Your history says the same thing about you as mine does about me – that we are products of our nature and shaped by our experiences.
Everyone has baggage. We start life as a perfect ceramic tile, beautiful in its simplicity and pure of design… then life happens.
Mixed in with joys and good times is the impact of our more challenging experiences with parents, school, love and relationships, work, disappointments, regrets, hardships and hurts.
Sometimes, these events, which are a normal part of living, take chunks out of our perfect tile.
Choosing to address the course of your history by using the past to inform your future path is analogous to the ancient Japanese art of Kintsugi. This is a traditional process of repairing ceramics using lacquer and gold, through which the mended piece becomes even more precious and valuable by virtue of its imperfections.
Active participation in periodic bouts of deliberate self-discovery and personal growth helps you to integrate your past and make conscious choices for your future. The intention behind engaging in any process designed to promote self-reflection, is to develop enhanced self-awareness and emotional resilience. This helps you learn and apply practical strategies to get different outcomes, allowing you to live a more contented and generous life.
In this way, exploring your history is akin to practising the art of Kintsugi.
The way you choose to relate to your history, can say something about a person’s approach to life. People who care about the splash they make in the pool of life choose to live by their personal values, to honour their potential as a compassionate human being, and to be generous participants in our community.