Needlework is my calming technique, as well as my business — needlework is repetitive, slow, and therefore easily becomes a moving meditation.
This isn’t to say that it can’t be frustrating at times — when I miscount the same area of pattern 8 times — when I get 1/2 way through a sock only to realize my gauge is so off that it won’t fit my 12 year old godson, let alone the EO for whom it was intended!
If blogging can be considered a form of “talk therapy” (If I didn’t have y’all to babble at about my current projects I’d drive my non-shimmying-non-stitching friends and family absolutely batty! All right, I probably do that anyway (but it would be so much worse!), then needlework is a kind of meditation therapy, at least for me. I’m fond of the slow craft movement — I like the way it encourages us to slow down and enjoy the time we have. I feel the same way about the slow food movement — though I do tend to multi-task while I’m cooking!
I guess what I’m trying to say as I babble onto the keyboard here is — try taking some time while you are stitching or cooking, or walking the dog or shimmying or whatever you do, just to notice what and how you’re doing it — and to enjoy the process, not the finished product. You may find yourself a little awed at the little pieces of control that go into doing it — how your hand controls the needle and thread, how your body doesn’t fall over when the dog pulls on the leash because it instinctively balances the weight… Feel free to be in awe of yourself. We’re pretty amazing creatures, in the end.
