Meditation for July 13th, 2016
Boredom Will Save Your Life
People will try anything in their power to not be bored. The great savior of our time is the smart phone. Perusing social media, playing games and surfing the net wherever you are. No more standing there staring at nothing like a video game character whose player went to the bathroom.
Waiting for things is the most boring thing I can think of. Waiting at an airport, waiting for the bus, waiting for someone to finish smoking, waiting for rain and waiting for a response text are some of the spaces of time that are the most boring.
If you don’t like something, it is boring. If you don’t understand something, it is even more boring. Boredom is lonely. Boredom is wanting to be anywhere than where you are. That even means the time it is when you are bored.
People fear boredom so much that they inundate themselves with busy work to stave off boredom. People are driving all over the city, texting, calling, getting coffee and trying to stay not bored. They lead more stressful lives, can’t sleep and even have cognitive issues with thought. Basically, not being bored makes you stupid and a tweaker.
Trying not to be bored will kill you.
Trying not to be bored also makes you really boring.
Boredom has it’s benefits. Technology and how we find entertainment now days have made it especially hard for us to become bored, but maybe it’s time to force yourself to be bored.
Daydreaming can make you actually creative
Just staring out the window and looking at nothing will actually get the creative juices work. Nothing distracting like TV, computer or radio to take your thoughts away, but just good ole being inside your head.
This is why some of the most creative people that have lived have lived when there wasn’t even electricity. Edison made people predictable and boring when he invented the light bulb.
If you have a creative block, go sit on the side of the road and just watch cars go by.
Boredom is another word for mindfulness
Being bored is exactly what they mean by meditation. Sitting there and there is nothing to do, nobody to see, nothing but you and yourself inside your head. This is where your ability to get to know yourself really kicks in gear, but most people are afraid that when they go on a blind date with themselves they will be a creep who talks to much about themselves and will want to go dutch.
Being bored is a great way to learn humility. Set yourself to right size. You either think you’re the big grand pubah, or you are a slimy little piece of shit. A lot of us think we’re both of those things at the same time. Bore yourself to death and shed some of those misconceptions about yourself.
Bertrand Russell said once, “A generation that cannot endure boredom will be a generation of little men, of men unduly divorced from the slow process of nature, of men in whom every vital impulse slowly withers as though they were cut flowers in a vase.”
Literally you can bore yourself to sleep
Boredom is so relaxing that you will fall asleep. You could go to the gym three times a day, run yourself hectic with a busy schedule and help everyone you meet moving, but if you aren’t bored by bed time, your head will be so spun that she will just keep you awake, then you grab your phone to check Facebook and nine hours later…
Lying in the dark staring at the ceiling and seeing shapes in the texture will actually bore you to sleep. Thinking about the fifteen things on your to-do list tomorrow and your regrets for the things you didn’t get to that day is only going to keep you up.
Time will have more meaning
Boredom can remind you that you can be better on how you deal with time. Sitting in an uncomfortable position scrolling RPG forums so that your phone can charge at the same time while there is clean laundry to be put away is a really bad use of time. Boredom is this sign that time is being wasted.
Boredom also slows time down. Being bored will make your life seem a little longer. Going to shows or flying down a zip line through trees like an Ewok on a stolen 74-Z Speeder Bike will only speed up your journey to your last breath, so slow down and watch paint dry.
Arthur Schopenhauer once said, “If life – the craving for which is the very essence of our being – were possessed of any positive intrinsic value, there would be no such thing as boredom at all: mere existence would satisfy us in itself, and we should want for nothing.” All this means is that depressed people are right, there is no meaning to life at all and depression is just boredom to the nth degree.
So next time you are bored, cherish it. Put away the phone, the computer, the video games, the books, the music and just be bored. It is saving your life.