Insight - Perfect imperfection by Lorraine Glowczak

I really tried to get myself out of the early spring funk with last week’s insight, but it didn’t work.

The other day, while it was snowing, sleeting, raining or the combination of all three, one of my sisters-in-law who live in Tennessee posted some of the loveliest photographs of profusely blooming trees, bushes and flowers on social media. 

A wabi sabi spring in Maine

The photos were from a warm afternoon hike that she and my brother took on a nearby nature trail, as well as a few from their backyard. Shades of lavender, sky blue, lemon chiffon and deep pink bounced out of my computer screen (or so I wished) and I could almost feel the warmth of the sun from the Big Bend State.

I thanked her for sharing such beautiful pictures but, to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t all that grateful. Spring in Maine is probably one of the most difficult times of the year for me. I long for the freedom and beauty the summer sun brings and look forward to watching the sun set in my backyard as its light sparkles through the trees and their vast green leaves. 

I want to rush through the dreary, drab days to the more scenic and colorful times ahead.

But, that’s part of the problem: Rushing through things that are not so pretty and far from perfect.

During times like these, I will borrow a concept attributed to Japanese culture, when things are not as flawless as I wish. The term is “wabi sabi” and loosely interpreted, means “perfect imperfection.” The expression is applied to nature as well as man-made objects. In this case, it is the notion that despite the muddy, gloomy and sometimes bleak Maine spring days, we experience in upper New England - beauty is there, somewhere. 

I suppose I can complain, moan and be displeased - or I can create and thus see the splendor around me. Either way, I have to get through spring, somehow. It might behoove me and those close to me to give the ol’ spring wabi sabi thing a whirl.

Author, Richard Powell has stated that wabi sabi contains three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect. So, even if I can’t pick myself up by my LL Bean boot straps and see the charm within the spring muck, I know this season will not last. Knowing that helps to boost my attitude just a little - and that’s imperfect perfection!