If I'm Talking, You Should Be Taking Notes.

On Ravelry, I started a group called Into the Labyrknit. It's short description says: Do you use labyrinths, candles, prayer beads, and of course, knitting or crocheting as tools for meditation and spiritual enlightenment? Share your ways to find peace and mindfulness in the journey. Primarily a Christian group, all faiths are welcome.

At any rate, there hasn't been a lot of chatter in the group, so it's mostly been me posting things. The other day, I got a request from one of the members of the group (CoffeeYarn) if I minded being quoted in her blog. I told her, have at it, and I was glad that someone was enjoying what I posted. Truthfully, at this point, what I'm posting is more what I like, since I'm not really getting a lot of feedback. Apparently, my post about Advent hit home with a her though.
In my mind, and I posted some of this yesterday, Advent is about waiting. One of my posts to the group said this.

In my life, Advent is the perfect example of being mindful and
meditating.
We are expected to wait and prepare. We reflect and open our
hearts.

What can you hear if you listen with your
heart?

I then realized that I spend a lot of time on the group talking about being mindful, which is really a Buddhist concept. That doesn't mean it can't have applications elsewhere, and I wondered if the group really knew what I was talking about, so I posted this for the next day's meditation (liberally lifted from beliefnet.com).

To understand mindfulness, imagine yourself doing something very simple,
something that doesn't arouse a compelling interest--like, say, eating an apple.
You probably eat your apple not paying attention to how it smells, how it
tastes, or how it feels in your hand. Because of the ways we're conditioned, we
don't usually notice the quality of our attention. Done this way, eating the
apple is not a fulfilling experience.

So you blame the apple. You might think, if only I had a banana, I'd be
happy. So you get a banana, but eat it the same way, and still there's not a
lot of fulfillment. And then you think, if only I had a mango--and go to
great expense and some difficulty getting a mango. But it's the same thing
all over again. We don't pay attention to what we have or what we're doing.
As a result, we seek more and more intensity of stimulation to try to
rectify what seems unfulfilling.

So, are you being mindful of YOUR
apple?

The last thing I did was to challenge the group. I challenged them to bring some mindfulness to their knitting/crocheting/spinning (after all, it is a fiber site). I gave them some loose instructions to do the following on Monday afternoon:

I've spent a good deal of time considering the season of Advent, which is big on reflection and anticipation. So, I've come up with an easy, short term project that I want everyone to experiment with, no matter what you're working on.

Here's the plan. We're all going to continue working on whatever projects we currently have going. Work at your
normal pace, doing your normal fiber thing. The only "new" thing you're going to add is a couple of mantra type words.

For any knit stitches, the word you use, either mentally or verbally, if you like, is
"wait". If you crochet, I think a single crochet should work for this.

For any purl stitches, the word is "listen". If you crochet, perhaps double crochet may work for this.

For spinners. If you single treadle, use "wait". If you double treadle, use "listen".

Do this for some time. When you feel so led, come back here and let us know how this worked for you. Tell us how you used it, how you learned, what you learned, how it guided you, etc. Also, good and/or not-so-good responses are acceptable. The whole point of this is to see what works and what doesn't.

I haven't heard any responses from the group just yet, but it's early. I can tell you what I've found so far. I almost get hypnotised saying "wait". That is until one of The Things come tearing through the room wanting something. But still, there does seem to be some basis to this. So, if you're reading this, I challenge you as well. If you don't have fiber or knitting or whatever, choose a really mundane chore...washing the dishes, sweeping, mopping..something with repetitive movement like that. See if it keeps you centered and in the moment as well.