CONTENTS
Guide
OTHER TITLES IN THIS SERIES:-
The Art of Mindful Baking
The Art of Mindful Birdwatching
The Art of Mindful Gardening
The Art of Mindful Silence
The Art of Mindful Singing
The Art of Mindful Walking
Einstein and the Art of Mindful Cycling
Galileo and the Art of Ageing Mindfully
Happiness and How it Happens
The Heart of Mindful Relationships
The Joy of Mindful Writing
The Mindful Art of Wild Swimming
The Mindful Man
Mindful Pregnancy and Birth
Mindfulness and Compassion
Mindfulness and Music
Mindfulness and Surfing
Mindfulness and the Art of Drawing
Mindfulness and the Art of Managing Anger
Mindfulness and the Art of Urban Living
Mindfulness and the Journey of Bereavement
Mindfulness and the Natural World
Mindfulness at Work
Mindfulness for Black Dogs and Blue Days
The Mindfulness in Knitting
The Practice of Mindful Yoga
Zen and the Path of Mindful Parenting
Mindful Crafting
The Makers Creative Journey
Sarah Samuel
I NTRODUCTION
As well as the sheer enjoyment of using our hands to make something new, crafting helps us to connect with who we are. As the world increasingly focuses on mass consumerism, our basic human need to create is often forgotten. Through mindful crafting, though, we can explore our relationship with our own vitality and expressiveness, meeting our souls yearning to be creative and connecting with the true source of joy.
A BOUT T HIS B OOK
Chances are that youve got this book in your hands because youre ready for the next step in your mindful and/or crafting life. Maybe you are already an accomplished craftsperson, curious about how your skill could be enhanced through mindfulness. Perhaps you are considering dipping your toes into a new craft and looking for inspiration. You could be feeling blocked and resisting taking the first steps. Or maybe you are curious about how mindfulness relates to craft and how you can use it to deepen your spiritual practice.
W HATEVER YOUR REASON , it is my intention that this book adds to the growing field of awareness about how both mindfulness and crafting can lead to a happier and more fulfilling life. I will explain how mindfulness and crafting go hand in hand, and how, through mindful crafting, you can explore your relationship to creativity, learn how to be in your creative flow and how to overcome blocks. This in turn will have profound repercussions on the rest of your life.
Why did she make things? Well, she enjoyed it of course, but it also somehow made her remember who she was and where she came from.
A MY R UBIN F LETT
ARTIST AND WRITER
This book will help you ease your way into your vast creative self and drink deeply from whatever craft draws you. Just as every individual has their own means of expression, everyone has their own needs: the conditions that best support your creativity are yours to discover. With mindful crafting, you can find, or deepen, your own path, your unique craft and your unique creative expression.
What is Crafting?
We can craft using many materials, techniques and processes, from weaving to woodwork, from glass blowing to origami. By using our hands to transform a material, be it wool, fabric, stone, plaster, paper, clay, metal or wood, we craft something that is a distinctive expression of who we are.
For the purpose of this book, I have defined crafting as needing to have creative input. This means making something that is yours, or perhaps inspired by other peoples work with your own take on it, be it in the selection of materials, colours and designs or through experimenting with new techniques. It excludes crafting that is purely copying something else or a pattern where no allowance is made for individual invention.
The Joy of Crafting
No doubt you are attracted to crafting because you at least have some sense of how enjoyable it can be to lose yourself in doing something you love. We can spend hours engaged in making, forgetting all notion of time and place. Afterwards, we feel a sense of satisfaction and deep nourishment that carries over into the rest of our lives.
The repetitive actions of many crafts such as needlework, knitting and sculpture encourage a meditative state. These periods of being present and focused with our making help us to feel more relaxed, calmer and to have more clarity in our daily lives: we can let go of everyday concerns and come into the here and now.
Many also craft because of the love of giving. When we feel joy, we want to communicate it. Creativity is really just a way in which we can give of ourselves. When we make something with love for others then we are sharing our soul, and the end piece carries so much more than its material value.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the awareness and acceptance of all that is in the present moment. It means letting go of the past and what might happen in the future, and coming into complete participation with what is going on at this instant. The now is all that exists, and when we are in it, we let go of anxiety and fear and open up to deep wisdom, peace and joy.
Mindfulness is simple in theory but, in my experience, challenging in practice. There is so much going on at any one moment. Just try being aware of your body, with its various sensations, your feelings, be they high or low, your senses and the sounds, tastes, smells, sights that they comprise of, all at the same time, as well as keeping an open mind and heart that knows no separation.
The present moment is the only moment available to us and it is the door to all other moments.
FROM C ULTIVATING THE M IND OF L OVE
THICH NHAT HANH
In practice, we can only focus on one aspect of being present, and for only a limited amount of time. This is what meditation aims to do. Meditation generally consists of sitting in a simplified space with no external distractions from our phones or computers or from other people who need our attention, and coming into focus on one thing such as our breath or a mantra.