Wabi Sabi Print

I started a new green series named Wabi Sabi. I have been trying to paint in greens since I retired from 24 years of social work in October 2022. Green symbolizes a new beginning, entering a new chapter in my life and working on healing my body, mind, and soul. Nothing was coming of it until July 2023. I had been meditating on Wabi sabi (“wah-bi sah-bi”)- which is an ancient and deeply held philosophy closely tied to Japanese culture. Wabi-sabi sees the beauty in imperfection, appreciates simplicity, and accepts that change is inevitable. For a long time, I felt "damaged," and I had a very distorted view of myself- caused by trauma. My head was all jumbled up, and I thought everyone could see there was something wrong with me. While in CPS training, we did an art therapy self-awareness exercise that I think of often. We took a cardboard face mask and decorated it to represent ourselves. I filled my mask at the "brain" with laundry lint and twisted, messy, and tangled multicolored electrical wires and covered it in white, transparent tissue paper. I made small tears on the face's forehead, exposing some of the wires and lint. My mind felt scattered and overwhelmed- that feeling like something was wrong with me and maybe I was going "crazy." The white, transparent tissue represented a constant feeling that everyone could see through me and see that there was something "wrong" with me. I Meditating on the meaning of Wabi Sabi, I realized I need to accept and love myself as my perfectly imperfect human. I am not crazy or damaged because of my struggle with PTSD. I am a simple human- perfectly imperfect. This has brought me much peace.