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This blog is another opportunity to feel grateful and thank you dear Universe: You continue to bless me with recovery and overall health.
One does not necessarily visit Japan to know about its ages-old tradition, the art of Kintsugi, which is a popular theory for the message it proclaims. It is a Japanese art where the practitioners use golden lacquer to fill the cracks and put back the broken pieces of pottery. The irregular lines are perceived as an element of beauty rather than a flaw and the wonderful philosophy makes the piece a distinctive form of art.
Learning from this process how we, in life evolve gracefully filling our scars with enhancement is what makes it unique. Inspired by this, Ordinarily Rare since inception has highlighted my self-experiencing journey to health and healing by exploring various connections that could nourish our Mind, Body, and Spirit. The idea of the platform is to gracefully accept imperfections and transform them into strength. Though we come across various theories and concepts during our life however the concept of Kintsugi instantly connected with me, and my situation. It was indeed the need of the hour to necessarily agree and rediscover its relevance post getting diagnosed with a rare disease, Isaacs’ Syndrome (a neuromuscular disorder), and subsequently with chronic conditions like Lyme disease, Glaucoma, and Membranous Glomerulonephritis.
It’s more than just a philosophy:
Everyone breaks and so did I however this art taught me to be strong in the broken places where it hurts the most and I admired its completeness to help me cultivate certain healthy practices and be more receptive to some in-depth values:
Frame My Past: utilizing experiences from the past and mapping the future was potentially the intelligent way to move forward. There were hindrances as I faced many moves to be counter-productive and reality being quite different from anticipated however it called for finer actions, learning from mistakes, and taking tips from theories like Kintsugi.
A Dent in life doesn’t necessarily mean, it was over: the damage made me the person I am today. Post diagnosis, it was essential not to see life negatively but instead as an opportunity in the light, we call life.
Innovative approach toward hardships: I tried approaching things in a way that worked for me in specific rather than an outdated mindset of that’s the way it should be done. Failures are inevitable but I always thought it be a part of my journey and not the destination. This process helped me celebrate non-success and the attitude to never give up. I thank my family to be extremely supportive as none was possible without them.
Understanding the Art of Acceptance: – I started to enjoy simplicity, could gauge my situation better, and limited my complaints. My mother once said ‘’life is not a fair game and offers limited choices. You could either complain or feel sorry for how life didn’t play out as anticipated or simply feel grateful for all the love, care, and treatment you are receiving’’. I feel at times, it was just meant to be this way as suddenly; I became ignorant of my tantrums and realized that it helped me heal better. It is equally important to express gratitude for the good and the bad.
Aren’t we all imperfect and so am I: – I became more receptive to approving how others and their acts affected my situation and became more open-minded to new ideas and experiences, and considerate of others and their thoughts. I refrained from the comparison business which definitely added a lot of positivity as post-diagnosis it felt that every other person is living better except myself and therefore my struggles became much bigger than life. Logically, we know that nothing around us is perfect but just knowing is not enough.
Cultivate Optimism: – various climate and disability groups around the globe use Kintsugi to challenge thinking abilities and cultivate optimism. Even research has time and again stated the effectiveness of being optimistic in our life however it becomes difficult to implement such theories during troubled times unless we practice and have strong historic references to follow. Kintsugi played an important role by giving me a strength-oriented mindset, the shift of focus from the impossible to accepting my internal power and believing that I can.
An Opportunity for Growth and look better: – I preferred taking smaller steps as they were easy to incorporate into my daily routine. Practices like going to bed early, breathing exercises to reduce the burden of stress, making dietary changes, adding physical activities, and above all keeping mental resilience were extremely helpful.
The highlight for me was in two major areas, it made me aware of the right resource needed to regain back health and form a self-centric model of care. There are online choices available to buy kintsugi kits yet the idea was more appealing towards repairing the broken pieces of my life that definitely proved more special than only ceramics. I’m sure fixing my life wounds and the life of my loved ones is more pleasurable and valuable than my favourite coffee mug. It is a healing act that mended my life and more importantly, the process reinforced the idea that perfection isn’t necessary and refrained me feel like a victim.
Today I feel in spite of being fragile in our respective ways, wellness is all about, the vigour to overcome challenges and inspire others with all our golden cracks.
DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not represent any kind of medical advice.
