What Lives Between the Cracks

Wabi Sabi and Why ‘What’s Broken’ Often Holds the Most Power

“Wabi-sabi means treading lightly on the planet and knowing how to appreciate whatever is encountered, no matter how trifling, whenever it is encountered.” -Leonard Koren

Why ‘What’s Broken’ Often Holds the Most Power Through the Lens of Wabi Sabi

The olive branch, weathered and bent by the wind, stands as a quiet testament to endurance. Its leaves, touched with silver, speak of storms survived and the soft light that has passed through it. It asks for no restoration, only recognition of the time it has lived. In its imperfect form, there is beauty shaped by what it has endured, not by what has remained untouched. What it has withstood is written in its being, asking not for repair but for acknowledgment. This is where beauty lies, in what has been transformed, not in what is flawless. I feel this same sense of connection when I look up at the stars. The Milky Way, with its scattered light across the dark sky, reminds me that true beauty comes from what has been shaped over time, from what has survived. It is not perfection, but the quiet strength of persistence that creates something truly radiant.

Beauty in the Worn and Weathered