Wabi Sabi

Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, I'm going to share a word with you, wabi sabi. This is a Japanese word, and it means the discovery of beauty within the imperfections of life, accepting the natural cycles of growth and decay. Hmm. I really like this.

For me, this is a big part of my mindfulness practice, and I think it's part of all of our mindfulness practice. It's one thing to appreciate and notice and be present for the things that we like, the things that we want, but that's only part of our mindfulness practice. It's you could even say a half-baked mindfulness practice because mindfulness is about orienting toward the truth of what is here right now. Then sometimes that means imperfection. That means growth And decay.

It means the realities of life that we might typically want to turn away from. And there's something about life that is beautiful, but also quite painful. There's an imperfection to it. Things are constantly changing, arising, and passing. There's no refuge that we can take in any given moment where we just finally feel happy or content.

Everything is coming and going. You know, this is the cycle of life. We're born into the world. We get old and we pass. A tree, the same way.

It starts as a seed, it sprouts, it grows and eventually it will fall. Everything in nature has this cycle and it's something that can bring about pain and despair, and that's a natural response. But also in that despair, that pain can be appreciation for the beauty of what it means to come into the world, to come into existence, to be perfectly imperfect. There's a quality of acceptance that this asks us to step into that really is quite powerful. Something in us needs to surrender to, let go, and to move with the flow of life.

And in that way, we get to discover a new kind of beauty within the imperfections of life. So as you go about your day, see if you can keep this word in mind, wabi sabi. See if you can discover some of the beauty within the imperfections of life and accept some of the natural cycles of growth and decay. It's all part of being human. And part of our mindfulness practices is meeting this, relaxing into it and coming to terms with it.

And there can be beauty in that process. Thank you for your practice. Let's settle in for today's meditation.