The Beauty of Stillness

Let’s face it, we live in a very chaotic world. At any given moment there are hundreds of entities vying for our attention — whether they are people we are close to, workplace associates, email accounts, social media, popular culture, marketing and advertising, and global events.

Many of our interactions with our external environment are necessary during our daily lives, but very few serve us. Think of all the social media posts and videos you scroll through that you learn nothing from. Think of the hundreds of emails you receive in a day, only a few of which really matter to you. Think of all the marketing and advertising you are bombarded with for products and services that you do not need.

Everything is vying for our attention to fulfill someone else's agenda and get us off track from what really matters to us. What truly matters is very personal and individual for each of us and it is not my place to tell you what you should focus on. However, it is quite clear that many of us are distracted most of the time and easily deviate from the path we should be on.

This leaves us with very little free time in our day to savour the beauty of simply being. This is where boredom comes into play. Most of us fear being bored because we do not want to be left alone with our thoughts and emotions, so we let external distractions get the better of us. However, in a world that seems to have gone mad, this matters more than ever.

Boredom seems to have a negative connotation, but it is more than that. When you are bored it means that there is nothing that needs your attention in that moment. You are momentarily free from external distractions. You are free to contemplate your existence. You are free to simply be with no expectations from the world around you.

Few people experience this kind of boredom. I have heard of criminals who state that, paradoxically, when they were imprisoned and had nothing to do, they had their first taste of freedom. This is because they were liberated from the shackles of the incessant, constant "doing" of their previous lives. They could now simply be. How sad is it that this truth can only be realized inside a jail cell for some.

However, we do not have to be jailed to become free from the chains of always having to do something in reaction to the external world. We can learn to simply be and experience what boredom can bring, which is liberation from the demands of this world.

How do we do this you may ask? You don’t have to meditate; you don’t have to find a secluded place in nature, and you don’t have to retreat to an ashram in the Himalayas. You simply must stop right where you are, no matter what you are doing.

Now, this may not always be practical, especially if you are at work and have deadlines to meet and superiors breathing down your neck. Or if you are at home and have young children that really need your attention and dinner that needs to be prepared. You can be in countless situations that demand your immediate attention, but you need to ask yourself a simple question:

What do I have to lose by simply stopping for one minute? There are many times in the day that we can do this, but few of us reap the benefits for even brief moments of stillness. Ask yourself this question and realize what you are missing by simply not stopping. This is more important now than ever when most people are stressed out, overwhelmed, and burnt out from the endless "doing" of their daily lives.

So, ask yourself, what is really keeping you from simply stopping right now in this moment? In most cases it is simply your aberrant thoughts that keep you on the hamster wheel of always doing something. Try doing absolutely nothing, even if it is for brief moments throughout the day, and make this a regular habit.

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Embrace boredom and stillness in your life and watch yourself transform into a grounded, peaceful, and happier human being.