“There’s no need to be perfect to inspire others. Let people get inspired by how you deal with your imperfections.” — Anonymous
I find that when we name or label something, we can store it in our mind easier and use it to draw from when we need it.
It gives us a simple way to refer to something and make sense of it.
I have a new word now to make sense of flaws and appreciate them … Wabi-sabi.
I was watching King of the Hill the other night and Bobby Hill used the term Wabi-sabi to turn a flaw and imperfection into a good thing. Wabi-Sabi is a Japanese term that captures the idea that imperfections can make things perfect.
According to Wikipedia, Wabi-sabi is beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete” and it embraces authenticity by acknowledging “nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.”
I like that — embrace imperfection and find the beauty and authenticity in it … now that’s keeping it real!
The Wisdom of Kintsukuroi
In the book, A Year of Positive Thinking: Daily Inspiration, Wisdom, and Courage (A Year of Daily Reflections), author Cyndie Spiegel teaches us the power of Kintsukuroi.
Spiegel writes:
“Kintsukuroi is a kind of Japanese ceramic style. The word Kintsukuroi means ‘to repair with gold’. I
n the Kintsukuroi tradition, when a ceramic piece breaks, an artisan will fuel the pieces back together using liquid gold or gold-dusted lacquer.
So rather than being covered up, the breaks become more obvious, and a new piece of art emerges from the brokenness.”
Become More Resilient and Beautiful Through Your Cracks
Kintsukuroi doesn’t stop at just embracing flaws. It’s the essence of resilience.
Spiegel writes:
“Kintsukuroi embraces flaws and imperfection, but it also teaches the essence of resilience.
Every crack in a ceramic piece is part of history, and each piece becomes more beautiful because it has been broken.”
Your Imperfections Make You a Better Person
You grow more beautiful and resilient because of your imperfections, not in spite of them.
Spiegel writes:
“You will fall.
You will fail.
You will break.
You will stand up and dust yourself off again.
You will repair yourself again and again.
And eventually, though you will be different han before, you will again become whole.
You will be even more beautiful precisely because of all of this.
You will be a better person because of your imperfections, not in spite of them.”
Quotes About Embracing Imperfection…
Oopsies happen. To err is human. Feet of clay. It’s not what happens to you, it’s how you respond.
Every perfect life is filled with 1,000s of imperfections.
By embracing imperfect, you can embrace the full richness and fabric of life, grow better, appreciate the beauty of differences, and accept differences. Here are a few thought-starters to give you a multi-perspective view on
- “You look at the scratch and completely miss the diamond.” — Raphie Frank
- “There’s no need to be perfect to inspire others. Let people get inspired by how you deal with your imperfections.” — Anonymous
- “Maybe the most any of us can expect of ourselves isn’t perfection but progress.” — Michelle Burford
- “Perfectionm itself is imperfection.” — Vladimir Horowitz
- “I cling to my imperfection, as the very essence of my being.” — Anatole France
- “If everything is imperfect in this imperfect world, love is most perfect in its perfect imperfection.” — Gunnar Bjornstrand
- “Perfectionism is self-abuse of the highest order.” — Anne Wilson Schaef
- “To escape criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.” — Elbert Hubbard
- “Usefulness is not impaired by imperfection. You can still drink from a chipped cup.” — Greta Nagel
- “Since no one is perfect, it follows all great deeds have been accomplished out of imperfection, somehow, all the same.” — Louis McMaster Bujold
- “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice reduces the imperfection.” — Toba Beta
- “Imperfections foster unity and remind us of our humanness.” — Brene Brown
- “You are just human. Being imperfect doesn’t make you any less.” — Kartika Atmadja
- “You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.” — Sam Keen
- “Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.” — Marilyn Monroe
- “There is beauty and humility in imperfection.” — Guillermo del Toro
- “Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly.” — Robert H. Schuller
- “To escape criticism – do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.” — Elbert Hubbard
- “Imperfection and perfection go so hand in hand, and our dark and our light are so intertwined, that by trying to push the darkness or the so-called negative aspects of our life to the side, we are preventing ourselves from the fullness of life.” — Jeff Bridges
- “I realized that I don’t have to be perfect. All I have to do is show up and enjoy the messy, imperfect and beautiful journey of my life.” — Kerry Washington
- “The true genius shudders at incompleteness — imperfection — and usually prefers silence to saying the something which is not everything that should be said.” — Edgar Allan Poe, Marginalia
- “People call these things imperfections, but they’re not, that’s the good stuff. And then we get to choose who we let into our weird little worlds.” — Good Will Hunting
- “You are imperfect, you are wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging. Imperfections are not inadequacies; they are reminders that we’re all in this together.” — Brene Brown
- “Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except the best.” — Henry Van Dyke
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