In a Japanese tea ceremony, when a treasured bowl breaks, it is not discarded. The shards are instead rejoined with lacquer and gold, celebrating the beauty in imperfection, and creating splendor from misfortune. This celebration of imperfection and authenticity is known to the Japanese as “wabi-sabi”.

In this same spirit, Wabi-Sabi Wisdom: Inspiration for an Authentic Life shares the author’s own perfectly imperfect reflections on living a life that moves beyond success, striving, and competition to living in integrity with oneself, others, and the world. Written as an antidote to the perfectionism that prevented her from achieving a long-held dream of becoming a published author, the audiobook is not a treatise on wabi-sabi per se, but an exercise in practicing it. Rather than a “how-to” audiobook, it is a collection of thoughts to inspire contemplation on what your own most authentic life might look like.

Read by the author, Andrea Jacques, the audiobook is an invitation to you to contemplate what it means—and what it takes—to truly thrive in your life and work in a way unique to you. The chapters do not need to be listened to in any order. Look at the table of contents, pick any chapter title that calls to you, and start there. Jump around, listen, and relisten. Notice how your relationship to the words (and yourself) changes as you live into greater integrity with your perfectly imperfect self.