Tag: Spiritual Kintsugi

Spiritual Kintsugi #3

Spiritual Kintsugi asks us to imagine that what is broken in us, between us, and around us, can be repaired with Love — strong, steady, golden Love. But if we are going to mend anything in this world, we must learn how to provide for the work of repair. In my last Substack, I began to explore The Possibilities of Spiritual Kintsugi. Provision is the second P in our Spiritual Kintsugi Path.

We live in a world that keeps breaking. Families fracture. Communities fray. Fear is marketed as a product. Scarcity is preached as common sense. And yet, if we are going to heal anything, we must learn to gather the resources — spiritual and material — that make repair possible.

The Five Ps of Spiritual Kintsugi Peace (Kintsugi 1):

  • Possibilities — the first glimmer of gold, the moment we realize repair is possible (Kintsugi 2.).
  • Provision: the resources – spiritual and material – that make repair possible
  • Persistence: steadily holding pieces – old and new – together long enough to allow a bond to set and heal.
  • Purpose: the reminder that we repair because the vessel still has meaning.
  • Peace: the restored bowl, even more beautiful because it was broken.

This Substack focuses on Provision; the gold that makes the glue is not only strong and utilitarian, it also makes the Possibilities we’re building more beautiful.

What Provision Really Means

Provision is not just money. It is the commitment to make repair possible — in ourselves, in our communities, and in the world. It is the spiritual practice of saying: “I will help make sure there is enough: enough time, enough care, enough courage, enough resources. And perhaps most importantly: enough imagination to transform this problem into Possibility!

Provision is the opposite of scarcity thinking. Scarcity says, “There isn’t enough.” Provision rolls up its sleeves and says, “We can make enough together. How willing are you to help?”

What Doesn’t Work

We cannot build Peace on the foundations of a war economy, where profits are concentrated in the hands of the warmongers, and losses are widespread affecting people in all countries. Compounding the problem, reinvestment in affected communities has all but disappeared. Immediately after WWII, the American government responded to inequities, at least in white communities, with housing tracts, the GI Bill, VA loans. Substantial investments were made to rebuild the US economy. These were balanced with the Marshal Plan abroad. Today we see something entirely different. Our administration is content to deliver scarcity rather than abundance, as wealth and profit are concentrated in the hands of the few rather than equitably distributed among the many. They’ve learned that Fear is profitable, hopelessness is profitable, division is profitable. None of that will ever produce Peace. They don’t want Peace. But we do. So, it’s up to us to find new ways forward.

What Does Work

What has always worked — in wars, disasters, pandemics, and ordinary hard times — is sharing: people feeding one another, housing one another, helping to pay one another’s debts, and stepping in where systems fail.

We see it everywhere:

  • Mutual aid groups meet immediate needs with astonishing speed.
  • Medical debt relief frees families from despair for pennies on the dollar.
  • Undies for Everyone and similar groups provide very basic dignity to children in crisis.
  • Bail funds free people jailed and kept incarcerated simply because they are poor.
  • Philanthropists like MacKenzie Scott shift billions toward communities long denied resources, and the differences are palpable.

These are all forms of Provision — this is golden glue in action.

And here’s the truth: most of us don’t have billions, But all of us have something: a few dollars, a few hours. A skill. A connection. A willingness. All provision is not heroic. It is communal. It gains ground slowly until suddenly momentum happens. What started the ball rolling was a simple ask. Finding ways to source the golden glue is Spiritual Kintsugi.

For Those Who Don’t Know How to Help

Many people care deeply but don’t know how or where to begin providing support. They feel too isolated, too uncertain, too overwhelmed. Let me say this plainly: You don’t have to fix everything. You have only to help repair one crack at a time. In most cases, provision is not accomplished by grand gestures. It comes about through steady, ordinary generosity.

So, give where you can. Support what aligns with your heart. Join with friends to make a bigger impact. Choose one place to begin. Peace is built from people’s many small acts of golden glue. Our small acts.

And we can call on the money-wise. There are those who understand money — bankers, fund managers, accountants, financial planners. There are people who can read a spreadsheet the way others read a poem. Wonderful people, we need you.

