Boredom Is Good

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If you’re reading this, you’re probably bored so I’ll keep it short. The spiritual view of boredom is it’s good when it enters your life. Boredom is a transitional state, a harbinger of the next stage of your personal growth. If you understand its wisdom, you can use it to fuel self-reflection or spark your creativity.

We all experience boredom. Whilst unpleasant, it's only a real problem when it becomes chronic and leads to destructive behaviour, like substance abuse, unnecessary risk taking or when protracted feelings of apathy causes disconnection with family and friends.

There’s plenty of science devoted to studying boredom. If you’re still bored by the end of reading this post, the links below encapsulate a few of the findings and some of the scientific theories on boredom.

All these theories are great, but if you’re practical like me, I just want to know how to make it go away. What am I supposed to do when I’m bored?

The answer from the ancient mystics is nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Just relax and experience it.

What? That doesn’t sound right. The reason I’m bored is precisely because nothing is happening! I want more excitement in my life, to feel alive again. Everything is so dull and tedious, and you want me to continue to do nothing? It doesn’t make sense.

The suffering of boredom arises because you don’t understand the truth of impermanence, that everything in the universe changes and nothing in your life is permanent. Your pain comes from rejecting this seemingly “pessimistic” Buddhist view. But if you reflect on it, it's clearly true. What is born will die. Every cell in your body, every romantic relationship you develop, all those feelings of joy you experience is in a constant state of flux and changes. This ignorance of the universal law of impermanence, combined with our clinging attachment to pleasure and aversion to unpleasantness, is at the root of all our suffering.

Understanding the wisdom of impermanence is a powerful antidote to most of our everyday problems. The positive aspect of impermanence also means that all the crap stuff in your life will eventually change and evolve. The more we accept this truth, the easier it is to let go of those pesky negative emotions and feelings. If you simply relax and embrace your boredom, it too will change naturally. 

Still not convinced? I have a question for you. When you say that nothing is happening, or you’re doing nothing, are you really doing nothing? Or are you thinking you should be doing something fun or meaningful. Are you feeling frustrated, angry, indifferent or worried about your boredom?

All these examples are you doing something! You may appear to be doing nothing in particular, but you are in fact unconsciously avoiding the unpleasant feelings of your boredom by day dreaming or filling your mind with more ‘interesting’ thoughts. It doesn’t work and has been proven by scientific studies which 'suggest that the more your mind wanders, the more bored you feel.’

Antidotes to Boredom

There are many ways to address short periods of boredom. Do a Google search if you’re bored. The two most effective ways to completely eradicate boredom in your life is the way of the mystic, and the way of the artist.

The way of the artist is to develop your creative passion. The activity you choose is up to you. It's simply a medium to express your individuality. Like a star on the horizon, your creativity is your internal guide and bedrock for your happiness. It provides a sense of direction for your life's journey. The way of the artist doesn't mean that you give up your day job or abandon your family like Gaugain did to paint in Tahiti. It simply means that your livelihood is placed in its proper perspective, to generate enough cash to follow your true passion.

When you work it's to pay bills and provide for your family. In many ways work is for others and not really for you. That paycheque you receive monthly is already spoken for by the tax man, the electricity guy and all the other people you need to pay just to live. If you're frugal or make a lot of cash, you may save a little for yourself or splurge on yet another possession or holiday. The initial satisfaction you experience soon fades as the hamster wheel of working continues spinning. We never completely escape the oppressive feeling that we have become a slave to our possessions and lifestyle. What a miserable existence.

“Creativity takes courage.”

— Henri Matisse

The artists' mind set is different. I know many artists and musicians who have endured menial jobs to pay the bills but are happy in the knowledge they now have the resources to invest in their creativity, to buy some new brushes for that canvas they're dying to paint. They don't identify themselves with their work, but with their creative passion.

