This topic is one that seems to reoccurs to me a lot and take up some of my brain space, so I figure it's time to record some thoughts on it.

When we are kids, boredom is the enemy. We hate boredom. It's just so not fun. Walks in nature are boring, school is boring, a long car drive is boring. With kids today it almost seems like anytime spent away from a screen is boring. But that wouldn't be entirely fair to kids, because I'm sure a lot of us were the same way, despite the stories we tell ourselves about our past. Kids crave excitement and as soon as that excitement level drops even slightly—boring!

I think a lot of us maintain this attitude as we grow into adults. We avoid boring activities. Now that we're the ones in charge we can avoid them even better than we could as kids. Boredom for most of us is and remains a dirty word, something to be avoided at all costs. Some of us spend a lot of money to do so, constantly scheduling trips or buying things to keep our interest high.

Is this bad? Not necessarily. But it can be if we're not careful. I want to suggest that sometimes being bored is a very good thing.

^{Image by Pitsch from Pixabay}

If you read all of my posts, you've probably seen this story before. I tell it often because it's a good story. Neil Gaiman, who is one of the most successful authors in today's world, has a unique way of writing. He writes his books in longhand using a fountain pen for one thing, but that's not the unique thing I'm talking about. He goes to a cafe by himself with only a pen and notebook. He'll order a cup of tea and sit down and he will stay there all morning or all day or for several hours. His intention in doing this is to make himself bored. There is nothing to do there. No book to read, no Switch to play games on, no TV to watch, no people to talk with. It is boring.

But Neil knows a secret. The secret is ideas come from boredom. When he gets bored enough he opens his notebook and starts writing. Even if it is shit writing and only to entertain himself, it's still writing, and in doing that—trying to entertain himself—he stumbles across the ideas for his stories that he will expand upon and refine into novels, comic books, or short stories.

If you think that's extreme, it's really not. Many novelists practice a similar form of isolation designed to make them bored enough to write. As successful as he is, Stephen King still locks himself in his office every day from 7 until noon, forcing himself to become bored enough to write (often longhand with a fountain pen).

This really shouldn't be all that surprising. When we are constantly seeking stimulation and filling our heads with podcasts, TV shows, movies, conversation, we never really have time to create or examine our own thoughts. Take all that stimulation away and we actually have time to think. Which is often boring, but therein is how ideas are made. A question that creative people are constantly asked is "Where do your ideas come from?" It's impossible to answer. Everywhere and nowhere, but one critical component for almost everyone is boredom.

^{Image by Nato Pereira from Pixabay}

Meditation is a buzz word these days. Scientists have for several years now been hooking up monks to all kinds of gadgets and looking at the effects of meditation on their bodies and writing down all the benefits. Meditation has now become something advised you do by a doctor and pop culture tells us everyone should be doing it.

I've been meditating for over 20 years, doing a style of zazen (zen meditation) called shikantaza, so this increased social interest in meditation has amused me and fascinated me for awhile. It seems like almost everyone does try meditation at least once but they without fail quickly give it up and mutter almost the exact same excuse, a variation on: "It just isn't for me. I can't get my mind to be quiet."

Meditation is hard because meditation is boring. And that is precisely the point. It is boring on purpose. It is boring because boring is the only time when we aren't distracted and the only way to actually see ourselves for what we are. If that seems strange to you, I'd remind you that I am not looking at boredom with the negative image that we typically do. I am looking at it neutrally as a state of mind when we have no stimulation. That is exactly what we want for meditation.

Everyone has read about enlightenment. We all want it, even if most of us have absolutely no idea what it actually is. Well, the only way to get it is to be bored.

Now I don't mean to say meditation is easy if you embrace boredom. It's still tough when we go into it with the idea that our minds should be quiet so we try to force our minds to be quiet, which is not only impossible but like trying to smooth water ripples in a pond with our hand, makes them more noisy than ever. So yeah, it is hard. But our dislike of boredom is one of the main things that does make it hard for us.

^{Image by Pexels from Pixabay}

I recall reading a bit in Steve Job's autobiography about boredom. He loved walks and took an hour or two walk everyday while at work. Even after he became sick with cancer and thin as a rail, he still took his daily walks until he physically couldn't anymore. On his walks he didn't take his phone nor did he take an iPod and headphones. He wrote that he took his walks to be alone with his mind, not to fill his head with other peoples' words.

Neil Gaiman creates words in his boredom; in his, Steve Jobs created Apple and all the gadgets that we all use today (or gadgets inspired by them).

I had a buddy in university who would do the same. He'd walk for hours at night—sometimes even all night—making no stops to talk to people and not bringing anything to listen to or read. He was a musician and always said a lot of his song ideas came from these walks.

^{Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay}

I'm always thinking about these things. When I write haiku I am always listening to nothing. Eventually that nothing answers back with a haiku. Did I create it or did the void hand it to me? Either and both, perhaps—all I know is that boredom had something to do with it.

There is a lot of power in boredom and we should all embrace it more instead of running from it. The next time you are struggling with something to write for Hive, instead of just calling it "Writers's Block" and putting on a movie to inspire yourself, try going on a walk instead or doing something even more boring. It just may help.

(title graphic made by me in Photoshop using this image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay)

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David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.