Is My Wall Better at Relaxing Than I Am?

In my spare time, I apparently like to think about plaster.

You’d think I’d get enough of that at work. But recently I looked up autogenous healing, and there went the rest of my evening.

It’s the term for a material’s ability to repair some of its own damage using what’s already inside it.

Certain lime-based materials can do this. Moisture can carry dissolved lime into tiny cracks, where mineral deposits can gradually form and help fill the opening. There’s actual chemistry behind it. The Building Limes Forum explains the process.

But my mind immediately wandered.

What else can do that?

Can the human body do that?

Does the wall need quiet time? Have I been interrupting it?

Our bodies certainly have repair abilities. A cut closes. A bone can knit back together. We’re usually busy doing something else while all this work happens.

That’s where I started thinking about Qigong—the attention to breath, movement, stillness, and qi, often described as vital energy.

I’m drawn to practices that invite us to slow down and pay attention. And I find myself wondering how much goes on beneath the surface while we’re impatiently waiting for something to happen.

Then I’m back to thinking about a wall.

Lime is a mineral material. It isn’t alive. Its tiny cracks can fill through chemistry, while our bodies repair tissue through living processes. I don’t know of evidence connecting that mineral process to qi.

Still, I like sitting with the resemblance.

Something gets damaged. Under the right conditions, something within it can respond.

There’s a little mystery in that, even when we understand parts of how it works.

Of course, I also discovered that concrete can heal some tiny cracks, and asphalt can slowly reconnect across small ones.

I went looking for an ancient plaster secret and found out the parking lot was involved.

A humbling evening.

There are limits: lime’s healing depends on the mix, moisture, time, and how small the crack is. A growing crack still needs attention. Please don’t cancel your plaster repair and book the wall a sound bath.

But this is part of what keeps me interested in lime at California Wall Design.

The texture and the way it catches light are enough to hold my attention. Then I learn about something happening inside it, quietly, on a scale I can barely see.

And suddenly I’m standing in a room wondering about minerals, healing, and the nature of things.

Which is a fairly elaborate explanation for why I’m staring at the wall.

—Tim
California Wall Design