As I talk about leaning into what’s arising with so many people lately, a funny thing keeps showing up.
They lean into what’s arising and realize that something their mind labels boredom is at the center.
They see that their minds are flailing about, keeping habits alive, and working in overdrive to prevent them from feeling bored.
Wait, what?
Boredom is so innocent. It’s harmless. Everyone feels it. It seems so safe and easy to handle compared to something “big” like guilt or grief or fear.
I find this hilarious–both that the mind works so hard to distract from boredom and that we tend to be so shocked to discover this. It’s perfectly in line with the cosmic joke nature of this entire feeling thing.
Any feeling with any made up label and any mind-made story behind it is not as it appears. None of them are what our minds tell us they are.
They are all a farce, whether they look big or small, relatively easy or relatively hard.
Boredom is energy + a story too. It’s no different from anything but for the story attached.
Every emotion, including the “big ones”, are safe, energy, love, arising perfectly to be seen and felt. Of course a mind will create a classification system, a rank order, and a host of stories that make them all appear different and special. These made up boundaries and labels are so helpful to see.
If a mind throws a tantrum to distract us from boredom the way it does to distract from anything, maybe it’s time to just lean into that tantrum, be curious about what’s behind it, and check things out for ourselves?
If boredom feels like a no fly zone, maybe it’s time to fly in a bit anyway and see what’s really there?
