Finding Inspiration in Boredom

by Michael Corthell

We have all been bored and some of us are really boring. Boredom is being stuck between wanting to do something and not being able to. It's not that you don't want to do anything. It's just that every thing to do has no appeal—everything seems dull and boring. We are going to change that right now.

''Since boredom advances and boredom is the root of all evil, no wonder, then, that the world goes backwards, that evil spreads. This can be traced back to the very beginning of the world. The gods were bored; therefore they created human beings.''

—Soren Kierkegaard

There is really no need to feel disturbed by a little boredom. There's a big world not only out there, and a really big one in here (author points to his head), just waiting to be explored. Here's how to vanquish boredom.

Boredom can be fought four ways: 

1. By understanding what boredom is and what it causes.

2. By having some excellent working strategies that you can apply as soon as boredom arrives 

3. By having a list of favorite activities ready.

4. By practicing acceptance and embracing your boredom as a springboard to inspiration, if all else fails. 

The word 'boredom' didn't exist in the English language until 1766. Before that time there wasn't any need for the word. (People were too busy just surviving). Extreme boredom also seems to have coincided with the age of enlightenment and the early industrial revolution, and the number of people suffering from boredom has increased into the 21st century with the rapid progress of technology.

Could it be overstimulation and desensitization? 

Reground yourself by slowing down. Read a book. Slow down when bored? Sounds like another counter intuitive step. But his is a great way to make you forget about being bored. An author's words can take you to a new world and spark CREATIVITY or help your mind take a mental vacation.

Write! Writing goes hand in hand with reading. They both stimulate creativity. You don't have to be a 'writer' to do this. It is getting the action going that is important. A little creative writing can be intellectually challenging, distract your mind, and let creativity in.

Explore and seek out information. You only have to remember the last time you were forced to spend some time with an incredibly uncreative, dull and boring person. After a short time you were bored (and boring too). Avoid these people or be less bored by helping them not to be. But, you may have to accept boredom until you have a plan to get creative, which as you probably have guessed, is the cure for boredom. So let's be positive and create a plan.

• Read a random Wikipedia/etc. article each day
• Explore different video channels for something interesting
• Go to a museum
• Ask a friend to teach you an important skill
• Explore your local area and learn its history
• Take a class.
• Watch a documentary
• Go to your local library and browse

All of these things are actions that will stimulate creativity. They will all lead to something good.

Finally positive, creative people are NEVER bored. So be positive minded always, seek out knowledge and gain wisdom.

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Boredom - A Source of Inspiration

by Hans Wilhelm    

We are surrounded by people and devices who regularly serve as distractions. Rarely do we have time to be truly bored. How could boredom serve as a source of imagination? How can we create opportunities to be bored? Hans Wilhelm uses his own art work to illustrate the possibilities for using boredom as a source of inspiration!