Developing yourself through art is a life long journey of personal discovery and self expression. It provides meaning and purpose for your life. The only trap to avoid in developing your creative passion is to compare yourself to others. When ambition enters the art making process, you will have turned it into just another job, or become creatively blocked from actively seeking approval from others. Very few of the most innovative artists in history were ever financially "successful" in their time. Artists who became successful were rarely motivated by money but focused on the joy of creating.

The important thing to understand is your creativity carries the seed of your happiness. If you continue to nurture it throughout your life it becomes an inspiration for living. You won't need to give up your day job nor your personal commitments. It will be a something just for you - a productive form of meditation. You will never be bored.

In the Dalai Lama’s book, The Art of Happiness, he makes the point that happiness is essential on the spiritual path. If more people are happy in the world, there will be more peace, tolerance and generosity. In economic terms happy people are also more productive.

All highly creative people use the world and their experiences as a source of inspiration. Creative people know that inspiration can’t be forced but strikes suddenly and unexpectedly. When they are blocked creatively, they intuitively do something else, often immersing themselves in simple activities. This ability to let go of the task at hand, to chop and change, is often judged in our highly automated and structured world. But it’s this very ability to adapt that will become increasingly important in the future workplace as artificial intelligence takes over all the logical, analytical and repetitive jobs.

The way of the mystic is a deeper more fulfilling path. The canvas is your whole life. The medium is meditation, and your guiding star is the Dharma. Dharma is the art of living with purpose. The cool thing is you can do both. Many of the greatest spiritual teachers also engaged in artistic expression so it doesn’t mean that you need to choose one path over the other. The objective of life is to be happy.

Scientific studies on boredom:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/201209/what-is-boredom

https://www.inverse.com/article/5889-what-is-boredom-and-where-does-it-come-from

The Four Noble Truths

The Buddha's teachings on the Four Noble Truths are sometimes compared to a doctor diagnosing an illness and prescribing a treatment.

The First Noble Truth tells us what the illness is; the Second Noble Truth tells us what causes the illness; the Third Noble Truth holds out hope for a cure and the Fourth Noble Truth is the treatment plan.

What is Creativity?

Sunflowers - vincent van gogh

Many people equate artistic ability with creativity but you don’t have to be an “artist” to be creative. It’s a belief that’s simply untrue. Many of the world’s greatest innovations have come from the sciences and humanities.

We are all born innately creative, and exercise creativity throughout the day, but are often unaware we do it. We are blinded by the concept of what it means. None of us would exist if our primordial ancestors were unable to harness their creativity to fashion tools for their survival.

Creativity is a skill and talent to use your imagination to create something new - by identifying and solving problems, both esoteric and commonplace, from splitting the atom, to making a delicious meal from an empty fridge. Your friend, who makes you laugh from that quirky way of seeing life, is just as creative as any artist.

Creativity transcends the arts. When it comes to creativity, the activity in itself is incidental.

Creativity is that quality you bring to any activity you do that elevates the mundane into art and self-expression. It’s an attitude of openness, with yourself and the world around you.

In my years of teaching design, I observed that technical proficiency in art-making was not necessarily indicative of the creative capacity of a student. Many designs, whilst beautifully executed were often derivative in nature.  Conversely, some less technically gifted students produced work that was both unique and individual. Sadly these students were often insecure of their ideas or abilities because they compared themselves with the “artists” in the group, or images from the internet.

In some cases, the “artists” in the class were the most difficult students to teach. Their egocentricity hindered their learning, with many operating under the delusion that just because they were more technically skilful than their peers, they were somehow better and more creative. They missed the whole point of art and design, that technical skills are the outer expression of the underlying creative process.

Sir Ken Robinson, an education and creativity expert, identified three distinct but related concepts in the creative process - imagination, creativity and innovation.

“The first step is imagination, the capacity that we all have to see something in the mind’s eye. Creativity is then using that imagination to solve problems - call it applied imagination. Then innovation is putting that creativity into practice as applied creativity.” -Sir Ken Robinson, www.businessweek.com

Sir Ken Robinson further defines creativity as “the process of having original ideas that have value”. He posits the view that the current educational structure kills creativity, and requires a systemic change to meet the needs of 21st century.

