G.to hear of the here and now. Being resilient, accepting that things can change and embrace this change without fighting it. Above all be aware that not everything is in our hands, that you can lose in life and that situations can get out of hand. All this is the Wabi Sabi, the Japanese philosophy that leads to accepting life for what it isenjoying every single moment.
Wabi Sabi, the sweet Japanese melancholy that generates strength
Each culture has its own philosophy of life. If the Lagom Swedish pushes to accept the compromisethe middle ways, moderation as a way to inner balance, in Scotland the Coorie on the other hand, it assumes that happiness is found in one’s daily life, made of quiet walks between cliffs and woods, nights at the pub and lit fireplaces while outside the storm is raging. The Japanese Wabi Sabi, instead apply the Zen approach of the Japanese to life.
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Wabi Sabi is nothing more than a well-founded vision on the acceptance of the transience and imperfection of life. “Wabi” is melancholy, it represents the sweet sadness, the very imperfection of life; “Sabi” instead contains the passage of time, the fact that everything vanishes and nothing remains, is thepraise to impermanence. The union of these two concepts, according to the Japanese, leads to finding happiness.
Know your limits and accept them
Within this philosophy, many concepts originating from Esoteric Tantric Buddhism, from Zen philosophy and Taoism. A set that it also leads to accepting one’s own weaknesses, anxieties and fears. To learn more, there are many books, including that of Selene Calloni Williams: Wabi Sabi. The beauty of imperfect life. The Japanese way to be happy which starts from a fundamental concept for this philosophy: the knowledge of not knowing.
In a world, ours, in which it seems to us that we must always have everything under control and we find it difficult to let go, Wabi Sabi can be liberating.
Among the essential principles of this philosophy of life is to be aware that we cannot control everything, that we cannot know everything, that it will be inevitable to make mistakes sooner or later. But that all this must not be a limit to not doing, on the contrary, we must always move and get involved, but aware of your limits. Having reached this awareness gives a person great strength because it is free from fears and above all from the anxieties of failure. A concept extremely far from the Western one, which has always based its culture since the past centuries on the search for success and on the idea that everything is eternal.
How to apply it in everyday life
How to put Wabi Sabi into practice then? Starting to work on this concept: live aware of personal limitations, slow down to enjoy even the little things, appreciate the present better and don’t think too much about the future which, according to Japanese philosophy, generates too many anxieties. In other words, also learn to let go.
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