How are your wounds? Have they all healed or are you in the process of licking them, mending them? Or have they already created a thick skin and scars?
Beauty in Damage
We all have our wounds, our battle scars, but not everybody considers them beautiful. Only a few are wearing them with pride.
Did you hear of Kintsugi? It’s the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver or platinum.
They treat breakage and repair as a part of the history of an object and not something to disguise. They believe that when something suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful.
The Scar Clan
In “Women Who Run With the Wolves”, Clarissa Pinkola Estes writes about the Scar Clan.
She writes: “A river of tears is one of the strongest evidences of a “crash and burn” initiation into the Scar Clan. (…) Scar Clan is part of an ageless tribe of human beings, not defined by geography, racial color, national affiliation, nor language. (…) Scar Clan in this tribe, despite stuns and harms to spirit, despite white bandages still trailing, despite shards in the heart, still stands. Still rise. Still carries warmth. Still will not be stilled.”
“Our wounds are often the openings into the best and most beautiful part of us.”
David Richo
Be Proud of Your Scars
Your scars are the roadmap of your past, they are decorations, medals. They are the proof of what happened – you have faced great struggles and you have come to the other side bruised but alive and breathing. You have come out of the battle stronger and more resilient.
Your scars show what you have gone through and where you are now.
They are your lessons as well. If you have learned from your experience and your struggles, you are now wiser and know better.
Use your wounds and scars for good. With your wisdom and your example, you can help others who are in a similar situation.
Considering all that, don’t you think that your scars are beautiful? They are truly nothing to be ashamed of.
If you have passed your initiation into the Scar Clan be a proud member. Lift your head up high and show your member’s card to everyone.
But most of all, count your wounds and your scars, absorb their wisdom, thank them and heal them with compassion and love.
And breathe, just breathe.
