Christina recently nominated me to take part in the 3 Day Quote Challenge. However – I think I neglected to approve the link from her blog to mine – and so missed the boat!!

Still, I’d really like to thank her for this idea because its made me think about the words of others which have deeply resonated with me, which have stayed with me for a long time, and which I’d like to share.

Please check Christina’s blog “Stealing Time in Quiet Disorder” .

The “rules” of the 3 Day Quote Challenge:

• Post one of your favorite quotes (a different quote each day) for three consecutive days. The quote can be from your favorite book, author, or your own. 
• Nominate three bloggers to challenge them. 
• Thank the blogger who nominated you.

I’d like to nominate:

Andy: Poetry is my aeroplane

Ruth: Life, living, work and play

Charlotte: A Comfort Zone …

Please don’t feel obligated to participate in this challenge.

I’ve chosen the words of three of my male inspirators/muses:

Day One

from the song “Anthem” – by Leonard Cohen (from the 1992 album “The Future”)

“There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.”

I know this is quoted over and over again – but that’s because it is so powerful. The suggestion is that the light, the spirit, the inspiration, the revelation – whatever you want to call the positive, the illuminating – enters through the “cracks” – in our bodies, in our lives, in our relationships, in our souls.

Nothing is perfect – in fact perfection, the closer we come to it, may in fact be perceived as lifeless. It is all the little mistakes, stumbles, noises, marks, scribbles, smudges, that connect us to the living. They are the signs of the artist’s presence, that a human being has lived and moved through a space, touched and left evidence of their existence.

Kintsugi is the ancient Japanese practice of repairing a cracked or broken bowl with gold. The damaged area becomes beautiful and valuable. This may also be related to the philosophy of wabi-sabi – where the imperfect object and the marks of use and age are respected and valued.

The use of gold in kintsugi both highlights and beautifies the crack, the imperfection – just as the light in Cohen’s song.