Say yes to boredom

I remember as a kid being so bored on Sunday afternoons. Especially so in the winter months when it was cold, dark and rainy outside making it next to impossible to be outdoors. From behind the window looking out on the world there seemed very little to do besides wait for Monday and school which was a tad more interesting than nothing.

Boredom is not the preserve of the bone idle. Even if it was it would venerate idleness to greater heights. Learning to be bored is a life lesson. Boredom is a state of being we are meant to believe is indicative of a lack of imagination.

I'd like to offer a counter view. Boredom is in fact the road to wisdom. By embracing a state of nothingness we potentially embark on an inner journey of self discovery.

Boredom is the doorway to new insights.

In the last few days I have been able to slow down for the first time this year. By slow down I mean I have no where to be and mostly nothing to do. No plans have been made. There is nothing readily available to occupy me except for myself. When I have been on the life/work treadmill for a long period of time I get out of the practice of simply being. My transition from doing to being is mediated by a period of boredom. This lasts until I can adjust myself. Until my imagination fires up. Until I listen to what I love and get myself together to reconnect with what matters to me in that moment.

Now there will be some reading this who will say, just flip the switch - why does it take time to go from doing to being? And I'd say, most people conflate doing what they want with 'being'. Without transitioning through a state of boredom or awareness I don't think doing what you want is 'being'. It is another form of busyness.

Busyness is a distracted state of doing what we think is expected of us, seeking approval or wanting to please others, of buying into a story of acquisition and/or aspiration.

Knowing yourself sufficiently to be in a state of being takes more than a recognition of external influences. It requires a deep relationship, listening and dialogue with the soul. That doesn't come easily. Hence in my case the meeting of boredom first.

From this perspective boredom is to be welcomed as it is the precursor to something more mysterious, deep and life enhancing than a linear experience of busyness and doing.

This is why I say yes to boredom.