Kintsugi — How broken becomes beautiful

The article argues that trauma and suffering cannot be erased by pretending they never happened, and that healing comes from picking up the broken pieces and reintegrating them into a new version of oneself, as in the Japanese mending practice of kintsugi. It draws on Buddhist ideas of impermanence and dukkha, Nietzsche's notion of self-overcoming, and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett's account of how the mind builds its sense of self. The piece holds that suffering comes from clinging to a fixed self-image and resisting change, and that human connection, with loved ones or psychologists, helps people make sense of their wounds.