Your Fear Of Boredom Is Preventing Your Peace

How often do you allow yourself to be bored?

And how often do you feel at peace?

More likely than not, the answers to those two questions are similar or the same because our ability to be bored is directly correlated to how much peace we can experience in life.

In today’s world, we are constantly bombarded by thousands of advertisements a day, inundated by other peoples’ opinions, and surrounded by technology and personal devices designed to keep our attention for profit.

Everyone and everything is competing for the most precious resource on earth… your attention.

The more we give our attention and awareness to external things, such as likes on a post or material possessions, the less awareness and attention is left for ourselves.

We can only be at peace when we bring back our attention and awareness to the present moment without being seduced by external distractions. Most of us have not experienced much of this because it is not socially acceptable or popular, and it feels undeniably uncomfortable since we have been conditioned to always be doing something.

Being at peace is quite foreign to the majority of us. When we transition to learning how to do so, our uncomfortable experience is most commonly known as boredom.

We grew up being taught that boredom is bad. If we are bored, it means we are lazy, unproductive, and entitled. If we have time to be bored, we aren’t doing enough.

These beliefs cause us to feel shame, guilt, and unworthiness when we experience boredom, so most of us do not allow ourselves to be bored and frantically fill up this space with external distractions.

But what if boredom isn’t any of those things?

What if our fear of being bored is causing us to feel like we have to constantly be overworking to the point of burnout? What if it is causing us to feel like we need to always be thinking about the past or the future and never be present?

What if the only time we can actually rest is when we allow ourselves to be bored? What if the only time we are present is when we allow ourselves to be bored? What if within boredom is the peace we have been seeking?

What is your relationship with boredom? How do you view it? Are your beliefs about boredom your own beliefs or ones that have been taught to you by others? What would happen if you let go of those beliefs? How would you feel if you let go of the fear of being bored?

How would you feel if you allowed yourself to be bored without judgment?

When we take a closer look at what boredom is objectively, we come to discover that boredom isn’t bad.

Boredom is space.

Space for rest. Space for joy. Space for peace. Space for new insights that change our lives. Space for growth. Space for infinite possibilities. Space to just be.

If we are never bored, then we are always busy doing things but never creating space for what we truly want, like peace, love, and joy (all of which can only be experienced in the present).

If we are too busy being busy, we will only repeat what we’ve always done and get what we’ve always gotten.

Without allowing ourselves to be bored, we can’t fully rest because when we do “rest,” we’re thinking about all the things we still need to do or regretting the past, putting our bodies in a state of stress when we are supposed to be recovering.

The only way out of this vicious cycle is to let go of our thinking and beliefs about boredom and allow ourselves to be bored.

It will undoubtedly feel uncomfortable, but so does exercising our bodies. The discomfort is where the growth happens. Discomfort is not bad. It simply means change.

Discomfort is temporary, but the peace you feel is infinite.

This doesn’t mean that we are supposed to try to be bored all the time. It means not being afraid of it so that when we do have time to do nothing or to rest, we can do so without guilt and finally feel peace.

The next time you catch yourself feeling the urge to distract yourself with anything when you have time to do nothing, try being bored to see what happens.

Observe how the mind kicks and screams and what it says to you when experiencing boredom. Hear those thoughts, but do not listen to them; look beyond them to see what you find.

It may just be everything you’ve been looking for this whole time.

With All My Love,

Joseph

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