Hands
Out of our heads & into our bodies
HANDS. I always thought trying to “get back into our bodies” meant through movement, and while I think that is true in many cases, I’ve noticed something else lately too. The more I use my hands to create something, the more ideas and inspiration find me. Our hands hold objects, but they also hold presence. I noticed this shortly after I started writing about taking steps, which feels both ironic and meant to be because both serve us everyday.
After a full fall weekend back in New York City a few weeks ago, I had a Monday that felt pretty uninspired. This caught me off guard given how excited I’d been to be there again. I went about the day with my usual to-do’s for job searching, and I had a collage class in Brooklyn that evening. That “bleh” feeling had me debating going, but since I paid in-advance, I decided to make the one hour trek.
I’m so glad I did because I not only found myself immersed in the atmosphere of the class and the collaging itself, but I so quickly felt that spark of inspiration for other ideas too. I recently started keeping a journal by my bed side so that when I have thoughts in the evening, I can write them down, rather than pull out my phone and open my notes app. Well that evening, I was up until 1am writing those ideas. That class created a snowball effect of presence.
Fast forward a few days later where I had also signed up for a solo pottery class. During it, I was impressed by the instructor and her ability to manipulate the clay, and then my own ability to follow along without prior experience. I noticed again the presence it demanded of me.
I found myself wanting to take more pictures of the experience, but my hands were messy from the wet clay that I actually couldn’t. This forced me to focus on what was in front of me without getting sucked into responding to a text message or automatically checking social media. I couldn’t be on my phone or eating or multitasking. I was instead looking at the clay, thinking about how I could use my hands to mend and mold it to my liking, and feel the smoothness of it as the wheel spun around again and again.
I’ve known for years the ways that making art, crafting, painting, knitting etc. all typically involve the usage of our hands to “be creative.” But both the collage and pottery classes made me pause and notice how much presence our hands create and how that space can invite in further creativity and inspiration.
At the same time, if you engage in an activity that feels creative to you and nothing further comes from it, that is okay too because the act of creation allowed for presence in that moment.
I’ve collaged through my years of high school, college and post-grad; I even wrote my high school essay when applying for college on scrapbooking. The tangibility of clipping pictures, placing them down and capturing moments in time has always done something for me. But I wasn’t aware of how I was creating presence for myself in those moments. I just always loved the tangibility of it and how I could get lost in it. It hindsight that’s what it was.
I’ve started to respect how with any creative activity you likely have a vision in mind of how you expect it to turn out, but as you continue on with what’s in front of you, a different idea or new direction might unfold. Or it just looks different than it did in your head. I’m realizing that’s the point. There is no right or wrong way to create, and our hands play such a part in that.
If you think about all the ways we use our hands, you’ll be able to take a step back and pause to appreciate what they do for us. Our hands allow us to: make a meal for someone we love, catch the ball, taste the butternut squash soup, flip the page of a book, throw down the final playing card, wrap the gift, squeeze out the last bit of lemon juice, wash our hair, and so on. If we allow ourselves to notice and appreciate more of these moments with our hands, we can continue to cultivate more presence and inspiration within ourselves and with others.
This scene from The Vow popped into my head while I was on the pottery wheel. It reminded me (again) how the body knows things — it remembers what the mind forgets (or just wants to ignore) and if we let our hands guide us, they will show us something new, something we didn’t realize we could do, or something that was always within us.
Book Recommendation:
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin touches on all sorts of ways we are creative beings. He dives into how we can tap into our own creativity, experiment with it, build our own creative habits, and connect more deeply to ourselves and others through it. Rick guides the reader through navigating self-doubt, distraction, collaboration, observation, and several other experiences throughout the creative process. While “a few may awaken” to it, each of us “exist(s) as a creative being in a creative universe.”
The image of hands holding presence has resonated so deeply with me! I love that idea and how you so beautifully capture it by saying, "Our hands hold objects, but they also hold presence." and, "I noticed again the presence it demanded of me."
I giggled at your experience in the pottery class, given that I've had that same thought of wanting to capture my ceramic process but being legitimately blocked from doing so because of the griminess of my hands (now, I kinda just do it anyway and wash my phone later lol).
This is also SUCH an important note to drive home, thank you for expressing it: "At the same time, if you engage in an activity that feels creative to you and nothing further comes from it, that is okay too because the act of creation allowed for presence in that moment."
And, lastly, your ~way with words~ here really made me smile: "Our hands allow us to: make a meal for someone we love, catch the ball, taste the butternut squash soup, flip the page of a book, throw down the final playing card, wrap the gift, squeeze out the last bit of lemon juice, wash our hair, and so on."
You're such a brilliant and tender writer, I adored this piece!
love this so much!