This came across my desk this morning and it felt like something to share…I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Enjoy Ennui
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Excellent presentation…well worth listening to. Especially liked her comment about linking the notion of boredom to the notion of choice!
Right? This triggered so many thoughts for me, I wished I had more time today to make notes or write something. I figured sharing the video was enough to get folks thinking!
I recently went through a move, and during the transition, was momentarily disconnected from the internet (less than one day), and by accident, misplaced my phone during the same time. Turns out I spent most of my “down time” trying to find my phone, wondering what I was missing, and not enough of that time just being bored. However, there was a pocket of time where I got lost in my own thoughts for about twenty minutes … I simply sat in a chair, and got lost in the mental relay race of passing one thought to the next, (I was trying to work out the arrangement of furniture in the new house, and plan for projects to customize the space). Sitting in that chair, (which was unplanned and sort of just happened), helped me work through a long list of ideas that eventually became solutions, and this time and space may not have happened if I had been connected and plugged-in. I find her theory that we may need to plan some time for being bored to be interesting … in fact, I will likely try to implement this in my own schedule, just to test the theory. Thanks for sharing the link.
Isn’t it amazing how technology does that? Attaches on and won’t let go? I remember driving to a friend’s house once and realizing, half-way there, that I’d forgotten my phone. I spent the entire rest of the ride not singing to the music I’d brought along, not enjoying the sunny day, not thinking about the weekend ahead, but worrying about what I would do without my phone for two days!
I think the idea of allowing boredom in is fascinating! Go for it!
I relish not being constantly “connected” to media. It is so important to just sit and think freely (not fret) of passing ideas, with no end goal. I think people have confused being busy and being lonely, they are not opposites that are caused or prevented by the other. The constant need people are showing about being “on” isn’t enriching their lives as they think. Twitter and company is background noise people are confusing for real connections to the world. Time spent being “aimless” can be just as productive as time spent creeping on facebook, most likely more so. At least that is what works for me.