Comment by ollerac | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ollerac | Hacker News Reader

I love this book called "Soowing Down to the Speed of Life". In one chaper the author talks about the incredible boon that comes from heading towards boredom instead of away from it. He decided to take a night to just do nothing.

At first, it was uncomfortable, but then his whole world slowed down. He started noticing things he hadn't noticed before: a particular color, a detail on a flower. It was like a different reality.

I use this idea of heading towards boredom to clear my own head. I find it incredibly helpful to sit in a dark room with no sounds and no goal for about 2 hours. After the initial discomfort (might last 20 minutes, might last an hour) my brain feels renewed and free. And the quality of my ideas goes way up.

I don't do it to be more productive though. I do it because it helps me get to a better, more attuned experience of reality. Closer to joy, peace, and acceptance, and further from always thinking about what's next.

The brain is an incredible instrument. With repeated meditation, yoga or other exercises like slowing down and being intentionally bored, you can at any time recall that feeling and focus. So meditation is not just an activity you do to calm down, but to train your mind too.

Avoiding being too hectic is good too though, or it becomes more of a mental gymnastic. The benefit of that is calmness and clarity to make better decisions and priorities.

I discovered something similar in the book "Lead Yourself First". It boiled down to: give yourself time alone with your thoughts. We've become so used to being easily distracted by checking social media, turning on the TV, browsing randomly. We've forgot how to be bored.

There is a dive bar close to me(in Chicago) that had no TVs, no wifi, and no cell service(at least for my provider). Pre-COVID, I would go there regularly to just be forced away from it all. I would read, sketch, talk to regulars, or just stare into the void.

When I lived 2.5 miles from work, I would just walk to work. Some days I would listen to a podcast, but mostly I was just stuck alone with my thoughts. It helped me level out a lot.

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