3 Spiritual and Psychological Benefits of Doing More DIY

By admin | January 31, 2020

 

It may seem strange to talk about something as purely physical and practical as DIY as having psychological, never mind “spiritual” benefits. All the same, that idea has been floating around for some time now, largely courtesy of books such as Robert Pirsig’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” and Matthew B. Crawford’s “Shop Class as Soulcraft.”

These days, we live in a sort of paradoxical situation. On the one hand, there’s more convenience around than ever before, and most of us don’t really “need” to do much DIY. On the other hand, there are all sorts of resources available that make it easy to get the right tools and equipment, and begin honing our DIY skills. 

For example, you can figure out how to equip your garage with autonews.center review of the best home garage car lifts, and you can find all sorts of videos, books, and courses out there to help you brush up your mechanic skills.

In any case, here are some of the spiritual and psychological benefits of doing DIY, just in case you were looking for more excuses to get started.

 

• Honing your connection to “Quality”

 

 

Robert Pirsig’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” is a classic and often-confusing book that all sorts of people around the world have been fascinated with, for decades now.

One of the main subjects that the author brings up in this autobiographical work, is his idea of “quality” as something like a “sense” that helps to bring the purely pragmatic and physical world and the purely spiritual and abstract worlds together.

As Pirsig describes it, “quality” is a transcendental feeling that you have, that lets you know that you are doing the right thing, in the right way, at the right time. In the language of modern psychology, it seems pretty much the same as a “Flow” state – that situation where you feel like you’re really on fire with whatever it is you’re doing.

Working on DIY tasks can be a great way to get you out of your own head, and into that kind of flow state. And from there, you might have some pretty profound experiences.

 

• Developing your ability to establish order over your surroundings

 

 

No one likes to feel like they are powerless and trapped in a chaotic environment. But, sadly, those feelings aren’t exactly uncommon.

In order to boost your confidence and develop the sense that you have what it takes to establish order of your surroundings, one of the best things you can do is to develop practical DIY skills that allow you to be more autonomous and so that you aren’t at the mercy of third-party professionals for absolutely everything.

Sure, you probably shouldn’t try to build an extension to your house on your own. But, you could handle some of your own basic plumbing tasks.

 

• Moving you out of your comfort zone, and getting you accustomed to tackling daunting projects

 

 

As the name suggests, your comfort zone is bound to be comfortable – but if you get too used to hanging out there, your life isn’t going to include much in the way of adventure.

Handling DIY tasks is just one way of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, and engaging with daunting projects in the world around you that you may not really feel like handling, but that you can really benefit from coming face-to-face with.

Suffice to say, the more you accustom yourself to stepping out of your comfort zone and making things happen, the greater the likelihood is you will become more outgoing and proactive in general.