Introducing Kintsugi

3 minute read.

“Healing is described as the process of becoming sound or healthy again. ”

Kintsugi is Japan's century-old art of repairing broken pottery and replacing fractures with gold. It's also known as the "golden joinery" or golden repair. Japanese art is to repair broken pottery by mending the brokeness with something of extreme value, such as silver or gold. Besides silver or gold, what of value in your life can you use to mend your brokenness? In my early years of graduate school at Xavier University, this tradition was introduced to me by Dr. Kristi Brumfield, Ph.D.

I sat in the front seat to the far left of the classroom, scared of suffering from imposters syndrome and feeling like I didn't belong. She then read a children's book to us all. It was Kathern Cave's You've Got Dragons. I thought it was weird for her to be reading a children's book to graduate students, but the minute she began reading, my anxiety was to a minimum, sadly, because I noticed everyone else's was too.

She later introduced me to a song, Peter Mayer's Japanese Bowl, I listened to the song in the classroom, and I couldn't hold back my tears. I had much healing to do, but I learned that my brokenness could be a beautiful art. I'm also listening to the song as I'm typing this blog, simultaneously wiping my tears. Healing is a lifelong process for many because beautiful creations are meant to be broken. It's not the brokenness that's the issue. The lack of healing prevents us from living out our wildest dreams.

Once I understood what healing was, how it felt, and how it changes relationships in your life, I felt like I experienced a thing I now wanted the world to experience. I have what some people who have "everything" don't have, healing. It doesn't mean I don't hurt or get triggered or fall short. It means I understand how to heal and maintain peace. It's a process, and one's strategy does not look like another's. It's personal, unique, and sometimes takes a while, but It's also life-changing and freeing, and I want the world to know that we all can heal.

Healing is the process of making or becoming sound or healthy again. It requires a safe place, no judgment, forgiveness, understanding, education, resources, and to be approached with a directive and nondirective psychotherapy. I am a therapist, and I'm here to help you heal.

I love you! I mean that.