Steal My Ideas, Please

Boredom is peace with an edge. “All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone,” wrote Blaise Pascal in Pensees. What keeps people from truly being in touch with their deepest selves is that feeling we call boredom. But don’t avoid it. Embrace it. Wait. That edge of fear, disgust or pain that makes boredom seem unpleasant moves away with practice and patience, letting peace, love or understanding work through. Sometimes the emotion can be overpoweringly unsettling, of course, but that’s just a gust of energy leaving insight on its way through. Bored you, haven’t I? Good!