Perfectly Imperfect: A Japanese Wisdom

You may have heard the word "Wabi Sabi" used to describe a particular style and design aesthetic. In original Japanese, Wabi Sabi is a much deeper meaning than just how things look, it's a philosophy rooted in Zen and Tea Ceremony which offers a beautiful, calming way of seeing and experiencing the world.

At its heart, Wabi Sabi is an acceptance and appreciation of the impermanent, imperfect, and incomplete nature of everything.

This tells us that perfection is impossible, so imperfection is the natural state of everything, including ourseves.

Think about this:  Imperfection is our natural state.

We are not supposed to be perfect. When you really process this and start to live it, everything changes.

Firstly, you realize it's fine not to push quite as hard, run quite so fast, or be constantly striving for something more. You learn to find happiness in the details of your daily life and focus your ambition on the things that truly matter to you. 

Then you start to care a little less about everyone's else edited lives as shown on social media and start to spend more time exploring the rich depths of your own experience in the world.

You see through the veneer of perfection in your Instagram feed and realize that behind it all, it's just a lot of people trying to do their best. And that your best is good enough too.

As you dive deeper, you realize that there is beauty in the mess, and poetry in the unpredictability of life.

And beneath all of it you know that life, and everything in it, is transient. The bad times will pass, so you let that bring you some comfort. The good times will pass too, so you enjoy them while you can.

You recognize that you - and everyone around you - are a work in progress, and that is how it is supposed to be.

Everything is an opportunity for learning, and the learning is never finished. So try to take things a little more lightly, slow down, look up, and soak in the beauty of the life you are creating.

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