Books by the old Leather Chair

  • Snow In The Summer
  • My Bible
  • The Power of Silence
  • What Comes Next and to Like It
  • Encore Provence
  • A Year in Provence

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Wabi-Sabi

A recent comment about my images
sent me on some word searching
and I discovered it describes this one
almost to perfection.
Memories surface of a now deceased and special
 decorator friend
who constantly referred to me
as having eclectic taste.
I have always like all kinds of things
but drawn to the old, with character and flaws.
as time when on in my lifetime.

Never heard the word before :)
or if I did
I forgot.
Humbly and honestly admit,
it is a new word to me.

The art of imperfection,
the Japanese tradition of wabi-sabi offers an inspiring new way to look at our whole life.

 I am surrounded by wabi-sabi as
everything in this cottage is full of imperfections,
there is nothing new that surrounds me, old, scarred
and full of memories.
 As I glance out the window
at the old scared trees standing and many on the ground
I see beauty.

I love driving down the country roads and seeing the old
barns, now almost paint bare and leaning and I wonder
about the stories they could tell.

This word also describes "this one."
and guess that is why I am living in the perfect place
at this time of my life.
I can remember 40 years ago viewing my old farm house
that needed so much repair but I in an instant fell in love with it,
 fence surrounding it that was falling down and the massive
old trees in the yard.
Some looked at me and shook their head
when I made the remark
that I felt like I had come home....

A short time of my life years ago was lived in more perfection
of the world and I was miserable, it was not me
and no more...

Words in part as I did research on the meaning of this word.

"it takes a mind quiet enough to appreciate muted beauty, courage
not to fear bareness, willingness to accept things as they are.

 it depends on the ability to slow down, to shift balance
from doing to being and to appreciate rather than perfecting"

Again
I like this word
but still working on the slowing down and doing
to being and to appreciate rather than perfecting.

I might
add
this word describes my son
and also a dear nephew who is restoring his grandfather's
home and filling it with items of the past with meaning.
It will be almost like a museum.  This one has helped
me immensely with completing a file on the past
of grandparents and great grandparents from my mother
and father's side.

7 comments:

Pienosole said...

I love the concept of wabi-sabi, so liberating. Wishing you a joyous, wabi-sabi Wednesday!

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

I found out about wabi-sabi years ago and it so fit us as a couple and still fits me now without my love. Life goes on and wabi-sabi for me is the way to continue to live.

Here's part of what I saved to my computer.

** Wabi-sabi is not a decorating "style" but rather a mind-set. There's no list of rules; we can't hang crystals or move our beds and wait for peace to befall us. Creating a wabi-sabi home is the direct result of developing our wabigokoro, or wabi mind and heart: living modestly, learning to be satisfied with life as it can be once we strip away the unnecessary, living in the moment. **

I'm still working on stripping away the unnecessary.

Have a lovely day dear Ernestine and thank you for being an inspiration to others on living a peaceful, lovely life.

Love and hugs ~ FlowerLady

One Woman's Journey - a journal being written from Woodhaven - her cottage in the woods. said...

Pienosole - thank you.
and
Lorene, your words tell me we are once again on
the same path.
Have a wonderful day..

PatK said...

Once again you have shared a concept that defines what I grasp at. My interior design teacher asked what style we wanted to design in such as Victorian or English Country. When I said that I just wanted to be surrounded by things I love she said oh! You mean eclectic. Wabi sabi captures my approach to my living space. At 70, like you I search for a way to express my journey through life both past and present. Thank you.

Judy said...

Yeah--me too, but a bit more Wabi. ..or is that, wobbly?

Barb said...

Yes, I thought perhaps you were a wabi-sabi person. I surround myself with items I love that have meaning beyond their mere existence. A lovely post.

One Woman's Journey - a journal being written from Woodhaven - her cottage in the woods. said...

PatK, thank you for your meaningful comment. Visit again.
Barb, thank you
and Judy :)