Feeling this today, Kathryn! 💕 After a rush editing job (without the good feels), my writing hand feels empty, wounded even. But my garden wants to thrive. An affirmation of life might be in order. I’ll try and get my hands on the soil today, even if only 15 min.
I love that! When things are too precious sometimes we don’t use them at all because we have some idea that we can’t live up to them or that we will use them up or something so the non-precious stuff is often what can be most inspiring.
Thank you for this thoughtful exploration of how our body and soul speak to us through the medium we use!
I appreciate the compassionate reminder in your words for us to honor our own soul and body needs rather than “be consistent” to honor some identity we’ve created for ourselves.
After decades as a writer, I am seeing how much that was a taught survival skill (rather than a joyful process), when in reality I am a very visual thinker. I am finally owning that writing keeps me in my head, stifling my creativity. Allowing myself to leave behind that identity (and practice) has opened a richer embodied connection to and expression of my inner self… watercolor, clay, music, and recording my thoughts when in the woods has been such a lighter way to create!
After your piece, I am also curious what it says that I am drawn to the fiber arts but am having a hard time getting the technique down enough to lose myself in it rather than white-knuckle it trying to get the stitches correct. 😅. I keep picking up and relearning knitting, had a crochet fail last fall during hurricane season, and am incredibly drawn to embroidery and hand sewing so am slowly teaching myself. I am ready to manifest some big things in my life, and there feels something so tangible about being able to knit/sew my own clothes or embroider beauty and intention into what I wear.
I'm currently reading Martha Beck's Beyond Anxiety and she talks a lot about reducing use of the word-brain to encourage use of the visual-intuition brain. In short, she talks about creativity as the opposite of anxiety.
I love the description: "a lighter way to create"
I do think that often the learning curve in handcrafts can be a little tough so it's difficult to lose yourself in them at first. Sometimes it's that you just haven't quite found the right one yet but sometimes it's just that you need to get over that first hump, and when that's the case, I recommend setting the smallest possible learning goal. Yes, you might want to knit a sock or a sweater but first just learn to knit a row, not even to purl, just to knit and knit and knit until that becomes muscle memory and then see if you're able to immerse yourself in that in a more relaxed way. If so, it's an indication that it's just the learning curve that's frustrating, not the craft itself. (I like crochet because you can make almost anything just knowing a couple of stitches, but it's not the craft for everyone. Some people like cross-stitch for a similar reason and it's not my thing.)
Feeling this today, Kathryn! 💕 After a rush editing job (without the good feels), my writing hand feels empty, wounded even. But my garden wants to thrive. An affirmation of life might be in order. I’ll try and get my hands on the soil today, even if only 15 min.
Definitely getting your hands in the dirt sounds like a good antidote!
Wondering if you were able to get into the garden?
An interesting read. I'm pondering on what my use of cardboard means to me. I like that it's so accessible and non-precious.
I love that! When things are too precious sometimes we don’t use them at all because we have some idea that we can’t live up to them or that we will use them up or something so the non-precious stuff is often what can be most inspiring.
Thank you for this thoughtful exploration of how our body and soul speak to us through the medium we use!
I appreciate the compassionate reminder in your words for us to honor our own soul and body needs rather than “be consistent” to honor some identity we’ve created for ourselves.
After decades as a writer, I am seeing how much that was a taught survival skill (rather than a joyful process), when in reality I am a very visual thinker. I am finally owning that writing keeps me in my head, stifling my creativity. Allowing myself to leave behind that identity (and practice) has opened a richer embodied connection to and expression of my inner self… watercolor, clay, music, and recording my thoughts when in the woods has been such a lighter way to create!
After your piece, I am also curious what it says that I am drawn to the fiber arts but am having a hard time getting the technique down enough to lose myself in it rather than white-knuckle it trying to get the stitches correct. 😅. I keep picking up and relearning knitting, had a crochet fail last fall during hurricane season, and am incredibly drawn to embroidery and hand sewing so am slowly teaching myself. I am ready to manifest some big things in my life, and there feels something so tangible about being able to knit/sew my own clothes or embroider beauty and intention into what I wear.
I'm currently reading Martha Beck's Beyond Anxiety and she talks a lot about reducing use of the word-brain to encourage use of the visual-intuition brain. In short, she talks about creativity as the opposite of anxiety.
I love the description: "a lighter way to create"
I do think that often the learning curve in handcrafts can be a little tough so it's difficult to lose yourself in them at first. Sometimes it's that you just haven't quite found the right one yet but sometimes it's just that you need to get over that first hump, and when that's the case, I recommend setting the smallest possible learning goal. Yes, you might want to knit a sock or a sweater but first just learn to knit a row, not even to purl, just to knit and knit and knit until that becomes muscle memory and then see if you're able to immerse yourself in that in a more relaxed way. If so, it's an indication that it's just the learning curve that's frustrating, not the craft itself. (I like crochet because you can make almost anything just knowing a couple of stitches, but it's not the craft for everyone. Some people like cross-stitch for a similar reason and it's not my thing.)