The Beauty of Boredom

I've been working a lot from my abode in Cyberjaya lately, because it is quiet and free from distractions. The only 'distractions' I get there are my collection of books. I'm getting into a routine now of 2 hours work before breakfast, followed by a 3-hour break for life maintenance activities and then after that there's a continuous session of work lasting up to 6 hours. That brings me to dinner time. (I usually skip lunch).

Not having to go for lunch is a great time-saver. Your work is not interrupted and best of all, you get to avoid the mad lunch-hour crowd. Two meals a day is more than sufficient for me. My life is simple and 'boring'.

Which brings me to today's topic: boredom. Why do we get bored? Why do we label someone else 'boring' when they don't interest us? What does that say about us?

Boredom is actually very interesting. What causes boredom? Whenever we feel slightly bored, we know that the mind is simply throwing tantrums. It is seeking some sort of quick gratification. A stimuli-lacking brain throws up a feeling in us called 'bored'--it is a signal that prompts us to seek out some new object of pleasure. Just like how the stomach grovels when it needs food, boredom is just mental hunger.

The mind feeds on sensory input. But it abhors input of a similar kind. It seeks variety, fresh information and novel experiences. Once it latches onto something, it revels in its pleasurable sensation until it feels bored again. Monotony bores the mind, no matter how intense and satisfying its first taste is. Imagine the first bite of a delicious piece of cake, or the first sip of cool beer on a hot day--the pleasure disappears as soon as it comes. When one sees that, one understands what Buddhists call 'dukkha' - or the 'unsatisfactoriness' that's inherent in all things.

Boredom is simply a very 'harmless' kind of suffering. I treat boredom itself as a subject of mindfulness whenever it arises. If you do that, you'll realize that even that feeling of boredom is impermanent! It goes away as fast as it arises. By simply acknowledging it, boredom takes a bow and leaves the stage. Impermanence is a sword that cuts both ways. Everything that's pleasurable never lasts but neither do things that are painful. They too go away if we allow them to.

More often than not, we foolishly cling to things because we fail to see their inherent characteristic of impermanence. One might ask: isn't this 'everything is impermanent' philosophy a very pessimistic and negative view of life? Is ignorance bliss? Perhaps, until reality hits you finally: cold and hard.

When one is a surfer, one sees each rising wave as an opportunity to ride, knowing very well that it lasts only momentarily. The surfer feels an equanimity and joy from harnessing the energy of these waves. One doesn't just sit by the shore, lamenting the impermanence of waves. Impermanence is part and parcel of nature's beauty.

When one grasps this essential fact, one can never feel bored. Boredom rises and falls like a wave, to make way for another feeling; and that feeling shall also rise and fall away like the one before and after it.

Just like how one stands by the edge of the sea, admiring the might waves that break on its shore, one can 'enjoy' boredom in a similar way. And such is the beauty of boredom.