Wabi-Sabi As a Way of Life
The Koine Greek word for beautiful was horaios, an adjective coming from the word hora meaning "hour.
" In Koine Greek, beauty was thus associated with "being of one's hour.
" A ripe fruit which was of its hour was considered beautiful, whereas a young woman trying to appear older or an older woman trying to appear younger would not be considered beautiful.
Thus we have "ripe old age" as a saying.
There was a remarkable discussion about this in my awesome mastermind group this past week.
A very beautiful older woman made her first video, and was very self-conscious about her age and other things about her she considered less than perfect.
Her video was BEAUTIFUL and really conveyed her wise and healing presence.
Well, the women in this group had a few things to say about this, and were very committed to not letting our colleague fall down the rabbit hold of self doubt and devaluing herself.
It was a sweet reminder to me of how supportive women can be with one another, and that we all are prone to imposing impossible standards on ourselves, leading us to come up short over and over.
Though this is a habit and based on illusion, we all do it! I recall a few years ago, in the throws of menopausal hormonal stress, going to a Chinese acupuncturist.
She read my pulse and said, "Very very strong.
Good person.
Quick to anger, blow over easily.
Get over it.
" Wow, she was right, so my ears perked up.
She asked if I was using hormones.
I said I was not, but thought maybe I should.
She asked why, and I pointed to my wrinkles-my hard-earned wrinkles.
She looked me right in the eye and said, "You sunset beauty.
From the inside.
When young, sunrise beauty.
From outside.
Sunset beauty stronger.
" Yes!!!!!!! Imagine that! Getting better with age.
Yes, if coming from inside.
So what you may ask does this have to do with Wabi-Sabi and what is Wabi-Sabi? (pronounced like the "wasabi" you eat with sushi, but with an extra "b") To make it simple, something is said to be wabi-sabi if it is authentic in nature, and acknowledges three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.
Wabi-sabi is the crack in the teacup, the wrinkles on the face, the picnic that got rained on.
It is Natural Beauty.
The launch of my newsletter was really very wabi-sabi.
What could go wrong went wrong.
Subscribers received two mailings-no name after Welcome, the server went down shortly after the mailing, and a few other things of ample concern.
Oh, yes, I had the primordial knot of fear in my solar plexus for a while, and then decided to apply the exercise I shared in that newsletter-SOS.
I owned that I created the whole thing.
You might wonder, since the server is Godaddy, so why would I own that going down? Because this is my life I am creating.
I created a story that had an ending something like my life had been ruined -for a brief moment-then asked what there was for me to learn in all this.
The answer was Wabi-sabi.
It always comes down to SELF-LOVE.
Could I love myself in spite of creating this? Could I in fact see that I had created this to learn something very important? Could I get the lesson quickly and shift back into a space of LOVE-while at the same time taking the steps that were needed to respond to the situation? So here I was oscillating between angry victim and in despair to light and hopeful and curious about the whole thing.
Breath.
Awareness.
Expansion to see the Bigger Picture.
Perspective.
Gratitude.
I took out all the tools I teach others to use.
And that night when I shared what had happened with my dear friend, Dava, she said, "WABI-SABI.
" We laughed and laughed.
I am so happy that I had a wabi-sabi day.
So I am embracing and dancing with wabi-sabi as the conscious acceptance of the flux, the irregular dance of life that appears really chaotic and random at times, serene and flowing at others.
It is actually the Design! And I say "good-bye" to the New Age notion of figuring out what I must have done to bring such things on, and accept that I created what is happening so that I could learn and take my power back from something I had given it to-like a belief that I must do everything perfectly, or not be worthy of LOVE! And as soon as I accept it all (WABI-SABI AS A WAY OF LIFE) I am free.
Liberated.
No longer arguing with what is.
Here is a powerful exercise for you: 1.
Write down 3 areas of your life that you hold as imperfect in some way.
That could mean areas of your business, your weight, your living situation, finances, etc.
