I'm reminded almost daily on how much work it takes to keep up with the times. Without a doubt today is more important than ever to adapt and consume information as fast as possible to even be considered an effective sapiens. However, sometimes in the quest of information, in that pursuit of growth we tend to forget to stop for a second and balance it out with some nothings.

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Enduring Boredom?

   I guess this sounds quite painful, as if there is something to be gained from sitting around doing nothing, but the truth is much more nuanced than that. Sitting alone in a room without distractions can be the first step into elevating our awareness of self. Many times distractions are nothing but loud noise that drowns emotions, ideas inside our head that need expression and conscious acknowledgement.

   In my view, the idea of spending some time without the typical distractions of the day to day sounds like a basic practice of "balance". It's understandable and desirable to be someone who seeks stimulation, who hungers knowledge and values interaction, but what if we are failing to archive properly said experiences? what if we are simply attempting to avoid being alone with our own thoughts, as if they will go away eventually?

We have all been there

   A difficult task laid before us that requires all of our attention, we attempt to shutdown all sources of possible distraction as to focus with surgical accuracy on the task at hand, but along comes boredom creeping up on us. Why is that? If our mind is engaged in an important mission, why then feel bored? technically it can be broken down to a lack of real stimuli, we are simply wired to search for stimulation and mundane activities can be the antithesis of entertainment, of stimulation.

   It is in this realization that I have to come to grips with the fact that the importance of a task, or even its necessity may not be enough to avoid boredom or keep it at bay. The question then becomes, Is there a good reason to welcome boredom?

There is an upside

   It might not be obvious because the times it has shown its face, we have archived the event as anything except byproduct of boredom. Let me ask you this - How many times have you been doing something mundane, something boring, like folding laundry and the answer to a question, the solution to a problem or even where you left something all of the sudden pops into your head?

   It's become almost my go-to method for remembering things, like where I placed my passport after my last trip. The task of folding my laundry may actually allow such event, such memory to spring back into consciousness. It's as if the subconscious needs the room, needs an available route to send signals outside of its ethereal cage.

There is always something else

   Designed to distract us, design to engulf our attention as if it's the only thing that will ever matter. It's exactly this "flaw" if I may call it so, that social media exploits. What I'm trying to say here is that it's not only normal that we are drawn in to virtual social interaction, its a updated primitive necessity of the conscious self looking for stimuli.

   We might have reached a point that being without a cellphone becomes a situation that gives us anxiety. Think about that for a second, if we are not distracted the whole time, if we are not stimulated, then something must be wrong. Our dependency is painfully obvious when you take a drive around town, look around you and see almost everyone looking down at their cellphones, simply because driving is quite mundane, it's second nature to most and requires less concentration (yes, this is debatable but I think my point stands).

So back to my proposition

   Do we actually need to schedule being bored? I guess the answer to me is yes, we do. We need to walk away from the cell phone, the computer, the ipad or whatever method of distraction we prefer and engage in some tried and true mundane tasks. Allow the brain to shift gears if you would, and allow the subconscious to send it's sometimes crucial smoke signals to the conscious surface.

   Personally I've been taking some walks, there is nothing too fancy about walking and staring at a leaf, but it has made a big difference in my cognition later on, even on the same day. I can't help but to wonder if the necessity for elastic thinking, for learning somewhat fast all these new technologies, all these revolutionary ideas will lead to one day having someone with a lab coat and a fancy title publishing a paper on "scheduling boredom to ensure our mental health".

   It would be a bit comical to hear a Doctor prescribe more of "doing nothing" to help me balance out my anxieties, but I would not be to surprised.... Would you?