Embrace the Mindset of Wabi-Sabi

How being reminded that everything is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete can bring you peace and drive you to success.

Image Author’s own, created in A Design Kit App

Wabi-Sabi is the Japanese concept that encompasses the spirituality and simplicity of life being impermanent, incomplete, and imperfect.

This simple little phrase can be used almost like a mantra: reaffirming daily can bring serenity and peace in the face of change and adversity. Isn’t that what we’re all looking for nowadays?

Too often we try to hold onto a permanent state: whether it’s a job, our body shape, or a stage in our life. Maybe this is out of a sense of perceived control, but often this brings pain as we are prised from our attachment when things out of our control force us to change. It‘s ’like trying to take a favorite toy from a toddler: usually, there is screaming and crying before coming to the realization that a force greater than yourself is in control.

Wabi-Sabi illustrates the more we practice acceptance and letting go, the less distress we are likely to experience. It is more akin to ‘going with the flow’ rather than trying to swim against the tide.

Let’s briefly touch on the origins of Wabi-Sabi. Wabi relates to detachment from the real world and appreciating a…