#UnBlockYourself

There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way.

There is no way to happiness, happiness is the way. 
I think we spend way too much time chasing after happiness.  We dream up great things and then start after them. To get there, we sacrifice time and resources, sometimes have to crush opponents, and something I don’t like to think about, give up some important things we’ve held onto all our lives, to make the dream come true. 
 
In this series, I’ve been trying to relay the message to also enjoy the journey. Your life, according to Wabi Sabi and Kintsugi, is unique and every detail about you tells a fascinating story about who God has created in you. 
 
In addition, you living this life, the way you were designed, this is your ikigai. 
 
We spend so much precious time looking for purpose instead of living it. 
We spend so much time chasing after dreams instead of living them out. 
We spend so much time trying to find the way to happiness, when all along, happiness is the way. 
 
Here is a popular quote:
“We spend our time waiting for the ideal path to appear. But it never does. Because we forget that paths are made by walking, not waiting.” - MarcandAngel
 
Go live life. 

Kokoro no Sentaku, Inochi no Sentaku

Kokoro no sentaku, inochi no sentaku
I came across this phrase while looking at the kintsugi process. 
Kokoro means heart 
Sentaku means to wash or clean
Inochi means life
 
So it’s said, “wash your heart, wash your life”
The latter phrase though, “inochi no sentaku” is commonly known as “wash off the dust of life”. 
 
Living life can cause us to to get dusty, or a little dirty going through the things we go through. Some things we choose to let in and some we don’t, but still, our hearts become contaminated and tainted with the cares of this world. 
 
Every now and then we need wash it all off. A sabbatical from it all. A good soak in the onsen, or go for a time unplugged, off the grid. Disconnect from the world and plug into the things that really matter, the things that sustain you:
Your relationships: vertical and horizontal
Your mind: examine your thoughts and images
Your motives: what are trying to do? Does it even matter in the big picture? 
Your ikigai: how are you living out your purpose? 
 
Relax and take a little time to talk with yourself and re-energize your self by washing your heart, and washing your life! 

The Kintsugi Process 2

The Kintsugi Process 2
Yesterday we went over the first 3 steps of the kintsugi process:
Stage 1: Broken
Stage 2: Assemble
Stage 3: Wait
 
Tired from a long day, I decided to take a long hot bath, my little personal “onsen”. 
Soaking my aches and pains away, I had the mental picture of my tired aching body of being broken, in need of repair. Who better to go to for repairs other than the one who created it? No one!
As I think of this process, I seek healing for myself, and to all of you who feel they need it. 
Gather the pieces, let them get cared for before we go on to the next step. 
 
Stage 4: Repair
After waiting for the glue to dry, now you clean the excess and sand it down to the bonding mixture, to reveal the real scars of the piece. 
 
Sanding to the scars is necessary to smooth it out before you can apply the first coat of lacquer. In life when it’s time to rebuild, there comes a time to peel back or sand down the layers we hide behind, to reveal what the core problem is. The scars show that there was a deep wound, and also a scar shows that some healing is taking place. The lacquer is addressing the wound. 
In a real piece, the first application can take 2 weeks to fully dry. It takes time to heal wounds. 
 
 
Stage 5: Reveal
While the lacquer is still moist, apply gold. This reinforces the joints of the new piece and strengthens the once broken pieces. 
Oils and different polishes are applied to make it shine brilliantly. This is work being put into the once broke object. 
 
Stage 6: Sublimate (channel, divert, control)
This is putting your energy into it to make it work. All that you have done working towards its rebirth, admire its uniqueness, and strength. The cracks sing of its history, and appreciate the new piece’s imperfections as perfection in it’s story. (Wabi Sabi at its finest!)
 
Your story is unique to you, and is a reflection of all the experiences you’ve gone through. I’d like to say, you shine, because His light shines upon you! 

The Kintsugi Process 1

The Kintsugi Process
The kintsugi process reminds me of when we make a mistake or break a trust, we’ve learned a lesson, and we try to rebuild the relationship. 
 
For today, picture a relationship, or a promise, or your walk with the Lord, or anything of value as an object. 
 
Stage 1: Break
Something happens to where the object gets broken. A mistake, temptation, maybe even something deliberate. A bad decision was made and we chose to go down a path detrimental to the object. 
It breaks. 
 
Stage 2: Assemble
To bring the object back into good standing,  pieces must be gathered, cleaned, prepared, filed, and filled. There is work involved. Real work. Caring for the object in all of it’s brokenness. The main objective though, is to make it whole and functional again. 
 