If we don’t like what we see in the world — together, we have the skills to help build something different. The idea of a Peace economy is not naïve. It is necessary to the Earth’s and to Humanity’s well-being. It will take people who understand how resources move, how systems work, and how to sustain what matters. All our gifts are part of the golden glue.

The Hard Part: Maintaining What Is Necessary for Peace

Provision requires determination. Not only generosity, but also commitment. Peace movements don’t fund themselves. Mutual aid doesn’t sustain itself. Spiritual Kintsugi doesn’t happen without people willing to invest — time, money, imagination, courage.

But I think warmongers underestimate the coalitions that are building. These coalitions cross lines, joining communities who have never connected. Peacemakers have a lot more education than we had in earlier times. There are more people trained in economics, community organizing, philanthropy, and justice work. More people who know how to build structures that endure —held together as they are by golden glue.

My Friends, we can do this. This golden glue does require money. Together, we can amass that. Together, we have more courage to stand up — and more ideas about how to go about it. If we focus on small steps, we’ll soon be taking big ones — together. We will repair. We will rebuild. Most importantly, we will build something new and beautiful and connected in Peace.

An Invitation to Provide

Spiritual Kintsugi invites us to awaken to what is broken and imagine how Love — golden, steady, deliberate — might help us repair and reshape our world. What if we strengthened what is already working? What if we invested in what is already healing? What if we believed a more perfect union is possible — one built on humanity, decency, inclusion, and joy? What connections are you making? How will you move Peace forward?

Possibilities allow us to take the first steps toward Peace. Provision shares the bounty and makes space for all who are set on Peace. It makes space for them to join the community in Providing the needed support.

The golden glue enables these dreams of repair and rebuilding possible. Let’s become the gold and the glue and start filling in the cracks.

More to Come

In future Substack articles, I’ll explore Persistence, Purpose, and Peace — the remaining steps in becoming Kintsugi artists in a world longing to be made whole.

For now, look for the glimmers of gold.

Find the places where repair is already happening.

Provide what you can.

Join the movement and take your place in the work.

Salaam, Shalom, Peace, and Blessed Be.

With Love, Ann

*Kintsugi – the Japanese art of repairing pottery with golden glue – teaches that cracks are not flaws to hide, but places where beauty can emerge.

Salaam, Shalom, Peace, and Blessed Be!

Spiritual Kintsugi #2: First Glimmers of Gold

In my last Substack, I suggested that Spiritual Kintsugi might help us reimagine and heal what is broken in, between, and among us. Kintsugi — the Japanese art of repairing pottery with golden glue — teaches that cracks are not flaws to hide, rather they are places where beauty can emerge. When I began exploring Spiritual Kintsugi, I wondered whether we might heal our own brokenness with Love — strong, stunning, golden Love. And if that were true for individuals, might it also be true for families, communities, even nations?

I proposed five Ps that move us toward Peace:

  • Possibilities: the first glimmer of gold, the moment we realize repair is possible.
  • Provision: the resources – spiritual and material – that make repair possible.
  • Persistence: the steady work of holding the pieces together long enough for healing.
  • Purpose: the reminder that we repair because the vessel still has meaning.
  • Peace: the restored bowl, even more beautiful because it was broken.

Possibilities Comes First

If we don’t believe things can change, we’re not Peacemaking — we’re daydreaming. Possibility is the moment we stop sighing and start imagining

with intention. It’s the spark that says, What if? It’s the shift from despair to curiosity.

One of the first steps in Peacemaking is noticing what’s already working. We don’t always need to invent something new. Sometimes we can adapt something that worked elsewhere. Sometimes we can study what almost worked and ask why it didn’t. Possibility is practical. It asks: What small action could we take right now that might have a big impact?

Gather your people. Take that first action step. Celebrate your success. Then ask, What’s next? Peacemakers keep their hands open and share the gold.

