I woke up in a frantic gotta-wake-up-gotta-get-the-day-started kind of mood. I had nothing in particular planned but I couldn’t help but feel like whatever I did, I didn’t have a second to waste.
Almost instantly after I turned my alarm off, my mind started to run through all the possibilities of ways to fill my day. Sound like anyone else you know?
It was then that the message of yesterday’s Calm meditation started to sink in.
The theme was “boredom;” one I felt didn’t seem to apply to me because I legitimately can’t remember the last time I say felt “bored.” There’s always a project I can be working on, a new coffee shop (or brewery) I want to check out, a friend to see, a song to listen to.
My daily mindset has gone from FOMO to ITBB – Inability To Be Bored.
Then I realized when busyness, anxieties, and fear rule, boredom cannot prevail – and that’s not necessarily ideal. When your mind is constantly in “fight or flight” mode it does not allow you the privilege of boredom.
My daily mindset has gone from FOMO to ITBB – Inability To Be Bored.
To be bored can actually be a blessing. To have nothing standing in the way of you and a clear mind is a gift. A quote from Jon Kabat-Zinn (founder of mindfulness-based stress reduction) really hit home: “When you pay attention to boredom, it gets unbelievably interesting.”
When you’re mindful to the thoughts that arise when you allow yourself to be bored, you’ve opened up space for the truth – YOUR truth – to run wild.
Does sitting in boredom (AKA stillness) make you uncomfortable because of the silence? Why? Is there a thought or idea that you can’t shake off? Why? Is there a person or conversation you had with them that keeps playing on repeat? Why?
“When you pay attention to boredom, it gets unbelievably interesting.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn
This small but radical shift in your perception of this stillness is what can take meditation from being a boring chore to something entirely transformative.
Am I suggesting you abandon all duties, responsibilities, hobbies, relationships etc. to sit in silence + hope that these truths come to you? If you could see my self-imposed To-Do list piling up you would know that that’s absolutely not the case.
But it doesn’t hurt to reframe your thinking around allowing yourself the time (+ energy) to be bored every once in a while.
When was the last time you were truly bored? When was the last you let yourself be bored?
