A few comments ago, Dacia asked, "what is a wabi-sabi life?" (Please note as Amber did, that I am not referring to a "wasabi" life?holy hell! I don?t think my nostrils would survive such a daily cleansing).

As with any philosophy, it is open to interpretation. For me, wabi-sabi is a Japanese phrase that means appreciating the ephemeral nature of life. In particular, it is a celebration of things that are imperfect and unconventional It also embraces the spirit of "shaker-style" living (which obviously isn?t the way they express it in Japanese but is my interpretation of the concept of a clean, simple, yet artful aesthetic).

I love hand made things which is to say, I love things that are a bit fucked-up. In our house, we hung doors that we got from a salvage yard. The idea being it would give our interior an older, farmhouse look. My husband, scrapes the paint off of each one, sands it and then primes it and then paints it?when I let him. There are a few that were hung first and have layers and layers of old greenish paint chipping off and I won?t let him touch them. I love them just like that. This of course makes him a bit crazy because he likes things done properly, but he indulges me, for now.

More to the point, wabi-sabi living ala miss bunnypants is dropping out of the race?allowing others to compete and achieve. I?ve had far too much of the competitive, achieving energy in my life. I release it all. In its place I want loose, uninhibited creativity (replete with wild-ass errors and glaring mistakes and big old flaws), dreamy mornings, languorous afternoons, and starry nights.

As a little kid, before we left Boston (actually we lived in Newton for all you beantown readers) one of the guys who taught with my dad at MIT was Japanese. He and his family lived up the street and I remember spending hours with them as they showed me how to make origami animals which I loved.

As a teenager, I adored an old 1950s movie called Sayonara* where I engraved this quote on my heart, ?the pleasure lies not in the end, but in the pleasurable steps to that end.?

As a twenty-something, Isamu Noguchi was a huge inspiration (and will forever be).

All of this is to say?I have no idea why I am drawn to this particular Japanese philosophy and aesthetic. But I have always been. And finally, for the first time, feel that I am truly living it.

However, in the event my definition doesn't cut the mustard-- here's what Wikipedia says.

*This is not a recommendation to you---I?m sure if I were to view it now all kinds of awful stereotypes would jump out at me?but at that time, I loved it so.

got 2 cents?