The Takery: A Possibility That Grew

One of my favorite examples of the Possibilities of Peacemaking is the Takery — a multifaith effort to feed people in our small rust‑belt city of Sunbury, PA. A handful of Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Unitarian Universalists gathered to ask how we could help. We had little money, but we had skills, relationships, and one rabbi who is an extraordinary baker.

We began by offering free baked goods — sweetness and conversation. But we quickly realized people were hungry. So, we expanded. Now, years later, more than a hundred people come each month for canned goods, household items, sandwiches, a hot meal, and camaraderie. The people we serve now help us set up. Children pitch in. The staff eats the same meal as our guests. Leaders from many faith traditions meet joyfully — in all weather — to share abundance.

We looked at Possibilities. We recognized everyone’s gifts. And the gold began to heal the brokenness of hunger and loneliness.

The Shape of Justice: Another Possibility

At the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Susquehanna Valley, we noticed many girls and women in our region were struggling with period poverty — the inability to afford menstrual products for all the women in the family. So we created a small nonprofit to supply period products to rural aid programs. Three volunteers – none paid — raised funds, built partnerships, and distributed supplies across several counties. Women could work. Girls could attend school. As we said: “Sometimes the shape of justice is a tampon.”

Eventually we retired, and another organization took over. The work continues. That’s Possibility: seeing a need, doing what you can, and trusting others to carry it forward. In the case of Shape of Justice, the golden possibilities of Peacemaking enabled women to fully participate in everyday opportunities. Others now continue to bridge those gaps.

Possibility as Golden Glue

Possibility begins when you notice a crack in someone’s life and think — we can fix that. It’s not always grand or glamorous. It’s simply the sweet glimmer of gold that appears when you match a real problem with a realistic solution and you decide to apply your time and talent.

Every success strengthens the hearts of those involved. Success attracts others. Ideas multiply. Communities grow more generous. And suddenly — look at you — you’ve started a movement. Peacemaking is simply using your knowledge, skills, and laughter to make life kinder and easier. Celebrate every success. Let the gold shine. Actions don’t need to be earth-shattering or monumental. Simply making a difference for one person, one community, is an application of Spiritual Kintsugi that allows us to begin healing our world.

The Hard Part: Staying Hopeful

It’s challenging to stay focused on what is possible when we are surrounded by injustice, cruelty, and indifference. When leaders ignore the law. When lies drown out truth. When vulnerable people are exploited. When communities are targeted for daring to care.

Some of our bravest neighbors are fighting these battles every day, and we are grateful. Their actions may not be the work you’re called to do.  Still, there is so much needed at this time that if you can find one thing, just one thing today, where you can start applying the golden glue, that will make a difference. And I promise you that there is work in this Peacemaking that will delight and engage your soul.

An Invitation to Spiritual Kintsugi

Spiritual Kintsugi invites us to awaken to what is broken and imagine how Love — golden, steady, deliberate — might help us repair and re‑shape our world. What might happen if we applied that Love to healing, reimagining, restructuring? What if we looked for what is already working and strengthened it? What if we believed a more perfect union is possible — one built on humanity, decency, inclusion, and joy?

We don’t have to wait. In fact, we must not. Possibility is the first step toward Peace.

More to Come

In future Substacks, I will explore the remaining Ps – Provision, Persistence, Purpose, and Peace – as deliberate steps toward becoming Kintsugi artists in our world longing to be made whole and beautiful.

For now, let’s celebrate the Kintsugi Peace Possibilities. Each application of golden glue is made of many small patches; each small repair strengthens the whole. Possibility Kintsugi can heal relationships In my last Substack, I suggested that Spiritual Kintsugi might help us reimagine and heal what is broken in, between, and among us. Kintsugi — the Japanese art of repairing pottery with golden glue — teaches that cracks are not flaws to hide, rather they are places where beauty can emerge. When I began exploring Spiritual Kintsugi, I wondered whether we might heal our own brokenness with Love — strong, stunning, golden Love. And if that were true for individuals, might it also be true for families, communities, even nations?

