Being fortunate to have recently travelled to Japan has given me the wonderful opportunity to be inspired by many of the truly beautiful Japanese philosophies that the Japanese live their life by. But one, has especially moved me, one that I think that we could all benefit from embracing and applying into our everyday life. That is the principle of Wabi Sabi.

Wabi-Sabi is about accepting our imperfections and making the most of life, however it is. It encourages us to find the blessings hiding amongst the day, and celebrating the way things are, rather than how we or society, think they ‘should’ be.
So it is a really healthy mindset to take hold of as we journey through life. It reminds us that absolutely everything is temporary, imperfect and incomplete. That imperfection is how things are, including ourselves, that imperfection is natural. The wabi-sabi mindset takes the pressure off the need to pursue perfection, and allows us to relax into the experience of our lives just as they are.
When we live our life based on perfection, things get hard, nothing is good enough and we are always wishing for something else or pondering on the ‘if only…’ . Our partners, our children, our jobs, our looks, our neighbourhood, our age…..just to mention a few. The relentless ‘not being good enough’ hanging over our lives like a dark, heavy cloud.
This is where wabi-sabi invites us to find the beauty in the way things are and the courage to be ok when things aren’t as perfect as we think they should be. We don’t need money or specialised skills to appreciate our imperfections and make the most of life, we just need to take a moment, slow down to be rather than to do and to appreciate rather than perfect.
Today, and every day forward, let’s start appreciating the things we have, the people we love, and the experiences in everyday life so that we find enjoyment and feel more at peace with our life.

References:
https://medium.com/personal-growth/wabi-sabi-the-japanese-philosophy-for-a-perfectly-imperfect-life-11563e833dc0

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