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Craft as a tool for processing emotions

Life can get pretty hectic, often leaving us with little time to process our thoughts during the day. This can then lead to overthinking in the evening, or at night, resulting in disturbed sleep, low mood and low energy. I’ve definitely experienced this. As a small business owner and the mum of two young boys, when the boys have gone to bed, I know how easy it could be for me to slip into unhelpful thinking habits. Instead, I’ve found that crafting helps to calm my busy brain, allowing me to unwind and giving me the space I need to subconsciously process the events of my day, before I go to bed. It helps me to get a better quality of sleep, so that I have more energy for my busy days. It’s a tactic I learned when I was a teacher in a special school and it has also helped me to deal with life’s daily challenges.

How can crafting help us to process our emotions?

As a mathematician, I love an explanation of how and why things work. I also love any excuse for spending as much time as possible knitting and crocheting! Knowing that it’s good for my mental health and gives me more energy to function better as a parent, is a perfect reason for surrounding myself with yarn and working on my latest project!

‘Engaging in creative crafts induces the flow state, allowing you to experience reduced stress, improved mood, increased resilience, mindfulness, and a greater sense of life satisfaction.’ (The Wellness Society)

Crafts like knitting require concentration and engage both sides of the brain, as well as occupying both hands. While we are focusing on what we are creating, our brain is able to subconsciously process any thoughts and feelings.

Knitting has been proven to be beneficial for the mental health of people of all ages. Children can benefit from increased cognitive function and problem-solving skills. For working adults, knitting can be a source of stress release and it can set them up for less risk of cognitive decline in later years, due to exercising and strengthening the neural pathways in midlife.  It can also trigger a release of serotonin, which is a natural anti-depressant that helps to lift mood.

More about emotional processing and the subconscious mind

For years, psychologists and neuroscientists have been studying the impact of the subconscious mind on our mental and emotional well-being. It is now considered that the subconscious plays an important part in our development.

‘far from playing second fiddle to the conscious mind, subconscious thought processes may play a crucial role in many of the mental facilities we prize as uniquely human, including creativity, memory, learning and language.’ (New Scientist)

It’s important to give our minds the opportunity to subconsciously process thoughts, feelings and emotions, for our overall mental health.

‘Whether we like it or not, our ability to control thoughts, synchronize movements, or experience emotions depends on the depth of information processingexperiments demonstrated that the subconscious mind could process information—such as emotional words—faster than the conscious mind, providing insights into how subconscious processing influences our perceptions and reactions ‘(Imotions)

Imagine all of this going on while we are knitting!

At Yarny Bees, there are groups, workshops and classes for everyone, whether you are a beginner, an improver or very experienced in knitting or crochet. See my website for more information about what we offer.

References

‘The Art of Flow: Crafting your way to a calmer mind’ (The Wellness Society)

‘The subconscious mind: Your unsung hero’ Kate Douglas, Nov 2007

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19626321-400-the-subconscious-mind-your-unsung-hero

‘What is the subconscious mind?’ Bryan Farnsworth, Imotions

https://imotions.com/blog/learning/research-fundamentals/what-is-the-subconscious-mind

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