This past Tuesday evening at six p.m., I was sitting on my living room couch, happily FaceTiming with my brother Drew and sister Lo.
Right before they called, I had been making a chicken dinner to deliver to my Mom. She’d had a really tough month health-wise, and I wanted to surprise her with a simple but loving dinner.
But as we FaceTimed, something just seemed wrong.
I turned my head slightly … to see smoke billowing from of my kitchen stove.
I leapt off the couch and ran, inhaling the acrid smoke emanating from the cast iron pan.
The special dinner I had wanted to provide for my mom was - literally - up in flames.
I grabbed a thin towel and somehow maneuvered the burning-hot Lodge pan into the sink, the mass on its surface already calcified like black lava.
I turned on the faucet … and a huge plume of smoke billowed into my face and out into the room.
My surprise dinner for my mom was ruined.
Completely dejected and pissed at myself, I sat down on one of my red kitchen stools. (The ones I bought on sale the week my divorce was final.)
And then, I saw a ray of sunlight streaming in through my kitchen window.
The smoke in the kitchen intensified it.
And as I sat, the light continued to beam in stronger, through the window, through the smoke, through the room.
It looked like Caravaggio was painting the magnificent scene in real-time right before my eyes.
Without my kitchen nightmare, the late afternoon would have seemed like any other.
But due to my “disaster,” here I was.
Sitting in complete awe.
There's a certain power to things that are “disasters.”
As Leonard Cohen famously said:
"There's a crack in everything; that's how the light gets in."
It's through these cracks that we can see the beauty that lies within.
It is, sometimes, the greatest “failures” in our lives which light a path that we could have never … EVER … expected or planned.
In many ways, they light THE path to the BEST things in life.
This week’s courage challenge: embrace imperfection
“Wabi sabi” is the Japanese concept of finding beauty in imperfection, and it perfectly captures the idea that things don't need to be perfect to be beautiful. In fact, it's often the flaws that make something truly unique and special.
My challenge for you this week, my dear friend, is to invite you to embrace imperfection.
Find something in your life that you've been putting off because you're afraid it won't be perfect. Maybe it's a project you've been meaning to start, a recipe you've been wanting to try, or a skill you've been wanting to learn.
Whatever it is, give yourself permission to be imperfect.
Don't worry about getting it just right. Instead, focus on the joy of the process. Embrace the messiness, the mistakes, and the flaws.
Allow yourself to make a mess, to stumble, and to fail. And then, celebrate those imperfections.
Celebrate the beauty.
Remember, life is messy and imperfect. And it's often the imperfections that make life truly beautiful.
So go out there and courageously embrace imperfection in all its glory.
In courage,
Sharing your Success
How did you feel after this week’s challenge? What unknown did you embrace? Let us know on Facebook and Instagram! Use hashtags #scareyoursoul and #mycouragemoment.
OR E-mail me at scott@scareyoursoul.com to let me know how your experiences went this week. What did you do? How did it go?