Read what my beautiful friend has to say, then come back. Go. I’ll wait.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what Tina wrote and maybe it’s selfish, but the peace I’ve always wanted more than anything is peace of mind. Living with anxiety as long as I have, internal peace always seemed so fleeting. Every year it’s getting better and better as I get older and my life changes and I learn to accept myself and the world around me. Giving up control is a huge part of it – at least for me. Adjusting expectations. And just knowing that it’s okay to fail sometimes.
What’s this got to do with knitting? Just everything. I’ve talked about this before, but I think knitting has taken me far in my quest for peace of mind. When I’m involved in a project, it soothes my monkey mind and carries me away just like a great novel. If I’m anxious, I can pay particular attention to what’s in my hands and it distracts me – count those stitches, pay attention to that pattern – let the anxiety flow through my fingers to the needles and out of my body and my mind. Knitting has allowed me to indulge my perfectionist tendencies, but it’s also humbled me. Learning when a knit is working and not working has taught me patience and when to just give it up already. There’s a reason EZ said to knit through crises – because it WORKS!
So I knit and I find peace and what does that do for the rest of the world? Can one person knitting really bring about world peace? Maybe not. But if I’m centered and balanced and content: AT PEACE, then maybe the way I live my life will somehow rub off on the person annoyed behind me at Macys all pissed off because I have a complicated return. Maybe my inner peace and a conversation about knits will calm an anxious relative waiting at Sloane Kettering. It could be that my daughter will find her own peace at the sound of my needles clicking – mommy’s calm, all is right with the world.
Maybe knitters, one at a time, can bring about world peace. I don’t know, but I wish it for me and for you and for all of us.
i definitely find knitting to be soothing and relaxing. it has helped me SO much with my patience. i have never been a patient person, but i HAVE to be patient with my knitting. knitting certainly has taught me a lot. i’m glad that it has brought peace to you!
thank you for directing to tina’s. like for you, knitting has brought me much peace and comfort as i spent my mother’s last days with her last year – the rythmn of the needles were so soothing to me – i forget what i was knitting – for me it was the process….
There was a piece in last week’s New Scientist about how we are affected by the people around us. Apparently our happiness is affected by the happiness of our friends (well, duh), but it’s a bit more complicated than you would think. Friends who live nearby have a bigger effect than those who live far away as it seems that simply physically spending time with someone (although apparently spouses don’t count) is partly what matters. Friends of friends also have an impact, as to friends of friends of friends. Obesity is also ‘transmitted’ in a similar manner (although the relative importances are different).
So if my friend’s friend’s friend’s state of mind has an impact on my happiness, I’m more than happy to believe that how at peace I feel (yay knitting!) will have an effect on them.
(And just in case I’ve got the details all wrong, here is the article:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126881.600-how-your-friends-friends-can-affect-your-mood.html)
There are two sides to peace. First there must be the desire for peace. Then comes a lot of hard work trying to achieve that peace. It sounds so simple and serene but I think peace, initially, takes as much energy to create as conflict does. However once peace is attained energy outputs diminish whereas conflict requires more and more energy to maintain.
I hope we all work hard to create peace and then we can sit back and enjoy the ride.
I don’t know if you get a chance to read all of your comments from your contest, but this is exactly what I am in the midst of right now. I posted about my knitting goal. Essentially, I am seeking peace of mind. Desperately.
Wow. Thanks for the link.
I’ve always been a profound believer in the ‘ripple effect’. You know, a kind smile, a thoughtful gesture, a patient ear, all these things can change the world – or at least your little corner of it. Those ripples of kindness, charity and love can spread throughout the world. I guess my ‘ripple effect’ idea is kind of like Pay It Forward.
Anyway, I’ve always believed that knitting is like prayer. Whenever I knit, I imagine that each stitch is a little prayer for the person I’m knitting for, or for the world, or for my family, or for me. I’ve always been a strong believer in the power of positive thinking – which is all that prayer is, really. Positive thinking. Positive prayer. Peaceful knitting.
I’m going to start imagining world peace with each stitch. And I’m going to carry that peaceful, loving attitude with me wherever I go throughtout my day. Including my commute (which is probably my least human time of day…). I vow that from now on I’m going to be patient, loving, considerate and a MESSENGER OF PEACE.
I like the ripple effect concept. I’m currently trying to figure out how to find my own peace and these thoughtful pieces help much. Thank you.
