It is beauty of things modest and humble, the beauty of age and wear.
It is beauty of things unusual.
It is also two separate words, with related but different meanings.
Wabi - the kind of faultless beauty that is caused by natural blemish, such as asymmetry in a stoneware vessel, the uneven glaze and cracks which reveal the craftsmanship of human hands. It is simplicity, whether elegant or rustic.
Sabi - the kind of loveliness that can come only with age, such as the patina on a very old bronze statue. Or hand-sewn patches on the elbows of a sweater. Or wrinkles.
A wabi sabi relationship is one in which you consciously accept each other the way you are - imperfect, unfinished, and mortal. Warts and all, as they say. Accepting another person's faults, rather than 'taking them on as a project to be fixed' leaves you both the time and emotional energy for enjoying each other. Shed expectations and assumptions and simply focus on the sensations of the other person.
A wabi sabi home is full of rustic character, charm and things that are uniquely yours. It celebrates what's handmade; materials that weather beautifully - like wood, stone and metal - allow appreciation of the natural [rather than filling your life with plastics]. Wabi sabi is a color palette that mimics nature: greens, grays, earth tones, rusts, blues. Earth and sky colors create an atmosphere of tranquility and harmony and are reminders that we depend on the earth, the soil and the sea.
Wabi sabi is about savoring your life. Or, as Cheryl Crow would say, it's not about getting what you think you want, it's about wanting what you already have.
Warts and all.
[thanks in part to Gretchen Roberts, Whole living, October 2010]
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