This post was inspired by the passage below from Rumi.
Translated by Maryam Mafi and Azima Melita Kolin.
Beauty is the Garden
scent of roses, murmuring water
flowing gently…
Can words describe the indescribable?
If I ask you about the most beautiful moments of your life, would you describe moments so beautiful that they were absolutely perfect?
In my life, none of the most beautiful moments were perfect. The most beautiful were heart-shattering experiences that changed the way I look at life entirely.
Some of the most beautiful were also the ugliest of all and yet, their beauty comes with their ability to make me realize that I can mend myself back together.
My life’s most beautiful moments involved me breaking into pieces, staying broken, then slowly and gradually seeing myself forming anew. Broken yet even more beautiful than before, just like how a broken pottery looks like after its transformation through kintsukuroi.
As we grow older and become wiser, we acquire a deeper appreciation of imperfections of things, the world around us, and of ourselves. There’s depth in things and people that have gone through the process of breaking. There’s a story of weakness, strength, and survival too. There are villains, heroes, and heroines in every struggle and triumph. There were those that caused the breaking and those who mend it whole again.
You see, life’s most beautiful moments are hard to encapsulate in absolute descriptions. Beauty is complex and no one has the monopoly of definitions for it. Beauty can be described using contradicting words, if it can be described at all.
Call-to-Action:
🌸 Tell the story of your breaking. That is also the story of your strength.
Dedication:
💕 This post is dedicated to two former members of my old team who recently received job offers after a long process of waiting. This post is also dedicated to one current member of my team who never ceases to amaze me in their humility and sense of loyalty.
Read more of my writings on Intentionality & Mindfulness.
Love this reflection, Jen! I will take your prompt and write about my life from this perspective. 🌱
We seem to be on a similar thought path, Jen. I wrote about kintsugi and finding beauty in the broken a few posts ago. 😊