Cultivating Boredom - The Art of Doing Nothing

There are a thousand ways to lose ourselves in our daily routine. With work, home, family obligations, groceries and social activities taking up all our time, we often tend to put our inner self on hold. We are so focused on doing things fast, do better and make life work that often we forget to ask ourselves if we are really aligned with what we want. And even if we are not lost, we still need time to reconnect with our inner self.

Learning to recognise the signs:

I often hear this story from people and it happened to myself as well a few years ago before I decided to take a sabbatical: the signs arrive, sometimes one by one, sometimes all at the same time. Abruptly, or with little "pokes". Often, these are a deep need to find that connection again. And then one day out of nowhere, in the tube, the bathroom or on the sofa, while staring at the ceiling, we ask ourselves: "What do I really want? Which direction do I want my life to go?"

The path to reconnection with your inner self:

Of course, this isn't an easy question to answer straight away. But there is a path, involving reconnecting to your inner being, building the capacity to interrogate your deeper self, to re-establish the dialogue with your self, often asleep, forgotten, or even erased in the routine and daily tasks. To find yourself again means before anything, to listen to yourself, and to establish a conversation.

All you need is space:

And for that, you don't necessarily need anything fancy. Sometimes, all you need is space and time to do nothing and just be present. There is an Italian phrase that I really like and I am all for it: dolce far niente, or, the sweetness of doing nothing.

We fear boredom because we are scared of being bored. We are scared of things that might come up, uncomfortable thoughts and questions. But it's exactly in that space that you can reconnect with yourself, if you allow yourself to sit through the uncomfort, step by step.

You'll be surprised at what your mind can tell you when you sit quietly and just listen (doing nothing is not the same thing as being lazy!). We need space to process things, reflect and come up with ideas.

There is great potential in making space for silence and mindfulness helps you to be grounded and enjoy the present moment. By making space, you can remind yourself of the bigger picture, build your creativity and focus on what is really important to you.