Getting diagnosed with a chronic illness is like watching life break into million shards of glass and then looking for superglue to put it all back together with the aim to make it look like it did before, followed by being hit by repeated grief and disappointment, over and over again, when pieces don’t fit back together like they should or used to. ‘Grief’ is a peculiar thing as we mainly consider it in terms of losing a loved one. But if you consider it, You do lose a loved one with diagnosis- you lose yourself: your plans, your dreams and most of everything that made up your life to that point. With a chronic or even terminal diagnosis, i Superglue will not help you get back what broke. “The human body is an instrument for the production of art in the life of the human soul” - Alfred North Whitehead, a. mathematician and philosopher, said. So let’s face it head on: Our human existence is fragile and short. In acceptance of the diagnosis, and this is not to be confused by ‘defeat’, comes the the realization that you can create something new that can be equally as beautiful as what is now lost. Limited sure, but beautiful none the less. Think of it as the Japanese practice of Kintsugi [kin-tsu-gi], which translates as “golden joinery”- pour gold in the cracks to mend the spirit/yourself; what your diagnosis may have broken. Kintsugi treats the breakage and the repair as part your history rather than something to conceal. Or create a mosaic with the shards you cannot put back together in any other way. Make a new picture out of it. “Every human is an artist. And this is the main art that we have: the creation of our story.” -Miguel Angel Ruiz Spiritually/emotionally/acceptingly fusing our seams together with gold, or creating a new mosaic artwork, of our broken shards may get us closer to the strength and resilience needed in facing uninvited challenges such as a diagnosis. Art is our expression of our thoughts, emotions, intuitions and desires. So why not use it to our advantage- You can still make your life the best piece of art there is with the broken shards you have been left with. “Art is when a human tells another human what it is to be human”. -Adrain Elmer
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