Today is has been exhausting so I decided to post this older post from last month. Keeping with the theme of mindfulness, I am being mindful of my pain level and my energy level.
Recently I have taken up knitting, this is my fourth attempt at trying. Why did it finally stick? Well, I am doing it mindfully. You might be asking yourself, “how does that differ from say, ‘normal’ knitting”? The difference is, it is about being connected to the materials that you are using, the sound of the needles clicking and the feel of the wool. It isn’t about the final product. In fact, I am not learning how to cast off (my Mom and Granny told me how), until my appointment with my social worker next week (she is showing me how to knit). I have added different textures, colours and thicknesses to my never-ending scarf and have been enjoy the process. It has slowed down my urges to binge eat and has become apart of my daily mindfulness/meditation practice. Pop craft (a blog I stumbled across while researching for today’s topic has some other wonderful ways to be creative and mindful and also provides a helpful definition for mindfulness!
When I was thinking about what to write this week, I thought that I would share my experience with knitting and how it has helped me. However, I decided to look at mindfulness and art and discuss my thoughts on the subject. When I googled “mindfulness and crafts for adults”, the first thing to pop up were books on the subject (beading and crocheting were the two that caught my eye), and endless images of projects people have done and colouring books that you can buy. Next, where the Pinterest sites with people showing what they created. This helps to bring a sense of community around a shared love. These are all great, I love adult colouring books. I think there a great way to calm people’s anxiety or an overall stress reducer. Then I saw that there was an Etsy store, devoted to selling mindful crafts…. I was curious about this. How do you discern a craft that was created for the soul intension to sell or one that was made mindfully and then sold? Everything I make is created with the intension of making something that I am truly proud to sell. In a way, that is mindful too. I am not suggesting one is more valid then the other, I am musing on this point.
I would like to pose some questions (hopefully we can get a discussion going), should mindful projects be commodified? Can we even distinguish what is mindful art and crafts and what isn’t? Should we even bother, and just leave it up to the artist or crafter? Is it another level to being creative? How do people feel about the designation of “adult colouring books” from other colouring books for children? Or the how about the books that I found? Are these book any different from a guide to learn how to knit? I don’t know an artist out there that isn’t mindful of what they are creating.
What is important to remember, however you choose to bring your materials together for a piece – whether it is for yourself, or others, to sell or as a gift – mindfully creating something and taking out the expectations of what the final product will look like can free you of some of the anxiety associated with being an artist. I know that when I was first starting the business, I was so excited about creating pieces for others. Now, to be honest, that love as waned. I mentioned last week how I struggled with trying to get back into creating for the business. Mindfulness, when continued regularly, can lower stress and anxiety. I am sure that most of you who experience mental health issues have heard this before. I am telling you; it does work! With my discovery of mindfulness knitting (and I am going to translate that to learning/relearning other crafts this winter), I want to attempt to take out the expectations and the perfectionism that sometimes comes with an artist. If you google ‘mindfulness’ or ‘mindfulness practices’, you will see countless blog posts and think pieces that tell you how to do it. Your posture, when, and where to be mindful. In my experience, it is totally up to you, how and when and where and what you choose to do as a mindfulness practice. Doing the dishes can even be done mindfully, eating, walking; everyday chores can be mindful. I guess I answered the questions posed above, mindfully doing art is a personal thing. I would like to hear your thoughts on what you do mindfully. Or whether you want to try creating mindfully!
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