Turning Your Brokenness into Beauty

We often try to present an image of our best self to others. This usually involves denying or hiding areas of our lives which have been out of balance, in chaos, or broken. There may be feelings of embarrassment, guilt, and/or shame about these less-than-wonderful areas of our lives. There might be a tendency to cover up these situations and pretend that everything is fine. However, hiding such brokenness takes a great deal of energy and can lead to mental, emotional, physical, or spiritual burnout.

The problem with sweeping brokenness under a rug without addressing it is that eventually the rug is shaped like a hill or mountain that becomes hard to ignore. This can cause your emotions and energy to get stuck in negativity, inertia, and fatigue. Over time, such unaddressed issues could lead to depression, anxiety, panic attacks, anger outbursts, high blood pressure, ulcers, hives, and autoimmune disorders. Thus, it is in the best interest of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health to address your brokenness one piece at a time.

Whenever a ceramic cup, vase, or bowl is broken, the Japanese have a beautiful method for repairing them, which is called Kintsugi. The broken shards are put back together with a special lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum. The purpose of Kintsugi is to use beauty to accent the brokenness instead of hiding it. This process can result in something more beautiful than the original piece.

Your scars can be a beautiful example of how you have survived hard times. They represent the lessons and wisdom you learned from being broken. You can survive and thrive after being broken by mistakes and painful experiences. If you need help with transforming your brokenness into beauty, please call me for an appointment at 512.687.3436.