I’m as guilty of these changes as anyone. However, I think it helps that I still do things with my hands (work outside, knit, play the piano, etc.). I’m at least reminded that there’s another way of doing and looking at things.

A week later, I wear my shoes and am both amazed and saddened. Why isn’t mastery the norm anymore? Can we have mastery in items which were once a “by hand task” (i.e. knitting, sewing, writing) and are now produced by machine and thus require less planning or thought because it is both fast and “cheap” (i.e. digitial photos vs film and development)? I’m not saying that there aren’t masters of these both by hand or machine, but why does it seem to me that there is less mastery?

Am I improving on the little details? It’s getting better. In some areas I had become blind and deaf to them without the advantages of alternate senses taking over to tell me of the problems. I’m taking a few minutes each day to evaluate and reevaluate.

It will be a lifelong challenge, and one I look forward to.