Finding the grace in one’s journey.

Aside from the fact that my folks gave me the JinSu name with love, I didn’t give it much thought until years later when I was contemplating on what life, love and belonging meant to me.

It was something my brother said to me that got the wheels really turning. I began to see everything in a different light. We were having this conversation about why we thought our parents picked JinSu and not another name. He said it didn’t matter what name they picked. He broke it down about why he thought JinSu was quite lovely. If you look at it as a combination of two Sanskrit words, jindagi (meaning life) and sukh (meaning happiness), you find a sweet-sounding phrase that has the vibration of life’s happiness. I absolutely loved how it felt.

I doubt Mom and Dad realized the hidden meaning of what they were calling me. I decided I was going to inscribe all my ceramics with the name JinSu with the intent to bless whomever used or acquired my ceramics with love and happiness. And it has been a wonderful journey making art as JinSu.

With the passing of time, I have contemplated and found clarity about what JinSu means to me. With the experience of being a wife, mother and “earthling” on this planet, JinSu means finding the grace in the journey. Whether it be smooth or bumpy, happy or dreadful, slow or fast, terrifying or peaceful, I have come to understand that it is happening for me and not to me. Every moment is an opportunity to not just seek that “perfect” moment, but instead to live as if you have already arrived. If life was sweet all the time, the bitter, sour, spicy and salty would be lost experiences; they would feel quite flat and two-dimensional.

What if, instead of waiting to turn into a butterfly, the cocoon becomes a place of endless possibilities where we could go beyond dreaming of being “just” a butterfly and instead metamorphosis into a phoenix? The mind truly is the wheel in our body, but our heart and soul propel us into divine directions. By practicing patience, positivity, peace and perseverance, the outcomes for learning are endless.

I’ve always been afraid of the dark cocoon. What if I don’t come outside the other end? What if I’m not good enough, not smart enough or beautiful enough or even worthy enough? Fear is a learned behavior and not what we come with into this world. But when we do have moments of fear, the way to create roots on our paths that are obstacle-free is through courage…courage and a reminder of who we are beneath the surface of our physical, emotional and mental bodies. Once that’s in place—no matter how many bumps show up in the road—there’s always a reminder of how to come back to that place of knowing, wisdom, love and grace. Then nothing feels impossible and lost.

It helps to take a pause when things are flying all around you. Take a pause and ask yourself deep within to help you see the truth and what’s happening in that moment. Ask to lovingly and without judgment see the truth. What is this moment in time trying to show you that has not been resolved that is making you feel like you are in the “dark cocoon”—stranded, suffocated, frustrated, and full of fear and doubt? What is the truth? Sometimes you might need to get quiet and go into nature. Sometimes you might need to lie down. Sometimes you might need to take a shower, a bath or go for a swim in the ocean. Or sometimes you just might need to have a really good cry or laugh. You might need to sit down and follow your breath. In time, the answer will come and it will be filled with remembering.

So you see, JinSu to me is more than just a phrase about life‘s happiness; it is my very unique journey, filled with truths just waiting to be seen, heard, felt and forgiven. A metamorphosis if you will, to live and create with grace and gratitude with all that is and can be.