“A subject for a great poet would be God’s boredom after the seventh day of creation.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
I woke up this morning thinking about Boredom. Everywhere I turned last night, it seemed people were bored. I couldn’t bring myself to watch more senseless television. I called a friend who was trying to have a quiet evening at home, so the conversation ended quickly. I turned to Facebook. Everything seemed to have a negative slant. One friend posted “Well TV definitely sucks tonight … so I guess I will sew and crochet, and edit pics!” I texted a friend to combat my own boredom. How’s your Friday night, I asked? Back came the answer: “Boring! Cap B”. I poured another glass of wine, put on my headphones and listened to some music. That didn’t really drown out the boredom either.
I think boredom is one of the most difficult of all our emotions, and it really sucks the lifeblood right out of happiness.
I wrote about boredom when I returned from my trip on Party Girl. There, I was forced to sit in my boredom. I had no choice, and with mindfulness, I became quite comfortable with it. I’m a bit disturbed by that fact that I was struggling with boredom last night, and have been for a while now …
But what are the alternatives to boredom …?
I thought this morning, I’d turn to Thích Nhất Hạnh, to see if he had any inspiring words on working with boredom outside of our habitual, mind numbing ways … He writes:
“One of the biggest drawbacks to relying on electronics as a primary refuge – the place we go to be entertained, to feel “good” – is that we end up feeling not happier, but actually less happy. Electronics can be a constructive tool when used mindfully; but so often we use electronic media and games to distract ourselves from uncomfortable feelings like anxiety, depression, anger, loneliness, boredom, etc. We use media in an attempt to cover over the painful feelings inside us, to fill up the feeling of a void in our lives. The more we habitually rely on electronics (just as with drugs, or mindless eating) to numb ourselves to what’s happening, the more our problems will persist and proliferate.”
“That’s not to say that we should sit around obsessing and ruminating over our problems, either. Meditation – sitting quietly, calming the activities of our body and mind, and enjoying feeling our aliveness as the breath moves in and out – is the most effective way to clear our mind and make a breakthrough in whatever places we’re feeling stuck.”
“Total relaxation is the secret to enjoying sitting meditation. I sit with my spine upright, but not rigid; and I relax all the muscles in my body. Breathing in, I bring my attention to one part of my body; breathing out, I smile with gratitude and love to that part of my body. For example, I breathe in and I bring my attention to my face. On my face there are about 300 muscles, and whenever I get worried, angry or sad, these 300 muscles harden, and anyone who looks at me can see that I’m tense.”
“But if while breathing in I can be aware of my face, and breathing out I can smile to my face, then that tension immediately dissipates. It’s almost like a miracle. In just a few breaths we can feel peace, happiness, and relaxation on our face. Our face becomes light, fresh, like the kind of flower it was before. Every face is a flower.”
“After breathing three or four times with “breathing in I am aware of my face; breathing out I smile to my face,” then I can breathe in and bring my awareness to the muscles in my shoulders, because our shoulder muscles are often tense. As I breathe out, I relax and smile with my shoulders. Gradually we can move through the whole body, so after just a few minutes we can already normalize our body so it feels light and relaxed.”
“This is something everyone can do in the first minutes of sitting, and not only when we are in the meditation hall. Wherever we sit, we can sit beautifully, just like we are doing sitting meditation, and we will feel stability and freedom. Sitting down to eat or do paperwork, we sit upright and relaxed.”
Let us sit like the Buddha.
“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.”
Hummm, maybe I need to establish an evening meditation time for myself ….. For it is said that boredom always proceeds a period of great creativity. Think about your childhood, all of the games that got invented to combat the dredges of boredom ….
Boredom with a Capital B …. I’ll be ready for you the next time you strike … Breathing a smile to my face 🙂
