In Praise of Manual Work

Roy and I are, and always have been, people who’ve earned our living, such as it is, at our computers.

None the less, whenever I embark on manual work, okay, not heavy duty manual work– just painting, cleaning, re-organizing, gardening–I am charmed by it.

By how manual work literally helps one work off one’s bad moods. Relieves tension.

How it gives you a fresh perspective. Calms and soothes you.

How birdsong calms the nerves and soothes the spirit.

How, at least for me, my thoughts turn to God and to spiritual things when I work in the garden or around the house.

I think manual work is essential to complete, round and ground the personality.

Further reading

Working with your hands: the secret to happiness?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/may/08/working-hands-happiness-burkeman

“cog-in-the-wheel office life, where employees see neither daylight, their families, nor the end product of their labours.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/02/dignity-of-manual-labour