Nobody escapes boredom.

Few look forward to it. Fewer, still, are enamoured of it. Dostoyevsky called it "a bestial and indefinable affliction". The Russian poet Joseph Brodsky described it as a "psychological Sahara" – a mental state where the mind wanders aimlessly unable to find an anchor, to come to terms with the infiniteness of time. If boredom is painful, it is also a pain one must learn to endure and endure well for it teaches us humility and compassion. Tedium is an important precursor to creativity since it creates in us the need to seek anew, to wander along strange untrodden paths, to daydream…

To have 'nothing to do' is not all that bad; it may as well be that unassuming preface to something wonderful. As Kierkegaard once said: "The gods were bored; therefore they created human beings."

Often, we end up doing so many things just because we are bored. Truly bored. Had we not been so awfully bored, we would have just gone about our daily lives – waking up every morning, going about our business, learning to love our chores…As Brodsky said: "Boredom is your window…Once this window opens, don't try to shut it; on the contrary, throw it wide open."

If you happen to be bored today or, if my post has bored you to death (I hope not 🙂 ) consider for a moment how boredom works upon your mind and to where all it leads you. Throw your window open. Wide open.

Or, consider some DIY-ing, may be 🙂

Here are a few boredom-inspired projects:

A quick poster for the kitchen (below):

           

And this, when I was both bored and hungry:

 

And finally, some Ikebana for my Zen table:

Enjoy your boredom