Craftfulness

Mend Youself by Making Things

By: Rosemary Davidson, Arzu Tahsin

Narrated by: Joan Walker

Craftfulness is the idea that making things with your hands makes you feel better and can offer the same benefits as mindfulness and meditation, yoga, running, playing an instrument, or singing.

Integrating mindfulness, neuroscience, positive psychology, and creativity research, Craftfulness offers a thought-provoking and surprising reconsideration of craft and how making things with our hands can connect us to our deepest selves and improve our well-being and overall happiness.

We should get this out of the way: Craftfulness is not a "crafting book". Rather, it is an investigation of the wisdom generations of men and women know to be true: that making things is a vital means of self-expression, self-realization, and self-help that sparks the mind, touches the soul, and rejuvenates the spirit.

Integrating mindfulness, neuroscience, positive psychology, and creativity research, Rosemary Davidson and Arzu Tahsin explore how the simple act of making something from scratch affects mental well-being and offer a brilliantly reasoned argument in favor of craft.

Process, not product, is the soul of a craft practice. Whether you knit, crochet, sculpt, weave, quilt, tat, draw, or bind books - working toward small, attainable goals provides a sense of purpose, accomplishment, and control that is proven to positively impact our mental health and happiness.

Davidson and Tahsin illuminate how craft practice reintroduces balance into our lives and our habits by cultivating creativity, carving space for ourselves, promoting focus, creating a safe space for failure, and ultimately, how to make peace with imperfection.

Like Matthew B. Crawford's Shop Class as Soul Craft, Ken Robinson's Out of Our Minds, or Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow, Craftfulness helps us to see our world in a new way, offering opportunities to disconnect from the world and pay attention to ourselves.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Rosemary Davidson and Arzu Tahsin (P)2019 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Merging spirituality and craft, this book will guide your creative spirit and show you how using your own two hands can manifest a magical mindset. With simple DIY projects and anecdotes, this book is equal parts companion and resource for all creatives who want to dig deeper in understanding themselves and why they feel so good when they’re making. A must have. A must read. A must re-read.” (Tiffany Pratt, HGTV host and author of This Can Be Beautiful)

“Craftfulness reminds us that at our core, no matter who we are and what we have been taught to believe about ourselves, all of us have an innate need to create - and our souls are happier when we do.” (Jackie Kai Ellis, founder of Beaucoup Bakery and best-selling author of The Measure of My Powers)

“Craftfulness is, in many ways, the concept of mindfulness put into motion, empowering all of us to be creators and to reap the benefits - physical, mental, and spiritual - inherent in that act. Even if you’ve never so much as glued two popsicle sticks together, this book will help you to see the potential in everything from pieces of string to shoeboxes and motivate you to engage with them as a maker.” (Laura Calder, author of The Inviting Life)