{"id":8665,"date":"2015-10-30T17:12:48","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T17:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/?p=8665"},"modified":"2015-10-30T17:26:27","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T17:26:27","slug":"wabi-sabi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/2015\/10\/wabi-sabi\/","title":{"rendered":"Wabi-Sabi"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_4768\"<\/a>The subject of accepting one\u2019s age recently came up on my Twitter<\/strong> feed so I thought I\u2019d share my thoughts on Wabi-Sabi<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Do you know about Wabi-Sabi<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the Japanese tradition of revering authenticity, finding the beauty in imperfection, celebrating transience.<\/p>\n

What could be more perfect for aging baby-boomers than a mindset celebrating the loveliness of life on the far side of ripe? Wabi-Sabi<\/strong> finds the beauty in impermanence, imperfection, and incompletion.<\/p>\n

When I first read about Wabi-Sabi<\/strong> in “Your Beautiful Imperfect Life”<\/strong> <\/a>way back in the October 200I issue of Utne Reader<\/strong><\/em>, I recognized instantly this was an attitude I wanted to adopt and cultivate. It\u2019s a philosophy I try (often struggle) to put to use each morning as I look in the mirror and seek to find the elegance in entropy.<\/p>\n

Wabi-Sabi<\/strong> came about in Japan after a time of refined hedonism. (Sound familiar?) Utne<\/em> contributing editor Jon Spayde<\/strong> described Sabi<\/strong> as a mood \u201cof attentive melancholy\u201d and Wabi<\/strong> as \u201ca cozier, more object-centered aesthetic of less as more.\u201d Fused together, Wabi-Sabi<\/strong> is \u201cawareness of the transience of earthly things and a resigned pleasure in simple things that bear the marks of that transience.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Wabi-Sabi,<\/strong> I am on the lookout for new role models, no more glorifying youth for youth\u2019s sake, and no more emphasis on the superficial. I want to admire the charm and aesthetic of age, appreciate the world as it is, and find beauty in the flaws and imperfections that mark a life.<\/p>\n

It is not the sleek, the store-bought, or the status symbol that merits my new appreciation. Instead I want to consider the dignity of the well-used thing, its sweetness in having served. I want to revere the cycle of dust to dust, each atom of us more intricate than a snowflake and just as fleeting.<\/p>\n

One thing that makes Wabi-Sabi<\/strong> great and pure is that it doesn\u2019t cost a thing. All that\u2019s required is for you simply to accept the natural beauty of the natural progression. But that doesn\u2019t mean Wabi-Sabi<\/strong> is easy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one thing to say you\u2019ll try to appreciate the wistful beauty of a wrinkle. It is another thing to do so.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re all ascending in the years and every time we look in the mirror, we confront our own mortality. You may not see it as a pretty picture. My initial reaction to dewlaps was not applause. Time and again, I have had to remind myself that when you cannot change a situation, change yourself. I try. Miserably sometimes.<\/p>\n

For me, Wabi-Sabi<\/strong> has had to be consciously developed and it\u2019s been a gradual (sometimes imperceptible) integration into my attitude. I continue to have the kneejerk reaction to getting older, which is dread or anxiety, so I must always remind myself of the good that comes with maturity. Age is not better than youth but aging is good. You can\u2019t deny that. If you\u2019re not aging, you\u2019re dead, whatever your philosophy.<\/p>\n

Wabi-Sabi<\/strong> is not my first impulse when the world informs me that even if I do not feel older in spirit, I look older, so I must try to recognize the gifts that age is giving me. Wabi-Sabi<\/strong> helps. Perhaps with practice I will learn how to honor that which has withstood time, which serves, which endures (until it doesn\u2019t).<\/p>\n

Maybe I can learn how to love the tired and broken, how to embrace the almosts and the has-beens. And, if I do not always do better, if I falter, sigh, there\u2019s a certain beauty in that too.<\/p>\n

Wabi-Sabi,<\/strong> I acknowledge to myself most mornings. Some days I need to say it aloud. \u201cWabi-Sabi.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Other days I still want to think of myself as a badass, as someone to be reckoned with, as someone who knows what it is to be fierce, and then I put on my best Samuel L. Jackson voice, and say it again, \u201cWabi-Sabi, mother fucker, Wabi-Sabi.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can take getting older and I can love it too.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Want to learn more about Wabi-Sabi?<\/strong> Here are the individual links:<\/p>\n

\u201cWabi-Sabi the Art of Imperfection\u201d<\/strong> <\/a>by Robyn Griggs Lawrence<\/strong>
\n\u201cA Brief History of Wabi-Sabi”\u201d<\/strong><\/a> by Jon Spayde<\/strong>
\n\u201cLivingWabi-Sabi\u201d<\/strong><\/a> by Marcia Tyson Kolb<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Peace, love, and solace<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Beauty<\/a>
Beauty in degradation \u00a9 Ellen Wade Beals, 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Are<\/a>
Are You Ready to Crumble \u00a9 Ellen Wade Beals, 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yellow<\/a>
Yellow leaves 2015 \u00a9 Ellen Wade Beals, 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The subject of accepting one\u2019s age recently came up on my Twitter feed so I thought I\u2019d share my thoughts on Wabi-Sabi. Do you know about Wabi-Sabi? It\u2019s the Japanese tradition of revering authenticity, finding the beauty in imperfection, celebrating transience. What could be more perfect for aging baby-boomers than a mindset celebrating the loveliness […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2649,60,2790,2791,12,2794,2788,2789,2792,39,2787,7,16,2793,2786,2785,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-8665","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"tag-aging","8":"tag-appreciation","9":"tag-coming-to-terms-with-aging","10":"tag-dignity","11":"tag-ellen-wade-beals","12":"tag-getting-older","13":"tag-jon-spayde","14":"tag-marcia-tyson-kolb","15":"tag-maturity","16":"tag-photography","17":"tag-robyn-griggs-lawrence","18":"tag-solace","19":"tag-solace-in-so-many-words","20":"tag-the-gifts-of-aging","21":"tag-utne-readerk","22":"tag-wabi-sabi","23":"tag-weighed-words","24":"entry","25":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8665"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8680,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8665\/revisions\/8680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}