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
More from my site
At the End of Broken Dreams, an Open Door
Ora et Labora: How Physical Activity helps my Creative and Spiritual Life.
“What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it now! Boldness has genius, power and magic in it” Goethe
Leaving “A Little Juice”—One Secret of Persisting in Running, Writing, and Living Well
The Power of Praise, Even in the Animal Kingdom
In praise of tiny goals
