FRAGMENTED PIECES

“Broken pieces, when brought together at the right time and place, can create something beautiful. Just like the heart when broken, will mend and become a vision you could only imagine.” ~Heidi Martin St. Jean

There is something so empowering when taking an entire “perfect” piece of ceramic tile and smashing it to pieces. It is a feeling of release. Looking down all you see are fragmented pieces of something that was once whole. Similar to ourselves, we are beautiful when whole, but when we are broken, pieces of ourselves are scattered everywhere. What we must learn is to trust and that bit by bit we can put those pieces back together again. Like the ceramic tile, the picture will not be the same. It is impossible to put all of those pieces back together again and create that same unflawed tile. What we do with those broken pieces is truly the miracle. They are still a part of ourselves, yet what we have learned is to take those pieces, rearrange them, and create something fresh and new.

From the moment I broke my first piece of tile I felt a rush. I could not wait to put the pieces back together and design something entirely new. Thoughts and images were running through my head on what to create next. At the time I just thought I had gotten my inner creativity flowing…it was much more than that. Looking back I can see that I was taking the broken pieces of ME and I was slowly creating a new self. Healing bits and pieces of myself along the way.

Do not be discouraged by the broken pieces of yourself. They will find their way back together again in a new form. Just wait until you see the thing of beauty you have created!

~Heidi Martin St. Jean