2.
How do you view yourself as a result? Take notice if there is any judgment, such as being lazy, unfocused, not organized enough.
What is the self-talk? Acknowledge how much energy you put into these beliefs.
Does it make you feel more confident or less to believe the way you do? 3.
Now, apply WABI-SABI.
Life is transient, there is always more to do, and nothing is perfect.
Apply this directly to the situations you have listed.
Feel your alignment with the dance of life, rather than holding onto the beliefs you identified in Step 2.
Wabi-sabi! By doing this, you free up the energy tied to the ideal you had in mind-the SHOULD that isn't yours, and you then have the energy available to take action if that is needed.
Sometimes it is not.
Embracing wabi-sabi does not mean doing a lackluster job of things, by any stretch of the imagination.
What it does mean is that you put your best effort forth, and realize that there are countless invisible forces at play that will also be determining the outcome.
Some of these forces only become visible over time.
When things don't turn out as you had planned, wabi-sabi is there to remind you that you are a co-creator, and not the creator of the universe.
This addiction to perfection is one of the biggest obstacles for entrepreneurs.
This can lead to: • Not creating the programs and products that can get your gifts out into the world.
• Getting exhausted trying to get it all done and all right.
• Not being able to celebrate what you have accomplished.
WABI-SABI says that your imperfections are of great value! One of the other definitions of wabi-sabi is that it is something that brings about a spiritual longing.
That longing for perfection is a spiritual longing for the perfection of being in alignment with your Soul and with Source-the longing for your God Self.
And when you stop and think about it, all the energy bound up in your attachment to the way it ought to be is taking away from he deeper longing of your Soul.
So WABI-SABI is good spiritual practice.
It helps to put things in perspective quickly.
This week, give yourself the gift of at least one good WABI-SABI break each day, where you consciously celebrate the ongoing imperfection and incompletions in your life as evidence that you are a co-creator who is always bringing forth more, and thus never getting it all done.
Thank Source for this beautiful quality about you.
WABI-SABI!!!!!!!!!!
" In Koine Greek, beauty was thus associated with "being of one's hour.
" A ripe fruit which was of its hour was considered beautiful, whereas a young woman trying to appear older or an older woman trying to appear younger would not be considered beautiful.
Thus we have "ripe old age" as a saying.
There was a remarkable discussion about this in my awesome mastermind group this past week.
A very beautiful older woman made her first video, and was very self-conscious about her age and other things about her she considered less than perfect.
Her video was BEAUTIFUL and really conveyed her wise and healing presence.
Well, the women in this group had a few things to say about this, and were very committed to not letting our colleague fall down the rabbit hold of self doubt and devaluing herself.
It was a sweet reminder to me of how supportive women can be with one another, and that we all are prone to imposing impossible standards on ourselves, leading us to come up short over and over.
Though this is a habit and based on illusion, we all do it! I recall a few years ago, in the throws of menopausal hormonal stress, going to a Chinese acupuncturist.
She read my pulse and said, "Very very strong.
Good person.
Quick to anger, blow over easily.
Get over it.
" Wow, she was right, so my ears perked up.
She asked if I was using hormones.
I said I was not, but thought maybe I should.
She asked why, and I pointed to my wrinkles-my hard-earned wrinkles.
She looked me right in the eye and said, "You sunset beauty.
From the inside.
When young, sunrise beauty.
From outside.
Sunset beauty stronger.
" Yes!!!!!!! Imagine that! Getting better with age.
Yes, if coming from inside.
So what you may ask does this have to do with Wabi-Sabi and what is Wabi-Sabi? (pronounced like the "wasabi" you eat with sushi, but with an extra "b") To make it simple, something is said to be wabi-sabi if it is authentic in nature, and acknowledges three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.
Wabi-sabi is the crack in the teacup, the wrinkles on the face, the picnic that got rained on.
It is Natural Beauty.
The launch of my newsletter was really very wabi-sabi.
