Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold or other precious metals. The object is more beautiful and valuable after being put back together.
The Franciscan Spirituality Center (Prairiewoods’ sister center in La Crosse, Wisconsin) has hosted multiple retreats focused on this practice, and we are able to bring this retreat to other locations, including Prairiewoods in February.
The first time we offered this retreat elsewhere, we were somewhat skeptical that the participants would dive into the retreat content. We assumed they had “really” shown up just to repair the broken pottery. I’m glad to say that our assumptions were wrong. The participants took a deep dive into the topics of imperfection, brokenness, failure, trauma, healing and wholeness. Within those stories came the sharing of restored faith, recovery, survival, and coming to terms with being imperfect and yet beautiful.
In the midst of all of that, each participant repaired a vessel that was symbolic of healing and hope. Some intentionally left holes or glued on an extra piece to remind themselves of the beauty of imperfection. Some brought their own objects to repair and shared the meaning behind those treasures.
One time a participant chose a piece that I thought for sure was a throwaway because it was so shattered, but she immediately chose that piece. The repairs required multiple people to help hold the pieces in place until she could glue them—and that’s so very symbolic of the power of community that can bring about healing and wholeness.
We hope you’ll join us at Prairiewoods for this retreat!
—Jean Pagliaro, director at the Franciscan Spirituality Center in La Crosse, Wisconsin
If you’d like to delve into this topic more deeply, join Jean and Julie Connelly for the Japanese Art of Kintsugi: Embracing our Imperfections with Grace & Courage Retreat next weekend, Feb. 28–March 1. It will be a creative overnight retreat that will help us look at our lives through the eyes of grace and compassion to transform painful experiences into great sources of inspiration, beauty and wisdom. Click here to learn more or register.
image is by Jean-Pierre Dalbera on Flickr