Last week I was leading a mindfulness retreat in the foothills of the stunning Atlas mountains in Morocco.

As I looked around in preparation for the retreat I noticed the rustic spa hotel we were located in was full of imperfections. Cracks on the walls and doors. Flowers that didn’t grow in straight lines. Clay pots with dents and different shades, holding imperfect plants within them. And yet it was the imperfections that made the the venue look so beautiful. I suppose that’s what being ‘rustic’ is all about. I shared my insight with the group on the first night, and a participant told me the Japanese have a name for this - Wabi-sabi. The term essentially means ‘the beauty of imperfection’. This was to naturally become the theme of our whole retreat.

We explored how to to see the beauty in the imperfections in ourselves. I joked to the participants I would teach the retreat in an imperfect way. It made them smile and was a nice reminder for me. But something deeper in me shifted as I shared those words — I felt a weight lift off my own shoulders. I could be flexible and free in the way I taught, and if things went wrong , it didn’t matter. Yes, I really was going to teach imperfectly and that’s beautiful.

With this new desire to teach imperfectly, arose a wonderful new meditation — the fireplace meditation. One morning, the air was cool and there was a bit of rain in the air. We decided to practice our meditation in the warm yoga studio inside. I asked the fire starter (yes, there was a lovely elderly gentleman who claimed to be the in-house fire starter) to light the fire in the studio. Everyone immediately gazed at the flame. So, I decided to do a fire meditation. I’d never done it before and was poised for an imperfect session.

We began with our eyes closed and meditated on our breath. Then I asked them to go through all their senses — scent, taste, touch and sounds. We discovered that all the senses were ‘lit up’ by the fire. and eventually we opened our eyes and looked at the fire. Watching the mesmerising dance of the flame, the colours and shape constantly varying. The warmth of it heat radiated towards our skin. The variation in the heat on one side of our bodies and relative cool on the other. I continued to play with with theme.

I suggested that the flame is your challenge — a strong emotion, a difficult relationship, stressful thought. And we moved closer to the flame and watched our reactions. Then we moved further away and I invited the participants to move freely around the room. We found you can see the flame from different angles — different perspectives — and this opens up a different way of meeting your difficulty or challenge. You don’t have to just sit with the flame or ignore the flame or fight with the flame of your emotions. You can play with it. Look at it from different angles. And smile at it. And the beauty of the flame is in its imperfection. And no matter how big the flame in that fireplace — if you stop putting the fuel in, eventually it burns out.

I hope this inspires you to look at the beauty of your life’s current challenges. Of living your life in a more imperfect way and enjoying that experience. And allowing the flame your your difficult emotion to just be, as you watch from different angles and remember that no matter what your experience of the challenge — it too will pass in its own imperfect way. And that’s beautiful.