Stage 3: Wait 
The waiting stage is probably the hardest because you have take time out, set things aside, let time do it’s thing. In relationships, things can build over years, and be destroyed in an instant. When putting it back together, you’ll find that things don’t just magically go back to the way things were just because one misses the other. Just as before, time and experience will have to build it again. 
 
All this and we still haven’t put it together just yet. But patience is key, the end product makes it all worth it. 

Kintsugi 2: Revealing scars and not hiding them

Kintsugi 2: Revealing scars and not hiding them
You’ve had trials and setbacks, and you have survived 100 percent of your worst experiences!
 
You are a warrior in this life! 
When we learn from our experiences, it gives hope to the future of others.
 
So revealing scars and not hiding them shows how you’ve received wisdom and how you’ve trusted God in healing the wounds. It’s also about how you find strength in your weakness, and perfection being achieved in your imperfection.
 
God knows what He is doing. The “Cracked Pot” story. 
 
Highlights on cracks can also reveal personal or even generational flaws and imperfections so we can stop the spread of hurt from person to person, generation to generation.
 
Let’s allow Him to put our broken pieces back together so we can be stronger than before!

Kintsugi: Putting the pieces back together

Kintsugi: Putting the pieces back together
“So I went to the potter’s house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot.”
Jeremiah 18:3-4 MSG
 
Kintsugi is yet another beautiful way of viewing life, infused in art and practical uses. Basically it is taking a broken vessel or object, and mending it with the imperfections highlighted and reinforced with gold, or with something else that makes it stronger. 
 
Usually when something breaks we either discard it, or glue it back together and make it look like nothing happened. Kintsugi takes the broken pieces, carefully cleans the pieces, smoothed them, applies gold to them, and a new old object emerges. The damages repaired, but also highlighted. The cracks can be admired, but note that the piece is probably stronger than before. 
 
It reminds me of learning a lesson and gaining wisdom after a trying time that seemingly breaks us down and we have to put the pieces back together again through the healing process. We put the whole situation in the potters hand, and he repurposes it into something beautiful and stronger than before. 

Ichigo Ichie: Enjoying the Now

Ichigo Ichie: Enjoying the Now
Yesterday I attended another funeral, where I was reminded once again of how precious relationships are, and just how short our time is. 
 
We must make the most of each moment, Charlie Brown once told Snoopy, “Someday, we will all die, Snoopy!”
Snoopy thought to himself, “True, but on all the other days, we will not.” 
So, how will you spend the time that you will not?
 
How important is now?
 
Being in the Now is about being mindful of the present. Your emotions hold you in certain stages of time, and the present is the ONLY place that NOW can exist. 
 
So I urge you to enjoy the moment that you have. Every second can cause a memory that can last your lifetime. 
 
This is how I feel:
Here and now, nothing else matters, everything on the outside can wait. All of our energy is concentrated into this one instance. The entire universe is fixated in the breathe of this one moment of us together. 
 
In the book kintsugi, it’s like the author was talking right to me saying:
Enjoy the journey, don’t try to arrive before you’ve even left yet. 
 
Slow down. This particular meeting will only happen once in this lifetime. Let’s enjoy it. 
 
Ichigo ichie. 

Gifts are Gifts

Gifts are Gifts
Putting our passions and values to work
 
Our Passions motivates us to make changes. Our values guides us to and sets boundaries for us to make those changes meaningful to us and to God. When we set out to make changes - get the biggest bang for your buck - we need to use our gifts and talents.
 
Gifts are gifts, a hope and light to make a better day for someone else. Whenever you are using your gifts you are serving someone in a special way. You take what you have been given, applied your values and passion to it, and now you share it with others so they might take part in the change you are trying to establish. That is truly giving a gift.
 
When we live our lives to the fullest, using the gifts and talents bestowed upon us to make a difference, we see our ikigai flowing through out everything we set out to do.
It’s not about us and what we want. It’s about what we have and what we give. We utilize our ikigai most when we see it from a different perspective, we are not trying to live life out the way people feel we should. We are trying to live out our lives the way God has designed us, because we are fearfully and wonderfully made… as individuals with certain gifts and talents. When we try to live out someone else’s life because that what they think you should be doing, we miss the mark because the you that God has called forth into being is missing. There is only one you, and you are needed to be where you are supposed to be.
 
Don’t miss it. You be you boo. Live out life the way you were designed to live, and by doing that your gifts will definitely shine your light and glorify God in the process of things!