I’m with you 100 percent.
Also, I’d like “knitting” to be a metaphor…there are weavers and crocheters and spinners and basketweavers and many more craftspeople all around the world who are mindfully making things by hand. They are all doing their part.
Hugs to you and thank you for pointing me towards Tina’s blog today.
As I write this I am having a good little cry and I thank you for it!! I have had such a hard couple of days with my anxiety and this is exactly what I needed to hear. Slow down, stop, and try to be at peace. I am printing this out and posting it on the wall next to my bed so that I can remember it tomorrow and every day. Now I’m going to sit down and knit and try my best to be at peace.
amen, sister.
Thank you so much for directing me to Tina’s entry – it was beautiful and powerful and thought-provoking. Prayer, intention, positive thinking … all very important things that I feel have great power in our world. Even one person’s power is important, but multiplied by hundreds, thousands, even more, channeled towards one goal of Peace – wow.
And I’m sure that Meli will be comforted by your clicking needles. Many of my early memories of my Grandma are hearing her clicking needles and knowing that soon I would have a warm,special sweater or afghan just for me, full of her loving intentions and prayers.
May your new year be filled with many moments of peace.
I have had similar thoughts on the subject of peace. Especially during the election, which seemed like such a divisive time in our country. We have this giant bridge over an interstate in out town. (Not a bridge for cars, just for walkers and cyclers.) It connects the walking trail behind a girls college to the walking trail at our museum of art. We used to take our children walking there several times a week. The kids LOVED to stop and wave at the cars driving by on the interstate. (And since we have 7 children, it’s hard to NOT see them up there waving.) You would be amazed at the number of people who get really excited to wave and honk at a passle of cute kids up on a bridge. It always made me wonder why we can’t have world peace. Many of those people might disagree with my politics, or religion, or any number of things, if they knew me. Yet, the vast majority of them loved to wave at my pack of joyful kids walking on the bridge. I wonder why we can’t gracefully disagree on things, and be as kind as those rush-hour drivers are when they take the time to honk, and wave at my kids when they speed by. Certainly spreading a little ‘happy’ would be good for all of us.
Lovely post. And you’re so right, it will make a difference in at least one life. Happy Day. g
I completely agree. That’s why knitters are such nice people!
I started reading Knitting for Good the other day & it echos many of the same themes. It made me remember the reason I began knitting. Without knitting, I felt anxious & depressed on my own couch. They still pop up, but knitting lessens them.
3 things. first of all, thank you for linking to tina’s beautiful words. second, i have always said that my knit-shop purchases were justifiable because they’re 1/2 craft project and 1/2 therapy. and third, just before the end of the yoga class i went to this morning, the teacher asked us to take a moment to acknowledge what we do for the world by practicing yoga – that we are more calm, more peaceful, more able to deal calmly and peacefully with the world around us, which has a ripple effect. you’re saying the same thing here about knitting. and all of it is so, so true.
That was beautiful and I couldn’t have said it better myself. I find that knitting cures a lot of things for me.
Someone posted a link who posted a link who posted a link… and I ended up here on your journal. Now I’ve subscribed to your RSS feed, and get this: Skimmed every archive post since the beginning!! At first, it was the color, Color, COLOR that just made me so happy. Then it was the wonderful design of your blog in general. Then I was just hooked by your writing [but remember, I did admit I most skimmed and looked at pictures like a mad woman].
Congrats on everything you’ve accomplished — I’m *extremely* excited about all the knee-high socks. I might just become a knitter after all. (I’m really a spinner, and I’m really addicted to the drop spindle more than the wheel, so I already know I’m a nutter.) But I love the green log-cabin, the mitered squares, the bright-spots, and even the crochet. *grin*
Nice to meet you! — From sunny Southern CA
Thank you for your post and for the link to Tina’s. Lovely words from both of you.
World peace – one stitch at a time! – thanks for the link it was a very thought provoking post
Cara, I didn’t start reading your blog until 2008, so I had never seen the pictures of the sweater you worked on while George was in the hospital until I ready your post for yesterday. I can’t get over how much you look like Meli!!
Cara, I didn’t start reading your blog until 2008, so I had never seen the pictures of the sweater you worked on while George was in the hospital until I read your post for yesterday. I can’t get over how much you look like Meli!!