Prompt: Write about what your hands have taught you.
The prompt for today, June 3rd, 2026, is: Write about what your hands have taught you.
I think what I want to say is that I can’t think without my hands.
When I was studying philosophy at university, I thought that my mind—my brain—was what did the bulk of the work for me. I thought I could be that person whose life and work were done with their head, essentially.
But as I’ve gone on, graduated, moved into the quote-unquote real world, and haven’t really read or studied philosophy since, what I’ve learned about myself over the last twenty years is that my hands are what do the thinking. I think through my hands.
If I think back to university, I had to take notes in order to understand what was going on. Going to lectures was really important, even though I missed a lot of them—regretfully. But taking notes was essential for me.
When I’m working on an idea now, doing it with my hands is still helpful. Working with CAD is great, and I do a lot of it, but I have to print something to really see it. That’s part of why I’m excited to work with clay: I can manipulate it and create something before taking it into CAD.
When I have an idea, or I want to work through something more esoteric, I need to write it out. Writing by hand has always been more fruitful—or more potent—for me than typing.
Even being a STEM teacher fits into this. Initially, I thought I would be a very good English teacher, but I’ve settled into this role of being a STEM teacher, and that’s worked out well for me. I like doing the experiments before giving them to the students. Once I’ve done something with my own hands, I can see how it works. I can think through how to build a marble run with cardboard, given the limited amount of cardboard, tools, and scissors we have. I can’t just envision it.
So I think my hands are what do the thinking for me. I think that’s what they’ve taught me.
And I guess the workshop belongs here too. I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned it in this three-minute rant.
Hannah has said before—and she often says it when she walks in there—”This is Ali’s mind.”
When you walk into that workshop and open the door, it’s like opening the gate to my mind, where everything is laid bare. I can move things around. I can spin them, cut them, shape them, put them together, take them apart, and try again.
Working with my hands is really important for me to process the world.
I feel like that was a bit of a roundabout chat, but there we go. Probably because I didn’t write any of it down and just spoke.
See? I didn’t use my hands.
Anyway, you can find this prompt and more at Letters’ Lounge, www.letterslounge.com. I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please leave a link to your own reflections, ideas, audio journal, blog post, or whatever form they take.
Talk to you tomorrow, folks.
This transcript was lightly cleaned up with the help of AI to improve readability while preserving the original voice and intent of the recording.
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