong,” Embrace Your Imperfections and Find Happiness.

Turbulences are Inevitable

“Do not try to live a pleasant life without suffering.”

“Because if you, do you will be resigning yourself to surviving instead of living intensely.” Essentially, the first step to practicing kintsugi is to take risks – you can’t be scared of getting damaged along the way because it’s inevitable.

Think about the future

“Maturity is achieved when a person postpones immediate pleasures for long-term values.”  It’s good to confront hard times, once they pass it’s best to leave them behind you instead of dwelling on things.

The Kintsugi Takeaway – The master artist can only engage in Kintsugi’s transformational process if they focus on what is possible rather than on what is impossible.

“The importance in Kintsugi is not the always the physical appearance, it is… the beauty and the importance 

The poet Robert Pinsky once said: "Deciding to remember, and what to remember, is how we decide who we are."