Boredom as a Spiritual Practice

Boredom is a state of mind in which one interprets one’s environment as dull, tedious and lacking stimuli.  There is an inherent hopelessness in boredom; people will expend considerable effort to prevent or remedy it, yet in many circumstances it is accepted as an inevitable suffering to be endured.—Wikipedia

             Does this seem like an odd title for this issue?  Actually, since I’m struggling with boredom at the moment, I thought I’d explore what it is for me, how it affects my spiritual life, and how I might work with boredom in a productive way.

From one standpoint, I could label boredom as something negative, as the definition above suggests.  When I’m bored, it makes me feel separate from the world, from others, even from my own life.  Although there are lots of things I can do that I normally enjoy doing, nothing seems interesting.  I’m noticing the estrangement that arises, and I’ve been curious about it all day.  Normally I might spend time judging it or criticizing myself, but I’ve decided to be curious instead.  When I’m curious, the separation from everything and everyone is not as severe, and I allow myself to just experience my boredom and see what it will tell me.

As I notice my boredom, I notice my restlessness. I wander from reading a book, reading the paper, having some tea, running errands.  Ordinarily I enjoy these activities, but today I feel as if they are substitutes for what I really want.  At the back of my mind, I realize that my boredom is just a symptom of what’s really going on.

We’ve been waiting for a couple of days to hear back from the construction company about a problem we have with the house being built next to ours.  We have to negotiate a change, but we don’t know if we’ll be successful, and in some ways we are at the mercy of the company, since what they’ve done is not illegal, but rather aesthetically disappointing.  As the day has gone on, I realize that my boredom is disguising what I’m really experiencing; although I’m trying to be patient and come from a place of “not knowing,” I’m not being successful.  Instead, I’m annoyed, frustrated, anxious, disappointed and concerned.  (I could probably list a few other emotions, but you know where I’m coming from!)  My ideal spiritual practice would encourage me to be open, reflective and patient.  But the spiritual practice that is not separate from my everyday life, the one that calls me to a higher level and also calls me to be present to whatever is arising, reminds me that my boredom is trying to dull all these other emotions that are bubbling up and calling to be tended to.  So I’m noticing that frustration and annoyance are pacing in my psyche, and I allow myself to simply let them arise.  When I allow myself to fully experience them, they dissolve, and there are just fingers typing on the keyboard, a smile at the silly dog I selected for this issue, and compassion for myself and all the people in the world who are wrestling to get what they want, when they want it.  How many of us do you think there are?!

Suddenly, boredom has become awareness, and I expect that until we hear from the construction company, I will have moments of all those difficult emotions.  But I will suffer less as I realize that we do have the ability/power to follow-up with the construction company, be firm and persuasive and even then, accept whatever is decided.

Meanwhile, in this moment I am grateful for a practice that allows me to live freely, lighten my grip on those things I want, and appreciate that when space is created, I can breathe in and be comforted by the Divine energy.  When I’m less constricted I can think of how to be helpful to my husband as we wait for a decision, reach out to others who could use a friendly phone call, and write to a friend I’ve haven’t talked to in a while.  I can also appreciate how lucky I am to be able to read a wonderful book, meditate, shop for household items and soon live in a home where we hope to create beauty and sacred space.