Kintsugi human
Every crack is not an entry point for weakness, but rather an exit point for the light to shine forth. The more cracks, the more light.
-Rachelle Alford
In Japan it is customary to repair pottery by mending the areas of breakage with powdered gold, silver or platinum. Kintsugi or "golden repair" embraces the flaws—the cracks are literally illuminated instead of hidden away. Applying this principle to her own life, Unfixed doc-series subject Rachelle visualizes her own life story as a fractured vessel, each piece telling a story from her humble beginnings—poverty, violence, homelessness, and multiple forms of neglect. For many years she hid those stories away, striving for perfection so no one would see all the broken pieces. She struggled with panic attacks, eating disorders and depression beginning at age nine, became a mom at eighteen, and an ER nurse in her twenties—maintaining the pursuit of perfection for years until her body physically broke. The disorienting, destabilizing, surreal symptoms of Mal de Débarquement Syndrome forced her to finally reconcile with her unfixed life.
In this special episode Unfixed Focus: Rachelle Alford, invites us to sit before her vessel, listen to the many voices and chapters that shattered and sculpted her into being, and bask in the light that pours forth.
So moving ... breathtaking. As Leonard Cohen says in his song "Anthem": There's a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.
Kimberly, the way you reach the heart of others defines you. xx ~ Mary
Kimberly, some of your best work yet, and so helpful to those of us who wrestle daily with vertigo. Thank you!
If my perception is correct, Rachelle has come to the end of herself, and already has found the Promise. Just under the logo on her sherbet colored shirt it reads, Isaiah 43:2 which says in part "WHEN you pass through the waters (troubles), I will be with you." https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+43%3A2&version=NIV Two magnificent promises in the first verse alone: troubles are always going to come; and He will ALWAYS be with you. The light Rachelle describes coming from within is His light. So on those days when she can't handle the vertigo, she reaches out her hand and He walks her through troubled waters. Beautiful Kimberly, thank you for sharing!