Beth's Ponderings
“Idle hands are the
devil’s playground.”
If you are of a
certain age, you probably heard this quote, or a variation of it, from a parent
or other adult at some point in your childhood.
The Puritan work ethic, that our society seems to have inherited with a
vengeance, frowned on taking time to just sit and do nothing but enjoy life.
Now there is a lot
I could say against that notion of always being busy and not being idle, but, I
have to admit there is a degree of truth in it.
Unfortunately, with
all of our labour-saving devices, and great technological advances, as a
society, we are suffering from a lack of basic movement. And, I don’t mean the “artificial” movement
we do in fitness classes, and during “exercise,” but rather the natural
movements that used to happen as we went about our days. If you aren't sure exactly what I mean, look
at a toddler - though, preferably one who has never touched an electronic
device, or sat in front of a TV.
Back when people
predominately walked everywhere, and had to do the majority of their daily
tasks and jobs by hand, there was not only a sense of accomplishment and
achievement, because you could see your progress, but also because you could
literally FEEL it in your muscles, which led to greater mental and emotional
health.
Today’s digital
culture does not create that same effect even if we are pushing buttons on a
computer or on a smart phone all day. No
wonder we feel like life is flying by so fast, and there is so much stress and
anxiety. We are striving so hard to
achieve the sense of accomplishing something tangible, but there is nothing
tangible about bits and bytes. We
also used to get the sense of tangible progress through creative hobbies, but
now, even something as basic as turning the pages in a book is almost entirely
a thing of the past.
Our mental/emotional
wellbeing depends on us using our hands and feet. Just as our feet were designed to walk, not
push the gas or brake pedals on a vehicle, our hands were designed to do and
make real things, not just push buttons or swipe.
Beth
Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua26/home/June%207%2C%202019%20Chautauqua.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1