I proposed five Ps that move us toward Peace:

  • Possibilities: the first glimmer of gold, the moment we realize repair is possible.
  • Provision: the resources – spiritual and material – that make repair possible.
  • Persistence: the steady work of holding the pieces together long enough for healing.
  • Purpose: the reminder that we repair because the vessel still has meaning.
  • Peace: the restored bowl, even more beautiful because it was broken.

Possibilities Comes First

If we don’t believe things can change, we’re not Peacemaking — we’re daydreaming. Possibility is the moment we stop sighing and start imagining

with intention. It’s the spark that says, What if? It’s the shift from despair to curiosity.

One of the first steps in Peacemaking is noticing what’s already working. We don’t always need to invent something new. Sometimes we can adapt something that worked elsewhere. Sometimes we can study what almost worked and ask why it didn’t. Possibility is practical. It asks: What small action could we take right now that might have a big impact?

Gather your people. Take that first action step. Celebrate your success. Then ask, What’s next? Peacemakers keep their hands open and share the gold.

The Takery: A Possibility That Grew

One of my favorite examples of the Possibilities of Peacemaking is the Takery — a multifaith effort to feed people in our small rust‑belt city of Sunbury, PA. A handful of Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Unitarian Universalists gathered to ask how we could help. We had little money, but we had skills, relationships, and one rabbi who is an extraordinary baker.

We began by offering free baked goods — sweetness and conversation. But we quickly realized people were hungry. So, we expanded. Now, years later, more than a hundred people come each month for canned goods, household items, sandwiches, a hot meal, and camaraderie. The people we serve now help us set up. Children pitch in. The staff eats the same meal as our guests. Leaders from many faith traditions meet joyfully — in all weather — to share abundance.

We looked at Possibilities. We recognized everyone’s gifts. And the gold began to heal the brokenness of hunger and loneliness.

The Shape of Justice: Another Possibility

At the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Susquehanna Valley, we noticed many girls and women in our region were struggling with period poverty — the inability to afford menstrual products for all the women in the family. So we created a small nonprofit to supply period products to rural aid programs. Three volunteers – none paid — raised funds, built partnerships, and distributed supplies across several counties. Women could work. Girls could attend school. As we said: “Sometimes the shape of justice is a tampon.”

Eventually we retired, and another organization took over. The work continues. That’s Possibility: seeing a need, doing what you can, and trusting others to carry it forward. In the case of Shape of Justice, the golden possibilities of Peacemaking enabled women to fully participate in everyday opportunities. Others now continue to bridge those gaps.

Possibility as Golden Glue

Possibility begins when you notice a crack in someone’s life and think — we can fix that. It’s not always grand or glamorous. It’s simply the sweet glimmer of gold that appears when you match a real problem with a realistic solution and you decide to apply your time and talent.

Every success strengthens the hearts of those involved. Success attracts others. Ideas multiply. Communities grow more generous. And suddenly — look at you — you’ve started a movement. Peacemaking is simply using your knowledge, skills, and laughter to make life kinder and easier. Celebrate every success. Let the gold shine. Actions don’t need to be earth-shattering or monumental. Simply making a difference for one person, one community, is an application of Spiritual Kintsugi that allows us to begin healing our world.

The Hard Part: Staying Hopeful

It’s challenging to stay focused on what is possible when we are surrounded by injustice, cruelty, and indifference. When leaders ignore the law. When lies drown out truth. When vulnerable people are exploited. When communities are targeted for daring to care.

Some of our bravest neighbors are fighting these battles every day, and we are grateful. Their actions may not be the work you’re called to do.  Still, there is so much needed at this time that if you can find one thing, just one thing today, where you can start applying the golden glue, that will make a difference. And I promise you that there is work in this Peacemaking that will delight and engage your soul.

An Invitation to Spiritual Kintsugi

Spiritual Kintsugi invites us to awaken to what is broken and imagine how Love — golden, steady, deliberate — might help us repair and re‑shape our world. What might happen if we applied that Love to healing, reimagining, restructuring? What if we looked for what is already working and strengthened it? What if we believed a more perfect union is possible — one built on humanity, decency, inclusion, and joy?

We don’t have to wait. In fact, we must not. Possibility is the first step toward Peace.

