As the sun rises on the day that my new book ‘Wabi Sabi: Japanese wisdom for a perfectly imperfect life’ is released into the world, I find myself transported back to a quiet temple in Kyoto, where I had been staying in simple temple lodgings back in March. I rose early for the morning meditation, then padded barefoot to a quiet room to interview the Deputy Head Priest Reverend Takafumi Kawakami.
One of the things Reverend Kawakami told me, which has stuck with me ever since, was this: “People think Zen is all about calmness and tranquillity and living in some blissed-out space of good vibes. But actually it’s about how you face your challenges: unhappiness, worry, loneliness, difficult emotions. It’s about learning to deal with what life throws at you, and acceptance of actuality is central to that.”
This idea of acceptance is really at the heart of this new book, inspired by my twenty-year love affair with Japan. ‘Wabi sabi’ is intimately intertwined with the idea that everything in nature is transient – it’s all impermanent, imperfect and incomplete, as are we. Just think about that for a moment. Imperfection is our natural state of being. We are not supposed to be perfect. I don’t know about you, but that pretty much turns everything upside down for me, because so much of what we are taught tells us the exact opposite.
With this book I set about discovering the truth of the life lessons tucked away into centuries-old Japanese culture and aesthetics. It takes us on a gentle winding path through nature, deepening our appreciation of beauty and the gifts of simple living, and reminds us why this wisdom has never been more relevant than today. I hope you will read it, and soak it all up.
Researching and crafting this book has been one of the most wonderful creative projects I have ever had the pleasure to bring to life, and as I pick up my bag and head for the early train to London for a day of bookshop tours, full of gratitude to those who helped along the way, I am sending you a quiet wish on the breeze, that you will come to see that you are perfectly imperfect, just as you are.
Beth Xx