11/27/2025
Imagination is the most powerful creative tool we possess. It is limitless in scope. It is the birthplace of all great ideas. And the more we challenge and use it, the greater our imagination can become. No painting, sculpture, writing, poetry, film, architecture, music or dance has yet to come to light without the play of imagination.
Our imagination can be a safe place where we go on a wonderful journey or it can be a destructive place where negative thoughts become destructive and habitual.
I am thankful today for those who came before me that had a positive outlook and created a safe place even among events that resulted in brokenness from tragedies, betrayal, and neglect. The imagination of the Japanese artists who are involved in Kintsugi restoration of broken pottery is amazing. The Japanese believe in putting a broken piece of pottery back together rather than discarding it using a repair technique with precious metal like gold, silver, and platinum. They call it “golden repair”. I love how someone’s imagination led them to see strength and beauty in the brokenness of their world. I am in awe of the imagination of those people in Japan who have suffered great earthquakes and typhoons and still came back with resilience and hope.
Today on this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for those imaginations that have given me a new outlook on my own brokenness. Heartbreak changes you like a broken piece of pottery but healing and mending rewrite you and repair those cracks. We learn who we are and how to be authentic.
Working with broken people in art groups over the past 6 months has taught me a lot. With compassion, acceptance, and curiosity, we can help others find those safe places in the midst of their brokenness.