What could go wrong went wrong.
Subscribers received two mailings-no name after Welcome, the server went down shortly after the mailing, and a few other things of ample concern.
Oh, yes, I had the primordial knot of fear in my solar plexus for a while, and then decided to apply the exercise I shared in that newsletter-SOS.
I owned that I created the whole thing.
You might wonder, since the server is Godaddy, so why would I own that going down? Because this is my life I am creating.
I created a story that had an ending something like my life had been ruined -for a brief moment-then asked what there was for me to learn in all this.
The answer was Wabi-sabi.
It always comes down to SELF-LOVE.
Could I love myself in spite of creating this? Could I in fact see that I had created this to learn something very important? Could I get the lesson quickly and shift back into a space of LOVE-while at the same time taking the steps that were needed to respond to the situation? So here I was oscillating between angry victim and in despair to light and hopeful and curious about the whole thing.
Breath.
Awareness.
Expansion to see the Bigger Picture.
Perspective.
Gratitude.
I took out all the tools I teach others to use.
And that night when I shared what had happened with my dear friend, Dava, she said, "WABI-SABI.
" We laughed and laughed.
I am so happy that I had a wabi-sabi day.
So I am embracing and dancing with wabi-sabi as the conscious acceptance of the flux, the irregular dance of life that appears really chaotic and random at times, serene and flowing at others.
It is actually the Design! And I say "good-bye" to the New Age notion of figuring out what I must have done to bring such things on, and accept that I created what is happening so that I could learn and take my power back from something I had given it to-like a belief that I must do everything perfectly, or not be worthy of LOVE! And as soon as I accept it all (WABI-SABI AS A WAY OF LIFE) I am free.
Liberated.
No longer arguing with what is.
Here is a powerful exercise for you: 1.
Write down 3 areas of your life that you hold as imperfect in some way.
That could mean areas of your business, your weight, your living situation, finances, etc.
2.
How do you view yourself as a result? Take notice if there is any judgment, such as being lazy, unfocused, not organized enough.
What is the self-talk? Acknowledge how much energy you put into these beliefs.
Does it make you feel more confident or less to believe the way you do? 3.
Now, apply WABI-SABI.
Life is transient, there is always more to do, and nothing is perfect.
Apply this directly to the situations you have listed.
Feel your alignment with the dance of life, rather than holding onto the beliefs you identified in Step 2.
Wabi-sabi! By doing this, you free up the energy tied to the ideal you had in mind-the SHOULD that isn't yours, and you then have the energy available to take action if that is needed.
Sometimes it is not.
Embracing wabi-sabi does not mean doing a lackluster job of things, by any stretch of the imagination.
What it does mean is that you put your best effort forth, and realize that there are countless invisible forces at play that will also be determining the outcome.
Some of these forces only become visible over time.
When things don't turn out as you had planned, wabi-sabi is there to remind you that you are a co-creator, and not the creator of the universe.
This addiction to perfection is one of the biggest obstacles for entrepreneurs.
This can lead to: • Not creating the programs and products that can get your gifts out into the world.
• Getting exhausted trying to get it all done and all right.
• Not being able to celebrate what you have accomplished.
WABI-SABI says that your imperfections are of great value! One of the other definitions of wabi-sabi is that it is something that brings about a spiritual longing.
That longing for perfection is a spiritual longing for the perfection of being in alignment with your Soul and with Source-the longing for your God Self.
And when you stop and think about it, all the energy bound up in your attachment to the way it ought to be is taking away from he deeper longing of your Soul.
So WABI-SABI is good spiritual practice.
It helps to put things in perspective quickly.
This week, give yourself the gift of at least one good WABI-SABI break each day, where you consciously celebrate the ongoing imperfection and incompletions in your life as evidence that you are a co-creator who is always bringing forth more, and thus never getting it all done.
Thank Source for this beautiful quality about you.
WABI-SABI!!!!!!!!!!
