The Potter’s Bowl: Why Cracks Don’t Make You Broken

There was once a potter known across the region for her beautiful clay bowls. Each one was masterfully shaped, smooth to the touch, and glazed with colours that reminded people of sunrise.

But one day, as she was carrying a tray of newly finished bowls, she stumbled. One bowl slipped from her hands, hit the floor, and cracked sharply down the centre.

She picked it up and sighed.

It wasn’t shattered — but the crack was deep enough that it would never hold water again.

Her apprentice watched from across the room and said softly,

“Are you going to throw it away?”

The potter shook her head.

“Not everything broken is meant to be discarded.”

She placed the bowl on her workbench and began mixing lacquer with powdered gold. Slowly, patiently, intentionally, she filled the crack with shimmering light. When it dried, the bowl looked transformed — not perfect, not flawless, but undeniably beautiful in a new way.

People who visited her workshop were drawn to that bowl more than any of the polished, untouched ones.

It had a story.

It had survived.

It carried its transformation in plain sight.

One visitor asked her why she wouldn’t hide the flaw.

The potter smiled.

“The crack is where the light found its way in — and where it now shines back out.”

We All Have Cracks

But we live in a world that teaches us:

• to hide our pain

• to pretend we’re fine

• to smooth over every imperfection

• to speak only from the polished parts of ourselves

Yet healing isn’t about erasing the crack.

It’s about finding meaning through it.

Your difficult moments didn’t ruin you.

Your heartbreak didn’t diminish you.

Your trauma didn’t make you unworthy.

Your mistakes didn’t remove your value.

You’re not meant to look untouched.

You’re meant to look real.

Gold Doesn’t Replace the Crack — It Holds It Together

Healing doesn’t make the wound disappear.

It teaches you how to carry yourself differently.

And often, the spaces where you feel most vulnerable become the exact places where:

• compassion grows

• maturity deepens

• boundaries form

• wisdom emerges

• connection strengthens

Your “cracks” reveal your humanity — and humanity is what creates closeness, not perfection.

If This Resonates…

Maybe you’ve been trying to hide the part of you that once broke.

Maybe you’ve been telling yourself you have to seem “strong,” “over it,” “fine,” or “put together.”

But what if the part you’re ashamed of…

is actually the most beautiful part of your story?

Your cracks do not make you less.

They make you human.

They make you whole.

They make you you.

If this speaks to you, tell me —

What’s one crack you’re tired of hiding?

You don’t have to carry it alone.