There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people. C.K. Chesterton
I don’t think we are ever bored with life but we do become bored with how we choose to live our lives, and there’s a vast difference between the two. We tend to get stuck in our little routines, think the same thoughts, eat the same foods, wake up at the same time. I’m bored just thinking about the repetition of days that can turn into years or decades. The antidote to the boredom, of course, is us and what we choose to do with the days that turn into our lives. There are infinite possibilities to be lived and all we need to do is pick something different or try something new. In a way boredom comes as a gift in disguise, it’s here to kick us into the next gear.
Boredom creeps in when we limit our imagination. When we struggle seeing past what is into what could be. Maybe the better question to ask ourselves is why do we refuse the infinitely varied richness of life? Why do we narrow our perception and live only from there? Why do we think our way is the only right way? Look around, how happy does your daily routine make you? If you’re dreading getting up in the morning, or already know how your day will go before your feet hit the floor it might be time to shake yourself out of your boring rut.
The problem is it’s easy to get comfortable and stay comfortable. We like having everything planned out and knowing what’s coming around the corner. That little bubble of sameness and smooth sailing gives us the illusion that we control what’s happening in our lives. But the truth is we have very little control. Every day there is an enormous amount of activity happening all around us. We intersect paths with unknown others more times than we can count in any given twenty-four hours. The only thing that is left for us to control is how we handle what comes our way. And that journey from a limited way of seeing ourselves and the world to an expansive one is never boring.
Maybe we should take some advice from Hafiz when he says, We have not come here to take prisoners, But to surrender even more deeply, To freedom and joy.
And how about one step further, what do you consider joyous. Is your joy limited to very few things that are difficult to attain or do you look for it all around you? Now I would describe myself a simple. Simple in the fact that it doesn’t take much for me to appreciate the moment or nudge me into recognizing the mystery. It’s the ordinary stuff of the day that delights me and brings me peace. Listening to the chirp of the crickets, the wind chime in a strong gust, or the snow falling will open me up to some of the little miracles of being alive. Then there are things like the fairy lights in the garden, listening to the rain, or the first sip of a really hot cup of tea. These are small moments easily overlooked in the midst of our busy routines that remind us to pay more attention to the beauty that’s all around all the time. My way is certainly not the only way or even the right way. Each of us has to find our own unique style of connecting and opening to the life that’s all around us. This is how we sneak a deeper peek.
Remember that what we put our attention on grows. Choose wisely.
The simple truth is there’s always more, but we miss out on it when we limit the possibilities of what we think could be. There will always be more moments to notice, more things to be grateful for, more to investigate. It’s up to each of us to search out what inspires us. When we step outside our patterns or become interested enough another small working of the world reveals itself. That’s when we expand and become an integral piece of the world instead of feeling separate from it. Something that never ceases to amaze me is the tremendous interconnection between all of life. Millions of little mysteries wait to be noticed.
And now maybe a little Rumi to show that perhaps everything is a miracle, and we are part of that everything.
We are the mirror as well as the face in it. We are tasting the taste this minute of eternity. We are the pain and what cures the pain. We are the sweet cold water and the jar that pours. -Rumi
It’s all there, where are you? The what of living matters very little compared to the how.
kb