More to Come

In future Substacks, I will explore the remaining Ps – Provision, Persistence, Purpose, and Peace – as deliberate steps toward becoming Kintsugi artists in our world longing to be made whole and beautiful.

For now, let’s celebrate the Kintsugi Peace Possibilities. Each application of golden glue is made of many small patches; each small repair strengthens the whole. Possibility Kintsugi can heal relationships and help us imagine a more interconnected, sweeter, more responsible world. Seek those golden glimmering Possibilities. Find the emerging Peace. Rejoice and take your place!and help us imagine a more interconnected, sweeter, more responsible world. Seek those golden glimmering Possibilities. Find the emerging Peace. Rejoice and take your place!

Salaam, Shalom, Peace, and Blessed Be!

Kintsugi 1: Possibilities, Persistence, Provision, Purpose, Peace

Do children still read Chicken Little? If not, they should. It’s an old country fable about a frightened bird who mistakes a falling acorn for the end of the world. He was wrong, of course — but watching the American government now, you have to wonder whether Chicken Little might be having his moment. The sky above us, once steady, feels unstable. Oddly enough, that instability brings both alarm and a strange kind of hope. What are we witnessing? And who are we becoming as a Nation?

Rather than running around in panic, what if we treated this moment as a call to repair? In the perceived brokenness of a falling sky lies Possibility — the chance to end practices that harm our People, our Constitution, and our Allies. What if We the People chose healing?

When I reference a falling sky, I’m talking about the blatant disregard for the Rule of Law. The seizing of immigrants and the killing of citizens. The exposure of elite networks abusing children. The millions without access to healthcare. The skyrocketing cost of food, housing, and transportation. The U.S. meddling in other nations’ futures. These are sky‑falling realities.

When I ponder repair, I return to Kintsugi, the ancient Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold. I asked a friend whether I should depict a golden‑sutured heart or a repaired map of the USA. “Annie,” she said, “you’re thinking too small. The world needs repair.” She’s right. The whole globe needs golden seams. Let me say plainly: I believe in the power of Love to heal us into Peace. If we imagine a sky that blankets the Earth with Love, Justice, and Peace, then Kintsugi becomes a way of seeing ourselves as one people, one planet, one world.

Of course, the image is aspirational. I mourn the widening rift between Canada and the U.S., even as citizens remain close. I’m astonished by the EU’s resilience in the face of our leader’s threats. Instead of cowering, European nations are forming new alliances, leaving the U.S. increasingly isolated. Old structures are cracking — and that too is sky‑falling work.

Willie Nelson, at ninety‑two, sings in his new single ‘Heart of America’ that our nation is still Dreaming of Peace. I believe him. We have always been the Dreaming Heart of America. Let us find the melody lines and the harmonies and sing along.

As we move from January’s Dreaming into February’s Soft Peace of Awakening, we’re called to act. Some are standing in protest, feeding and protecting the vulnerable, exposing abuses of power. Others — Peacemakers — are called to build what comes next. What do we want to create? What must be composted? Who balances our gifts?

I’m a Peacemaker, a Prophet, a Poet. Here are five action‑words — five golden seams — that move us from “the sky is falling” to “the world is repairable.”

  • Possibilities — the first glimmer of gold, the moment we realize repair is possible.
  • Persistence — the steady work of holding the pieces together long enough for healing.
  • Provision — the resources, spiritual and material, that make repair possible.
  • Purpose — the reminder that we repair because the vessel still has meaning.
  • Peace — the finished bowl, more beautiful because it was broken.

In future Substacks, I will explore each of these five words. Maybe these five words are deliberate steps we can take toward Peace. Let us thank Chicken Little for sounding the alarm and Willie for singing us forward. May we find our “peeps,” become midwives of a renewing nation, and awaken to the Possibilities of Spring. Let us be about the business of Peace — healing the cracks with gold, becoming delicate Kintsugi artists in a world longing to be made not only whole — but also Beautiful.

Oh, and let’s all of us make Kintsugi Peace! We’ll be the patchwork of color joined together by gold!