Wabi-Sabi

Thoughts on the imperfect personality

The Japanese philosophy, of Wabi-Sabi, suggests that beauty can only be found in things that reflect the true nature of life. Life is imperfect and transient; therefore, beauty is flawed and fleeting.

I’ve been thinking about this philosophy lately as I have been working to embrace the personality traits reflected in my Astrological chart that I know to be true but don’t necessarily like about myself.

In The Secret Language of Birthdays by Gary Goldschneider and Joost Elffers, Goldschneider and Elffers describe individuals born on my birthday as outspoken and naïve, saying “They are capable of making tremendous errors of judgment, not uncommonly through a rigid application of their belief system, yet because they lack malice will generally be readily forgiven.” I could tell you all about my tremendous judgment errors and rigid belief systems, but it’s the forgiveness part I can’t seem to wrap my head around. I don’t trust that my flaws, however lacking in malice they may be, should be forgiven. Therefore, it has been my prerogative to try to repress everything about my personality that I consider to be defective. This, of course, has not worked well. Bits of my imperfect self slip out no matter how tightly I hold down the metaphorical lid.

According to Wabi-Sabi, there is no beauty in trying to be perfect. Following the messy, imperfect nature of life means embracing yourself in totality. I have to accept that my appealing traits (enthusiastic, loving) go hand-in-hand with my self-perceived unappealing traits (impulsive, dependent). Such is the beauty of the holistic human. As I’ve grappled with loosening the reigns on myself, I’ve envisioned how free it would feel to care less about being universally liked.

In All Fours, by Miranda July, July writes, “I tried to imagine a woman just like me, but without secrets, unapologetic. Would such a woman be acceptable? Or would she be cast out like a witch? And why such a fear of being cast out when that wasn’t even really a thing anymore?” July touches on something universal here; that the innate fear of being cast out becomes even stronger when you consider being rejected for being honest about who you are. Yet, maybe we all fantasize about being unapologetically ourselves.

Maybe trusting my intentions and hoping for forgiveness when, I don’t know, a tremendous error of judgment occurs, is the best chance I have at reflecting the true nature of life.

Thank you for reading xx

I would love to hear how you process reading unfavorable traits about your Astrological sign or chart. I used to ignore them to protect my feelings (lol), but have recently found them to be a useful area for growth. Reply to this email and let me know :)