I like to think of boredom as food that is specifically catered to my brain.
The more food that my brain eats, the stronger it becomes.
Resilience builds and the capacity for critical thinking and creativity expands.
Big corporations are scared of bored people.
What do bored people do?
At first there is silence and the urge to entertain oneself to run away from the uncomfortable clutch of consciousness. We have all heard of the study where people would rather shock themselves than stay in stillness, in nothingness, in silence. Big corporations have learned that keeping people entertained stops people from seeking out truth. What truth? Truth in the things that they sell, in the promises they make, and in the branding that adorns them.
A bored person is a person that will soon realize the “truth”. They are a person that observes and concludes that buying less is more. They are a person that realizes that trends are just societal constructs used as tools to break into their wallets and weaken their mental resilience. They are a person that emphasizes with everyone around them because they have observed the implications of force fed advertisements and hive-mind mentalities that they too have fallen victim to. Don’t deny.
Bored people start a revolution by beginning the change within themselves. They create and redirect attention to what matters.
Boredom begets thoughts begets revelations begets change.
But as long as no one is bored…
As long as everyone feels too tired even for stillness…
As long as stress crumbles all will to operate manually instead of on auto-pilot…
The people stay manipulated and divided with hacked minds that they can no longer access. The brain sits in their own head and they can’t even use it. The mind stays neglected and thus, nothing can beget positive change.
So I let it eat. And eat and eat and eat. Boredom is to the brain as whole foods are to the body. Your brain is running on processed data - try giving it something a bit more natural.
Dr. Arthur Brooks said that when we are bored and are engaged with nothing, we begin to think about big existential questions about our lives. It makes us uncomfortable - so we reach for the phone. But this isn’t the answer.
“One of the reasons we have such an explosion of depression and anxiety in our society today, is because people actually don’t know the meaning of their lives. We’re not even looking…”
- Dr. Arthur Brooks
When was the last time you walked through a city without looking at your phone? Ate a meal without a device or distraction? Sat on public transportation without a device or distraction? Urinate, poop, brush your teeth, drink your coffee, or just simply sat outside without a device or distraction?
When are your moments where you have a prolonged period of time - perhaps 15, 20, 30 minutes - that is dedicated to just you and no one else? Not someone’s podcast, not someone’s posts, not someone else’s creation - just you.
When will you dedicate time you?
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