Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Broken—and set free


Last year my weighing scale broke when I bumped it ungently with the vacuum cleaner. I swear I hadn't meant to demolish it. But ever since then I've had a peculiar sense of lightness...hehe. What I don't know can't weigh me down.

Never one to toss anything without first examining it for possible repurposing, I decided the shattered pieces were suitable for a mosaic in some distant future. In this imagined future, I have ticked off everything on my queue of projects. Everything I have ever hoarded has been upcycled and listed in my etsy shop. I know, I dream big.

The present moment, however, gifted me with a doozy of an insight. Behold! Broken glass (tempered glass?) breaks in a pattern similar to dragonfly wings! What intelligent design ; )

If I'd sat there with a Sharpie and doodled, I wouldn't have come up with such a pretty pattern. The attempt at intricacy would've driven me nuts. My hand would cramp. And I'd get a little high from inhaling Sharpie fumes, because it seems to me every time I break out the Sharpie stash the wind is crazy blowing out there and I don't want to crack the window open. I am not imagining this. See what happened the last time? Read this.

Anyway, my mind went where my hand wouldn't. That sounds like it might have erotic overtones, but no, I wasn't going there. I merely mean I did another free association in my head, and connected the following dots:


  • A pane of glass seems smooth and perfect. Then it breaks, and all that strength is revealed to be an illusion.
  • All the shattered pieces lie there rejected, waiting to be swept into the trash bin.
  • The hand that swoops down to gather these wretched pieces can just hold on a minute there, and maybe admire the fascinating shape the glass has taken on in its new "normal."
  • There is a similarity between the painful breaks in this smooth, formerly perfect life, and something in nature—a dragonfly's wings.
  • The life that does not resist the bad breaks has a more graceful glide into the moment's ease. There are worse things than finding out you have it in you to fly.


3 comments:

  1. Beautiful sentiments and as they say, "I am a witness!". It's so important that we don't allow fear to keep us from examining our broken pieces. When we do we can find beauty and re-purpose. I will be sharing this post!

    CJ from Etsy Blog Team

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  2. My weighing scale and I are not on speaking terms, so I am clueless as to whether or not it has as much wisdom to share with me. So let me just borrow your insights - because they're good.

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  3. That's pretty awesome that you decided to venture into these broken pieces and attempt to find peace and new life. Thanks for sharing. etchythings.com :blogging buddies.

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