A Year of Unfolding: October's release with Kintsugi
- continuing our Year of Creative Envisioning | Power Word for October - Kintsugi | prompts | reflections | crystals | colours | essential oils
We begin each month of Creative Envisioning with a guiding power word. This month’s power word is Kintsugi, and I share herein a few journalling prompts and creative making ideas for you to play with … please feel free to meander your way through in whichever way feels good to you.
(Our Creative Envisioning year begins in February, but you are most welcome to join us at any time of the year ~ it is a cyclical process, so you are never behind!)
Kintsugi: our guiding power word for October
Kintsugi — the Japanese art of “golden repair”, where broken pottery is lovingly mended with lacquer dusted in gold, so that the cracks become part of its beauty. It reminds us that our own scars and stories are not things to hide, but golden seams of resilience, showing how we have been broken and beautifully remade.
A sacred mending.
A golden repair.
A beauty born through imperfection.
This month, our guiding word is KINTSUGI, the Japanese art of golden joinery.
Broken pottery is mended with lacquer and dusted in gold, so its cracks are not hidden, but shine brightly where they can be honoured. Each line of fracture becomes a luminous seam, telling the story of what has been broken and lovingly remade.
Kintsugi reminds us that our own scars are not flaws, but radiant threads of resilience; proof of how we have endured, healed, and become more beautiful through the process we have lived through.
Kintsugi is not only an art form. It is a way of seeing. A way of living. It teaches us that what we most want to conceal might actually be what makes us precious. That imperfection is not a problem, but a place of power. That healing is not about returning to “how it was before”; it’s about becoming something new, tender, and luminous.
As October deepens, the trees let go of their leaves, the nights draw in, and we, too, are asked to see beauty in change, in release, in repair.
Kintsugi is the opposite of perfectionism.
It is the deep bow to your own becoming.
It is the gentle hand that rests on your scars and whispers: you are whole, you are radiant, you are art.
This month, let your Creative Envisioning practice be a golden seam; a space to bring your fragments and stories, and to discover the beauty in your repair.
Exploring Kintsugi
This is your invitation to tend to the places within you that feel fragile or fractured. Not to fix them. Not to erase them. To gild them with tenderness.
Reflect, gently and truthfully, on:
where in my life do I carry cracks or scars I have been trying to hide?
how have I already repaired myself with the concept of kintsugi, perhaps without even realising?
what lessons or gifts came from the moments I thought had broken me?
what would it mean to see my flaws as the most sacred part of me?
Power prompts for October
With Kintsugi as my power word this month, I choose to explore:
what breaks have shaped me into who I am today?
where might I choose to honour imperfection, rather than attempt to erase or hide it?
which golden threads have come from my hardest experiences?
how might my self-talk shift if I treated my scars as sacred?
what might it feel like to create from a place of imperfection, instead of seeking perfection?
how do my scars (visible and invisible) connect me with other people?
what does “wholeness” mean to me right now, in this season?
Let your words flow like lacquer. The cracks are not to be hidden away; the cracks are where the light enters in … and shines out.
Creative Envisioning practice
Let your Creative Envisioning page (your vision board or journal spread) reflect the golden invitation of Kintsugi and become a sanctuary of luminous, golden repair. This month, let the theme be ‘Golden Wholeness’, honouring what has been broken, mended, and made beautiful once more.
Here are some ideas around the concept of ‘golden repair’ to help your creative envisioning process:
collage with cracks: tear images and mend them with gold paint, pen, or thread
body map of resilience: sketch your body and mark where you carry old wounds, then trace those places with gold
thread the seams: stitch with golden thread into your journal pages
golden map: draw lines to mark your past breaks, then fill each one with the words of what helped you heal
Create a Kintsugi vision page
Consider imagery such as:
cracked bowls or vases mended with golden seams
autumn leaves with torn edges, still glowing with colour
hands gently holding broken pieces
threads of gold weaving through fabric or paper
light shining through stained glass
tree bark scarred and healed, standing tall
rivers carrying broken branches, flowing onwards
Use rich autumnal tones such as amber, ochre, deep browns, and perhaps highlight with touches of gold. Or keep your pages earthy and raw, with cracks and seams of metallic ink, thread, or paint running through them.
… … …
Sketch, collage, or paint
sketch the feeling of repair: what image comes when you think of something broken being made whole again?
collage your resilience: cut or tear images apart and then reassemble them, gilding the joins with gold pen or paint
draw with your non-dominant hand: let the “imperfections” become part of the beauty, embracing the wobble as a golden seam
paint cracks of light: imagine your energy not as flawless, but as shining through the lines where you have been opened, stretched, or changed
… … …
Mindful writing
🖋 “My scars tell the story of …” ~ and write without stopping
🖋 “The gold in me is …” ~ keep adding lines until you surprise yourself
🖋 “I am whole, not despite, but because of …” ~ and after completing this writing prompt, perhaps you may like to breathe these words in, reciting as a mantra to yourself
… … …
Sacred space ritual
Create a Kintsugi Altar
a bowl or object repaired with golden paint
a candle to symbolise illumination
a golden autumn leaf or acorn
a written affirmation, perhaps along the lines of “I am made more beautiful by my mending”
Return here to your Kintsugi altar whenever you have need to remember your radiance, strength and resilience.
