The Beauty of Putting the Pieces Back Together

I learned a new term yesterday that provided me with a fresh perspective on caregiver stress and loss and restoring the pieces of our lives. The term is Kintsugi. It is a form of Japanese art in which a lacquer is mixed with powdered gold, silver or platinum to form a glue that’s used to restore broken pottery. The philosophy behind this art is to recognize brokenness as part of the object’s history. The repair work emphasizes the beauty of putting the pieces back together rather than trying to hide or disguise the cracks.

Caregivers experience stress on a daily basis, and the losses we suffer as we watch the decline of someone we love can break our hearts in a thousand different ways.

Today I’d like for you to look at the image of this bowl and think about mending the broken places in your heart with emotional threads of gold. Maybe instead of trying to hide your pain or conceal your losses, you could embrace the love, the courage and the strength you find each day to continue to care for those who cannot care for themselves. Seeing yourself as someone who is beautifully broken may make it a little easier to manage the pain.

The photo was provided by Wikipedia. To read the article about Kintsugi click here.