Fulfillment in manual trades

In the possibilities of carte blanche, I always prefer the one of craft, the one that dances with a whirlwind of ideas, the one that leads to a huge expansive and creative wave with multiple techniques and made possible by becoming skilled with our own hands.

The happiness of manual tasks

The wellbeing sought in personal and professional life is often closer than we imagined! Manual tasks provide such a sense of well-being in our brains that even the perception of time comes out altered in our favor. 

• Manual activities whether it be molding as well as weaving, from the most complicated to the simplest, offer a true connection to self because each of these activities is only possible if we stay anchored in the present moment.
  
  
• In the repetition and rhythm of the gesture of simple manual creation as a hobby or craft and professional, the head is emptied of preoccupations giving way to a true mental calm. Likewise, our dexterity, fine motor skills, are optimized.
  
  
• In creating or working with our hands, we are very close to the optimal autotelic experience, that is to say, to the notion of pleasure and satisfaction.
  
  
• In manual tasks, it is knotted and we discover a philosophical-sensory relationship that can drive us to want to experience it more and more motivating us to even go beyond the leisure activity to make it our job.
  
  
• In manual labor, versatile materials provide the fertile ground for us to broadly develop our intelligence in other ways, more concretely, in a daily wonderment "where the hands become the extension of the heart" as Lea Schroeder says in Thierry Raizer's podcast on crafts.

Why this call and infatuation for manual trades?

While in intellectual trades we move information, in manual trades it is our whole being that moves from the reward of endorphins by what is being created to the gain of a finer intuition of our true nature, knowing how to be and how to do.

Manual professions respond to the quest for meaning of many who do not find themselves in the immediacy and voracity of a world of everything disposable.

With artisans and those who practice manual trades, one finds a tenfold joy that makes them say, "I do a great job, I make people happy," collects Magali Perruchini, who went to meet exciting new artisans, her book is a great inspirational gem.

Since I was a little girl, I've been fascinated by everything, and the carte blanche is my favorite of all the cards. I discover myself sometimes a hairdresser, sometimes a seamstress, sometimes a decorator etcetera, all humbly as an amateur.

If round brilliant diamonds have 57 facets, why not do the same and not limit ourselves but experiment and discover our different talents and possibilities as we please? What do you say?

Image by Platelicker on Pixabay

References

AVRIL, C. & RAMOS VACCA, I. Getting our hands dirty for others. Women's occupations and the moral division of labor. Work, gender and societies, 43, 85-102. URL: https://doi.org/10.3917/tgs.043.0085

COMMECY, P. The painted wall in history. URL: https://a-fresco.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/le-mur-peint-dans-l-histoire.pdf

Pioneering Women of Luxembourg. URL: https://www.femmespionnieres.lu/documentaire/

HEUTTE, J. Flow: The optimal or autotelic experience. URL: https://jean.heutte.free.fr/spip.php?article54

LE MAROIS, M. Neo-artisans: They left their jobs for a manual trade.
URL: https://marcelle.media/neo-artisans-ils-ont-quitte-leur-job-pour-un-metier-manuel/

Which one would you choose? 64 Manual trades (be skilled with your hands).
URL:https://mercibobby.com/centre-interet/metiers-manuels

PASCUAL, S. Reconverting to craft: a philosophy of body and matter.
URL: https://www.ithaquecoaching.com/articles/reconversion-artisanat-philosophie-corps-matiere-13635.html

PION, D. A need to work with hands. URL: https://www.prontopro.fr/blog/un-besoin-de-travailler-avec-les-mains/

RAIZER, T. Podcast working with hands is a return to self. URL: https://paperjam.lu/article/travailler-avec-mains-c-est-re

SABATER, V. Working with your hands is good for your brain.
URL: https://nospensees.fr/travailler-avec-ses-mains-est-bon-pour-le-cerveau/

Working with your hands URL: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/info/videos/1-7622641/travailler-avec-mains