… … …
Breathing practice
Practice the Breath of Wholeness:
Breathe in: I gather my pieces
Breathe out: I mend with light
Repeat three times. Then pause. Feel. Repeat again.
… … …
Nature connection
Take yourself off on an autumn walk. Find something imperfect, like a torn leaf, a cracked shell, or a weathered stone. Hold it gently in your hands, noticing its beauty. If you have a smartphone, camera or sketchbook with you, capture this as best as you can to serve as a reminder that imperfection is not only natural, but sacred.
… … …
Capture and celebrate
photograph weathered beauty: peeling paint, broken glass catching the sunlight
write about a time you felt broken and how you rose from that feeling of brokenness into who you are right now
sketch cracks filled with gold
This is Kintsugi in action: honouring the luminous lines of your resilience.
… … …
Soundtrack for the soul
Create a Kintsugi Playlist: soft piano, gentle strings, meditative tones, or songs that feel like quiet strength. Music that lets you mend in golden light.
Let your Creative Envisioning be a vessel for golden seams. Allow your cracks to shine. Allow your stories of fracture to glow with wisdom.
You are not broken.
You are art.
You are whole, radiant, holy in your becoming.
Tag me @CreaTEAvityStudio with your Kintsugi-inspired creations!
Wishing you a breathtaking October-tide, gilded with golden seams of light.
Weaving elements together
A few additional elements you may find as useful add-ons to your Creative Envisioning and self-nurture practices for the month of October:
:: COLOUR: Gold
energy: illumination, healing, sacred wholeness
symbolism: gold reflects the spirit of Kintsugi, cracks and scars becoming luminous pathways of strength. It carries the energy of resilience, of treasures revealed through repair, and reminds us that light often shines brightest through the places we thought were broken
use: weave gold into your Creative Envisioning pages through ink, thread, or paint. Wear small touches of gold in jewellery or accessories as a reminder of your resilience. Light a golden candle while journalling to anchor yourself in the energy of sacred repair
… … …
:: CRYSTAL: Smoky Quartz.
theme: grounding, release, gentle renewal
energy: like Kintsugi, Smoky Quartz reminds us that even in the breaking and letting go, there is beauty and strength. It helps to release old stories, fears, or shame ~ the “dust of the past” ~ so that the healing light can flow deep into the cracks
use: hold Smoky Quartz while journalling about what you are ready to release. Place it on your altar as a guardian stone of resilience, or carry it in your pocket as a reminder that your foundations are steady, even when life feels fragile
… … …
:: ESSENTIAL OIL: Frankincense
energy: healing, integration, spiritual connection
properties: Frankincense carries the sacred energy of mending and making whole. Just as Kintsugi gilds the cracks, this ancient oil supports the integration of scattered pieces ~ mind, body, and spirit ~ into one luminous wholeness
use: diffuse during your Creative Envisioning practice to invite calm and clarity, or anoint your wrists and heart before journalling as a ritual of sacred repair. You might also blend it with a drop of orange oil to invite warmth into your healing process
… … …
:: RESOURCES TO READ / WATCH
Books
Kintsugi Wellness by Candice Kumai ~ Japanese traditions and recipes for resilience, healing, and wholehearted living
Body Kintsugi by Senka Maric ~ an intimate, optimistic novella about a woman’s relationship with her body as it breaks and is put back together
Wabi Sabi: Japanese Wisdom for a Perfectly Imperfect Life by Beth Kempton ~ a tender exploration of impermanence, imperfection, and beauty in the everyday
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown ~ embracing vulnerability and wholehearted living through letting go of perfectionism
Broken Places & Outer Spaces by Nnedi Okorafor ~ a powerful memoir on creativity, healing, and transformation through life’s fractures
Talks / Films
Embracing the Beauty of Imperfection ~ TEDx Talk by Sandra L. Brown, exploring how our flaws shape us
The Beauty of Broken Things (short film, YouTube) ~ a poetic meditation on repair and resilience
How to Embrace Imperfection ~ On Being podcast episode with Krista Tippett and Richard Rohr, on how cracks become the entry point for light
Creative Inspiration
explore images of Kintsugi bowls and vessels online, and notice how the gold makes the cracks the most beautiful feature
look at Japanese calligraphy (shodō) as inspiration for imperfection in art: each brush stroke is unique and unrepeatable
you may also be drawn to a Creative Rest session with me- please message me for more information, to co-create moments of pause and peace
So there we have it … your Creative Envisioning Power Word and prompts for October - I’d love to see what you dream up and create.
Please feel free to tag me (@CreaTEAvityStudio) on Instagram, or add to the comments below!
Wishing you the most marvellously-magical and breathtaking October xx
A Year of Unfolding: birthing a book into being ... maybe!
Way back in 2022, I breathed life into a process that I called Creative Envisioning. A posh word for vision-boarding, but the process involved monthly playbooks with lots of reflective prompts, monthly live sessions, all aligned to the particular new moon energies that were coming in that month. There were other additions, but in essence, that is what I…
I will never get tired of re-reading this piece. So much richness here (and much needed at the moment). Thank you. 🙏🏼