On being a maker
Being a maker is an innate part of our human experience, something we are born with, but many of us seem to have forgotten this.
The busyness of our lives, the rush of society’s expectation and the increasing of use technology all pull us away from the work of connecting our hands with our heart.
Our ancestors were makers, without even naming themselves as such. And we are all makers still, whether we are knitting a garment, turning wood on a lathe, hand-crafting a paid or earrings, decorating a cake, or sewing a special quilt for our family.
Makers aren’t necessarily artists or crafters, in the sense of what those words might mean to you.
They are simply people who tinker, design, invent, create, play, explore, and make something. Makers can be artists, bakers, potters or ceramicists, jewellers, woodworkers, gardeners, sewers, tailors or dressmakers – the many creative activities that fit under the term “maker” are too long to list.
TO BE HUMAN IS TO BE A MAKER.
In our busy lives, we make creative many things, yet we don’t always lean into the stillness and quietness that can come from the experience of making.
We may rush to finish our project, to show it off on social media, to buy more materials to make something else, and the cycle of producing things continues.
Yet wouldn’t it be beautiful if we could bring ‘slow’ into our days and lives, through the very simple act of learning how to enhance mindful moments in our making?
To change our routines into a rhythm, and to replace the rush to finish a project with the quiet slowness of taking time to enjoy it.
The process of making things can guide us to slow our breath and our bodies, to listen to our minds and connect with the whisper in our hearts.
Being a mindful maker can allow us to follow the curiosity of seeing where the journey might take us, to discover what we can learn about ourselves and our environment, and to change our outlook on life through the lessons making can teach us.
My experience as a maker is so deeply ingrained in my daily life that sometimes I have to remind myself to use my making as a tool for my daily mindfulness, to sill my mind and body, rather than simply making for making’s sake alone.
I can use my needle and thread to create small pockets of quiet time, and to guide me to bringing more mindfulness to my whole life – to remember the way I feel when I’m quietly stitching, and bring that feeling into the hectic noise of my days.
By sitting with our practice, as a maker, and allowing our rituals and rhythms to guide us, we are able to delve into a deeper connection with being a maker, with our materials and tools, with the environment around us, and ultimately with our boarder community, through a more intense sense of fulfillment and contentedness.
Being a maker, and holding space for that in our lives, allows us to delve deeper into being a human. Which, in this current day of overwhelm, anxiety, fear, anger, uncertainty…. We need more humanity in the everyday.
Connect head, heart, and hands by slowing down into your quiet inner self as a creative maker.
Here are a few of my other writings that you might like to read that expand upon this:
And if you’re new to hand sewing and slow stitching, I have some resources here - such as what needles and tools, or thread to use, or what even is Slow Stitching. As well as a free slow stitching course you might like, and a free stitching ebook to get you started.
I’d love to know what being a maker means to you, and how it shows up in your life. Leave a comment, and let’s chat!