Imperfection
Tortured souls, Santa’s misfit toys, or worn out jeans, we all have a soft spot in our hearts for damaged goods. I recently read that photographing food on a marble slab is a must in the world of food blogging, and as a new entrant to the blogosphere, I decided to invest in my own marble slab. I went online and ordered; the marble arrived 3 days later…. broken.
One corner was gone and my first reaction was to return it, to go to Amazon.com and demand my money back. I had never had a problem with damaged goods before and it was frustrating. While taking a picture of the damage for documentation, it occurred to me…. “What the hell, it’s not so bad, is it?” Why did I need a perfect slab of marble, perhaps this can be my “signature”, the “thing” that separates my photos from all the others on line, maybe this jagged corner was special?
I then remembered the words of Buddha by way of a very dear friend….”disobey yourself.” I resisted the urge to be myself, to have everything exactly as I had planned, perfect and timely and to embrace the moment.
Try just once a day, doing exactly the opposite of what you normally do. Walk home a different way, drink scotch in the morning instead of coffee (kidding), wear color instead of black (still working on that one), or talk to that annoying person at work. I know it sounds odd but try, it’s liberating and you will discover things you didn’t know needed discovering.
By disobeying myself I am now the happy owner of a beautifully flawed piece of marble and maybe just maybe I am one step closer to embracing my own many imperfections.