{"id":1000,"date":"2018-09-28T18:10:29","date_gmt":"2018-09-28T18:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kathryncolleen.com\/studio\/?post_type=project&p=1000"},"modified":"2026-08-07T19:10:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:10:57","slug":"the-importance-of-cultivating-boredom","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/kathryncolleen.com\/studio\/project\/the-importance-of-cultivating-boredom\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Cultivating Boredom"},"content":{"rendered":"
When I am on travel, I do not check headlines, I do not track the stock market, I don\u2019t check email and I avoid social media like the plague. Why? Because travel, at the moment, is a rare treat and I do not want to miss out on the experience, the immersion and the lessons this town and these people have for me. I don\u2019t want to miss out on feeling the connection to these people and this place and the way it can teach me about myself and my world.<\/div>\n
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When I travel, I need to cultivate boredom. Sitting in a coffee shop with no phone, I am forced to consider the big questions\u2026 or to enjoy an empty mind immersed in the moment\u2026 or to be bored, not knowing what will come to me next. \u00a0Many good articles have been written about how boredom prompts creativity and the need to cultivate boredom for creative purposes. But we also need boredom – quiet time without anything else to occupy our senses – to allow us to consider the bigger questions and more importantly the bigger answers that ultimately forward our development. Sometimes we avoid boredom because we don\u2019t want to face these questions or because we already know the answer and we don\u2019t know how to proceed or we are to scared to proceed.<\/div>\n
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Headlines, social media feeds, continuous email checks, and the like are a great way to avoid yourself and the reality of your current situation. Like a rat clicking away for a dopamine pellet, we instinctively reach for our phones instead of reaching for our journals, books, guitars, or meditation pillows, or anything even slightly creative or constructive.<\/div>\n
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Here\u2019s the thing. Shouldn\u2019t every day be seen as rare and not to be missed? We must cultivate space and time to be in the moment, think and be bored. Or at minimum, we need to replace the compulsion to reach for our phones with something else.<\/div>\n
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