I was in a shopping centre today with my girlfriend, one we’ve been to a few times before. She really likes it there. They do have a great food hall which has a place that does Vietnamese food that we both like. As a good friend of mine pointed out to me a while ago, the only thing that I seem to get excited about is food(!). Mmmm, getting distracted already thinking about vermicelli noodles, lemongrass beef and chilli…… er, where was I?
Yes, anyway, boredom. We don’t like boredom do we? There is a connection with the shopping centre, which is always busy and full of people (naturally) trying to overcome their boredom. As was I too, no doubt. I also think I feel I know where the Marxists are coming from at times (note to self: read a book on Marx so I might have some idea of what I’m going on about when I invoke him). My meaning is that the commodification of people and things is a bit overwhelming, although what should I expect in a shopping centre? That’s a separate discussion, I wager.
Boredom is a tricky thing though isn’t it? It’s what always protests when I think that I need to plonk my arse down and get meditating. Boredom is actually far from boring, I now see. I think it’s an unskillful reaction to a number of states of mind, physical tensions or unconscious reactions. I’ve noticed that anxiety, irritation, impatience etc manifest mostly as tension in my throat and upper chest, but also around the base of my head and in my arms and shoulders. Boredom seems to be a bad habit of mind that is particularly deeply ensconced but also very fogged over.
Actually, one reason that this particular topic came to mind is because of the Dr. Who Christmas special this year. Matt Smith had a line commenting that humans had an annoying tendency to make things boring – or something along those lines. It really struck me as an interesting point.
Tackling dramatic stuff through meditation felt noble, or significant in some ways – by dramatic, I mean the BIG emotional issues I was torturing myself with etc…. the stuff that I used to think of as ‘MY story’…. but boredom, mild irritation, shrugging indifference, half formed thoughts, or negativities so familiar that I think they’re just ‘my personality’ or ‘what life is’, that’s actually seriously T R I C K Y. Why? I think because it’s the background fuzz; the untuned TV (if anyone has TVs that need tuning anymore); the slight mic feedback that has always been there; probably the constantly firing neurons in the brain that I let truck on without really looking at.
Shut up and meditate 
Posted on January 3, 2011
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