Healthy Mind: Boredom

Image credit: kaffil28

Have you ever seen a child trying to explain something, but they're so excited the words come out in a tumbling jumble, often with their hands twisting and waving as if to help the words take flight?

That's us too. That's our brains in action trying to be still, to be mindful, to be present in the moment, but we are crowded with todo lists, and upcoming plans. We are buffeted by emotions brought up by events past, or those yet to come. Perhaps we, too, are excited and suffused with joy. Or perhaps we are overwhelmed, anxious and depressed.


It's hard to be still when everything else in our head is clamouring for attention!

We need a healthy mind. Like a child, or an enthusiastic puppy, it needs exercise, and discipline. It needs boundaries and a chance to be creative. It also needs a chance to get comfortable with boredom.

Er, what? Boredom?! Yes indeed.

Imagine a world where you have time to be bored. Where there's nothing else more pressing in the moment and you can just... be. You can sit down, or lie down, or stand up. You can listen to the sound of your breath, feel for the beat of your heart. You can close your eyelids and let your eyes relax. Your mind can switch off. You can be bored. How glorious! How delightful!

What's better than that? Boredom usually begets creativity. That unsolvable problem which has been worrying you, suddenly has a solution. The niggling pile of chores you've been procrastinating no longer seem tedious and overwhelming, but just a continuation of this drifting 'boredom' state.

Don't confuse boredom with being stuck in a rut. If you have to do the same things over and over again which take your attention up, that's not being bored, that's being beaten with a dull stick. Liven things up: set yourself challenges as you repeat your tasks. Can you do it quicker, or more accurately, or in a different colour, or standing up instead of sitting down, or vice versa.

Boredom. Embrace it!