By
Heather de Wit – Founder of INSPIRING SOUTH AFRICANS
The PERFECTIONIST
As I continue down the road on my journey, I’m
trying to drop The Perfectionist in
me – it’s not an easy process, as resistance rears its niggly head often and
challenges me – But I’ll get there … with the tools I’ve found and continue to
find along the way. We can be way too hard on ourselves at times, which can
block possibility and even immobilize us.
IMPERFECTION as an ART
As an out there creative, seeing imperfection as an Art makes me smile, as I believe we are all Artists in whatever
role we are playing in this life. – That all is perfect, just as it is, in this
moment – That we are all right where we are meant to be – right now - in this
moment – We manifested our current status in life all by ourselves, by the
conscious choices we have made and this may not seem perfect right now …
We see so much of the small stuff as imperfect
and try to perfect it with a quick fix, in the hopes that it will go away. But
with a shift in attitude, we can change the power it has over us, the way we
can choose to see it, so it does not affect our day or our mood.
WABI-SABI
Wabi-Sabi
is a fascinating Japanese sensibility, that reveres the Art of Imperfection and the paradox of the inevitability of
mistakes. It represents Japanese aesthetics and world view, centered on the
acceptance of transience
and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is
‘imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete’.
It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching
of the 3 marks of existence, specifically impermanence, suffering and emptiness
or absence of self-nature.
Characteristics of the Wabi-Sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, asperity - roughness or
irregularity - simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and
appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes.
Architect and Artist Leonard Koren explains in Wabi-Sabi
for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers’ – It is about the minor and
the hidden, the tentative and the ephemeral – things so subtle and evanescent
they are almost invisible at first glance – impermanent, imperfect, incomplete.
So how do we do this if we choose ?
- Introduce the fabric of Wabi-Sabi into our daily lives
- Lighten up
- Take the time to see the sacred in the subtle and most ordinary of things – e.g. watching the ants, the flowers, the clouds, butterflies, the glory of nature in all things …
- Be kind to ourselves
- Oh – and did I mention, you have to slow down !
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