Take a deep breath, take a seat, and just knit. As knitters, most of us know the secret to winding down, tuning out, and experiencing a deep sense of calm.
Many people call this experience “mindfulness.” It’s something crafters have known and practiced for hundreds if not thousands of years. If you do a Google search for the definition of “mindfulness,” you find this: “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.”
Sound familiar? Knitting allows you to put everyday cares aside, focus simply on the movement of your hands, and truly live in the moment of whether you need to be knitting or purling at this specific second of your life. Some of us need an intricate pattern to accomplish this. Others of us use a simple pattern we know by heart. It all accomplishes the same thing, the state of mind we now call mindfulness.
Hope you’re having a wonderfully calm day of knitting and mindfulness, Cindy
Recommended new book:
Mindful Thoughts for Makers by Ellie Beck: An excellent, well-written book on the meditative nature of crafting by hand. I truly enjoyed this book and read it at one sitting. I appreciated the author’s thoughts on slowing down, taking a break from our busy lives, and enjoying the pleasant simplicity of crafting. She also reminds crafters that it’s the process – not the finished product – that’s important. This book would be great as a gift for anyone who crafts – sewing, woodworking, knitting, crochet, and any other handmade crafting activity.
Cynthia Coe is the author of The Prayer Shawl Chronicles, a collection of interrelated short stories about knitters and those they meet through knitting and sharing prayer shawls.
Copyright 2022 Cynthia Coe
Sycamore Cove Knitting 