We live in a fast-paced world where we've forgotten the beauty of stillness – sitting in silence without any background music. Sometimes, all we need is to sit with boredom and tap into the creativity of our inner self.
Thanks so much! I totally agree - call it what you want overstimulation, lack of attention, difficulty focusing - there’s just so much going on nowadays.
It’s worth it sometimes to just sit back sometimes to see the whole picture.
I totally agree with this. But I don't think we've forgotten the beauty of silence necessarily, but we believe we've found something better than doing nothing
Stillness is where the brain stitches scattered moments into meaning. Without it, we’re just recording life without digesting it.
Last week I wrote about the exact same thing at the Glorious Fail: “What if I told you the cure for overthinking costs $0 and takes 5 minutes.” So many similarities. The beautiful nothing that changes everything.
And strategic boredom changes everything and it’s a beautiful thing.
But only if we dare to stay long enough to hear the truth beneath the noise.
My trick is to leave my phone when i go outside when i do runs/walks. This is my space to think through my worries and anxieties. Hundred percent of the time. Id come back feeling better and sorted
This is also what we did as humans for such a long time, sitting around a fire, looking at the sky, existing. You can’t take away something so engrained in our DNA without consequences on an existential level. Great article!
Love this essay! Boredom isn’t emptiness at all — it’s companionship with the self. I feel it most on walks without my phone, when the first wave of restlessness softens into a quiet kind of truth-telling. Your snow globe image is spot on — I’ve lived that shift from chaos to clarity. Thank you for naming that doing nothing is not nothing at all. It’s the work of coming home within.
100% recommend walking without headphones, or going to the park and just sit there and do nothing. it’s so easy to use music too, as distraction. We think it’s better bc it’s not technically social media but we’re still absorbing information and not spending our deserved time in silence. It’s pretty automatic, or at least it was to me, but now i try not to listen to music all day long everywhere i go and instead rest from the overstimulation. Plus it makes you appreciate it more once you do listen to music, or podcasts you might not even be paying attention to if you just use them as noise
An extremely interesting read. I like how you wrote in another post about how writing is a way to process the input. The human brain is a system that requires healthy levels of input and enough processing time. We’re walking computers :) thanks for helping me become more discerning about the energies I allow into my head.
Wilfred Bion calls this the Alpha-Function. Our way to digest and metabolize raw experiences and feelings (beta elements) into meaningful, thinkable symbolic elements (alpha elements) that can be stored as memory, used for conscious thought, and integrated into a coherent sense of self.
My favorite quotes paraphrased are “if you’re not comfortable in your own company you’re just in bad company” and to “be your own best friend” make internal presence a happily enjoyed time of internal homeostasis without angst for outside stimuli coming in.
As a neurodivergent individual, I found this article to be particularly helpful. When the brain is constantly processing so much information simultaneously, it can be easy to lose the sense of clarity that we all need in order to stay connected to ourselves (avoid intrapersonal isolation) and grounded in a sense of true purpose & meaning in our lives.
We live in a fast-paced world where we've forgotten the beauty of stillness – sitting in silence without any background music. Sometimes, all we need is to sit with boredom and tap into the creativity of our inner self.
Loved it ! Keep writing ✨🎗️
Thanks so much! I totally agree - call it what you want overstimulation, lack of attention, difficulty focusing - there’s just so much going on nowadays.
It’s worth it sometimes to just sit back sometimes to see the whole picture.
I totally agree with this. But I don't think we've forgotten the beauty of silence necessarily, but we believe we've found something better than doing nothing
So interesting to read about the scientific reasoning about something we intuitively know to be true. ✨
Thanks so much!
Stillness is where the brain stitches scattered moments into meaning. Without it, we’re just recording life without digesting it.
Last week I wrote about the exact same thing at the Glorious Fail: “What if I told you the cure for overthinking costs $0 and takes 5 minutes.” So many similarities. The beautiful nothing that changes everything.
And strategic boredom changes everything and it’s a beautiful thing.
But only if we dare to stay long enough to hear the truth beneath the noise.
Beautifully said, Eleni!
Appreciate it Lynn 😊
My trick is to leave my phone when i go outside when i do runs/walks. This is my space to think through my worries and anxieties. Hundred percent of the time. Id come back feeling better and sorted
This is brilliant.
Thank you!
This is also what we did as humans for such a long time, sitting around a fire, looking at the sky, existing. You can’t take away something so engrained in our DNA without consequences on an existential level. Great article!
Love this essay! Boredom isn’t emptiness at all — it’s companionship with the self. I feel it most on walks without my phone, when the first wave of restlessness softens into a quiet kind of truth-telling. Your snow globe image is spot on — I’ve lived that shift from chaos to clarity. Thank you for naming that doing nothing is not nothing at all. It’s the work of coming home within.
My kids will come to me “I’m bored daddy”
“Good” I say.
Now, they will often go find something creative to do which is great… but now I’m wondering if I can make them board-ER.
Next time I’ll say “come sit with me” and we’ll go stare at something ❤️
100% recommend walking without headphones, or going to the park and just sit there and do nothing. it’s so easy to use music too, as distraction. We think it’s better bc it’s not technically social media but we’re still absorbing information and not spending our deserved time in silence. It’s pretty automatic, or at least it was to me, but now i try not to listen to music all day long everywhere i go and instead rest from the overstimulation. Plus it makes you appreciate it more once you do listen to music, or podcasts you might not even be paying attention to if you just use them as noise
An extremely interesting read. I like how you wrote in another post about how writing is a way to process the input. The human brain is a system that requires healthy levels of input and enough processing time. We’re walking computers :) thanks for helping me become more discerning about the energies I allow into my head.
So important!
Wilfred Bion calls this the Alpha-Function. Our way to digest and metabolize raw experiences and feelings (beta elements) into meaningful, thinkable symbolic elements (alpha elements) that can be stored as memory, used for conscious thought, and integrated into a coherent sense of self.
Sounds like 2 angles of the same thing
My favorite quotes paraphrased are “if you’re not comfortable in your own company you’re just in bad company” and to “be your own best friend” make internal presence a happily enjoyed time of internal homeostasis without angst for outside stimuli coming in.
As a neurodivergent individual, I found this article to be particularly helpful. When the brain is constantly processing so much information simultaneously, it can be easy to lose the sense of clarity that we all need in order to stay connected to ourselves (avoid intrapersonal isolation) and grounded in a sense of true purpose & meaning in our lives.
Loved this one.
It validates the view that it's a form of discomfort even anger.
Bored is also an energy, I guess.
Being mindful in that discomfort isn't easy.....until it gets fun and useful...and easy.
I tell people with change strategies....2 weeks....then we'll see
After reading this, I am inspired to find boredom in my day today. ✨Thank you.!
Today I posted that I wish I came with an instruction manual. This would be one of the key chapters - thank you!