Crafting is Good For You....

If you are a crafter like me, you know how satisfying your crafting is. Why is crafting so satisfying and how does it benefit you? I think there are several reasons that we love to craft and they are all beneficial to our well being.

First, when we craft, we transform something insignificant into something great. We take a skein of yarn and knit it into a scarf. We take random pieces of fabric and put them together into a beautiful quilt or wall hanging. Flour, sugar, oatmeal and chocolate chips turn into delicious chocolate chip cookies.

Part of the joy in crafting comes from knowing you made it. You are not just a passive consumer, you are a creator. When you wear that beautiful sweater or give someone a batch of homemade cookies you feel a sense of pride and accomplishment in being able to say "I made it!".

Doing it yourself is also very relaxing. In fact, recent studies have shown that brain chemistry during knitting is similar to when doing yoga or meditating. I'm not surprised, I think the repetitive process of knitting very soothing. And when I cook, I find a kind of quiet enjoyment in the chopping, kneading, mixing, stirring.

Actually I think my desire to craft is pure selfishness. I just love to make gifts for my friends and I like the fact that every time I craft something I am not buying it, but mostly I create because it makes me feel good. The great thing about the time we live in now is that crafting is a choice and not a necessity. We don't have to make our own clothes or knit our own sweaters, we can do it just because we enjoy doing it.

If you have never tried crafting, or don't think you have any creative talent, you might be surprised at the satisfaction you will get from doing it yourself. There are many types of crafts to try your hand at and you many not necessarily like all of them. Try taking some classes and experimenting with some different types of things until you find one that gives you a sense of satisfaction.