The bestselling historian of 'Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind', Yuval Noah Harari, paints a bleak future for our children in the face of the escalating pace of technological change. In his new book, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, he predicts that artificial intelligence will give rise to a “useless class" of people as their jobs are replaced through greater automation.

“Children alive today will face the consequences. Most of what people learn in school or in college will probably be irrelevant by the time they are 40 or 50. If they want to continue to have a job, and to understand the world, and be relevant to what is happening, people will have to reinvent themselves again and again, and faster and faster.” - Yuval Noah Harari

However, he offers hope. Future jobs opportunities will be in areas where machines are unable to compete requiring creative, philosophical and empathetic skills. Employment prospects aside, the key to individual happiness lies in developing one’s creativity, to adapt to change, but more importantly, to provide people with meaning in their lives.

The Spiritual View of Creativity

Saraswati - Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, arts, wisdom and learning

“Anything can be creative - you bring that quality to the activity. Activity itself is neither creative nor uncreative. You can paint in an uncreative way. You can sing in an uncreative way. You can clean the floor in a creative way. You can cook in a creative way. Creativity is the quality that you bring to the activity you are doing. It is an attitude, an inner approach -- how you look at things.” –OSHO

Your creativity is already inside you waiting to be developed. From a tantric perspective, your creativity is the essence of your true being. It comes from your sexual energy, that power that brought you into the world, and which you also possess to create new life.

Artists are those that harness this power into art making. The ancient mystics harness this power towards enlightenment, viewing their lives as a dance, an expression of the divine within all of us. Their medium is the practice of dharma.

Dharma is a word that has multiple meanings. It can mean the Buddha’s teachings, one’s life path, or true calling, duty, righteous conduct and moral responsibility. In the concept of Purushartha, Dharma is regarded as the most important of the four goals of human life. It represents the overarching vision, the glue that holds the pursuit of material, sensual pleasure and spirituality together.  In short, dharma is your purpose for living.

The practice of dharma is the art of living, where the object of your creativity and self-expression is you. Buddhists believe that the ultimate goal is to become a Buddha, to realize your full potential as a human being, to be completely free from suffering from a realisation of the Four Noble Truths.

It takes great dedication and practice to realize enlightenment and walk the mystic path, but why not start small and simply explore your positive qualities, and minimize your mental and emotional hindrances to happiness?

Learn to meditate to develop your awareness and compassion. This is the main path the Buddha taught to attain liberation. But it's not the only way. Happiness can be found through harnessing one's passion, by applying mindfulness to one's creativity and walking the artist's path.

The first step is to rediscover your creative passion and apply it to your everyday life. The key word is “creative”. Remember the activity in itself is secondary. Many people have a passion for fine food, fast cars, or travelling. But how many people approach their passions from the view of an artist?

An artist is someone who turns whatever they do into a form of self-expression. They begin by opening themselves up to new experiences, or looking at was done before in a new way. They spend time developing and mastering the skills of their chosen activity. They gain inspiration from others that have gone before and continually seek to create something new.

You will know if you have achieved your potential when your individuality is imbued in whatever you create. No one paints like Van Gogh, sings like Aretha Franklin, dances like Mikail Baryshnikov or fights like Bruce Lee. They have embodied their art. Their personality and style are self-evident in their art medium.

The way of the artist is an exciting and fulfilling journey, with much to learn and gain. At the very least, you will never be bored because you are mindful of your dharma or purpose in life. It’s something that’s just for you to develop throughout your life, irrespective of where you live and work, or whom you date and marry.

At Dharma by Design, our goal is to share ways to understand and develop your creativity through the practice of mindfulness. One of the essential ingredients to happiness is to have a purpose. The purpose of design to solve problems and provide creative solutions to everyday life. Begin by following your curiosity. It's the key to your passion.