Creating A Sacred Stitching Mindset

After you create your sacred stitching space, it's time to turn inward. Here's how to prepare your mind for a session of intentional, spiritually charged stitching.

Your stitching space is now set. It’s beautifully dressed and you have engaged all five of your senses and honored all five elements. Your phone is put away, your TV is off, it is now just you, your chair, and your needlepoint. Now what?

Now we will take this process inward, and focus on our emotional and mental states just as we have our physical space. We will practice accessing the wise mind, the magical mind; the perception shift that takes the mundane moment of stitching and transforms it into a magical moment of stitching.

This process may not come naturally to you, and it may turn into a boring, uncomfortable, anxious experience. Know that it’s okay to feel uncomfortable in a quiet space, free from distractions. In our society, we are constantly engaging with inputs from our phones and screens — all to a point of distressing distraction. If you are new to an intentional mindfulness practice, the absence of screens or books or podcasts will feel unnerving. You are going to be left alone! You might get bored!

Embrace the possibility of boredom as you start this process.

Boredom is Essential

To me, boredom is where I can create room for magic. There is space in my mind for thoughts to pour in, for insights to materialize, for complex themes and patterns to process and churn and work their way towards understanding.

A few months ago, I was appalled to see the screen time data on my phone. I was constantly doom scrolling, constantly distracting myself from quiet times at home. I just had to stop and ask myself, “What are you avoiding by spending so much time scrolling?” The answer that came back was quick and incisive: “I’m avoiding being alone with my thoughts.” It was almost an attack, an accusation, a challenge. If I heard someone say about one of my friends, “oh I avoid that person, I don’t like hearing what they have to say and I’d rather do anything but spend time with them,” I would be upset on my friend’s behalf! But that was exactly what I was saying about myself. I was doing everything I could to distract myself, avoiding times where I could be deep in thought or imagining something new. Realizing that I was avoiding myself was a painful realization — and I determined that I needed to embrace what I had been so eager to avoid: time alone with no distractions, with room for my thoughts to wander.

If we fill every gap of spare time in our day with a different input out of fear of boredom, then we prevent our minds from wandering, we prevent our imaginations from flowing, and we avoid deep reflection and mental processing. For some, this may be a trauma response, or a means of coping with stress, and in those cases, some additional steps may be needed in order to be able to feel safe in boredom. (If boredom or time alone with your thoughts triggers a trauma response, I suggest seeking out a trauma therapist or additional integrative practices to help you return to safety in your body and mind.)

The ability to ease ourselves into quiet contemplation is one of the first steps towards sacred stitching. It takes some practice and getting used to, but once you’re comfortable in this step, it’s time to add more layers to the practice.