Kintsugi pretty much translates to ‘golden joinery’ and it is a traditional Japanese art, repairing broken pottery by mending the cracks, usually with powdered gold.

I heard about kintsugi on my first visit to Japan, but earlier this year it took on more signifigance for me.

For several months I saw the wonderful Tracy at Hello Hypno in Livingston. At one of my sessions just as I was drifting away into my calm state, Tracy talked about the story of Kintsugi and how it came to be.

Kintsugi embraces imperfection, impermanence and the natural cycle of growth and decay. It treats breakage and repair as a valuable part of an objects history rather than something to hide and it symbolises how healing from trauma or damage can make something stronger, more beautiful and more unique than it was before.

Just because something is broken or damaged, doesn’t mean it cannot come back stronger and more beautiful than before.

It sunk in with me that Tuesday evening and again tonight after completing my class that this is me.

I am kintsugi.