You may remember Hyedie who did the graphics for my website and who told us about her Cupcake Rides in an interview here. She recently introduced me to Girl, Writing and in particular to this blog post. In it, novelist Allison Baggio recommends “Work Book by Steven Heighton should be on the shelf of all writers hoping to survive the strange process of letting their work out into the world.” And so, I’ve added another book to my reading queue!
What I loved in Allison’s post was the quote she shared from Steven Heighton’s book on the lost art of boredom. Heighton says, “We have to remember how to invite and receive the words and insights we can’t force to mind. We have to relearn how to muse, drowse and stare into blankness, adrift, dormant, even bored, especially now when our various screens are always present – firewalls between us and the reality of dreams.”
How true this is! We avoid being bored, sitting still, doing “nothing” with vehemence. How many of us, when given a gift of half an hour of free time, feel like we should be doing something? So we flick on the TV, click on the smartphone, check our email (again), browse Facebook, send a tweet, text at random, surf the net…you get the picture. There are so many screens to plug in to, that we forget how important it is to give some face time to our Self: that part of us that brings us ideas, insights, wisdom.
I’ve talked before about how my creative ideas started coming to me when I was forced to sit in the armchair in my daughter’s nursery. Day after day, night after night, at various intervals in the 24 hour period, I was forced to do nothing but sit in a chair and feed my daughter. And after I had memorized every square inch of her room, after I had started feeling a little more comfortable with nursing, something bizarre happened.
I had an idea. And then another! And then another!
Those times of stillness rebirthed me; I am so grateful that I was “forced” to silence my daily life for short periods at a time that now it has become one of my most anticipated times of the day. It’s when my blog posts are born, and other writing projects come to life. Every night when I settle into the armchair, now with my son (who I’m secretly hoping never outgrows this!), I wonder which new character is going to walk into my mind fully formed, or what insight I will receive that will help me understand a particular situation.
The lost art of boredom. How do you work this into your day? What are your experiences with “staring into blankness”?
I just wanted to say that I totally understand this and it’s a great reason to let our kids be bored, too. As a kid I did an amazing amount of drawing and writing to fill ‘down time’. (*Note — I’m a client of your husband and he put me onto your website!)
Welcome, Andrea! It’s nice to “meet” you – and I just had a chance to get to know you better on your blog. Phenomenal photos and paintings – plus I do enjoy your writing style 🙂
Thanks for the point about letting our kids be bored – so valid! I could go on about the kids I know who are constantly bombarded by extrinsic stimuli and the anxiety of their parents who think that a moment without a formal lesson is a detriment to their children’s future. Gosh, remember those long summer days of play and creativity? Let’s give them back to our children 🙂
I’m glad you stopped by and hope you come again!
So often I sit and stare out the window over my desk. I’ve forgotten what it used to look like out there when I was still excited to gaze over that image. The yard just sits there as if waiting for me to change it or do something with it. But it does nothing, nor do I. My mind challenges the world outside that window to do something dramatic, but it has been keeping me from shock with it’s idleness.
In between the yard, the window and me, there sits my desk, chaotically trimmed in work which accumulates as the pages of my calendar keep falling into the past.
Bored? Maybe I am; most probably, in fact. I don’t know if I can identify that feeling any more than I could identify love or reason.
There is a world beyond my room which has so little good left in it as to make this space seem quite secure. If there is such a thing as “the art of boredom”, then I am akin to da Vinci or Michelangelo.
What comes after boredom on the same scale? Is it rest? Is it restructure? Could it be insanity?
Who loves the emptiness, the lack of substance in their life? Who seeks to be left alone?
Finding time has become the precursory art skill required for all artists, whatever their discipline. Yet the artist with too much time sits and waits for inspiration. Life inspires, not loneliness, but solitude produces all fine works.
Boredom may indeed be a lost art. I fear that it will soon be as far from our collective consciousness as lamp oil and buggy whips.
Thanks so much for linking to my blog in yours, and I’m glad you were inspired by the post. It really is a wonderful book.
How sad is it to think that boredom may someday become extinct in our soicety. Think of all the wonderful ideas that may be missed. Keep doing nothing everyone!
Hi Allison – well, thanks for the inspiration! Somewhere along the line, we learned that sitting idle was a “waste” of time. It certainly will be a challenge to reverse that. As Andrea mentions in her comment, letting our kids be bored is a good thing and maybe if we keep that in mind, it will help us do the same. After all, we have to model this for them, right? If we’ve always got our noses buried in our smartphones, how can we ask them to turn off their video games?
Nice “meeting” you and I hope you stop by again!
Allison,
Your suggestion that we all “keep doing nothing” sparked the following little poem. Thank you.
Doing nothing
As best I can
For me it is
The perfect plan
Wasting days
Closed in my room
Others view
As dread and gloom
My mind can soar
Ideas swell
Undisturbed
All is well
When I immerge
Content and fresh
The world beholds
My shadowed flesh
I’ve found some peace
I’m not distressed
When being bored
I’m at my best
Aw~ I’m so glad I shared that blog post of Allison’s with you! Can I send the post to her?
Come to think of it, we are never bored anymore! Even let’s say at a restaurant and you are waiting for your friend/date to arrive … what do we do these days? Whip out our smart phones.
What a revelation!
Hi Hyedie! Allison was already notified of the link back and she shared a wonderful comment, too! Thank you for yours as well – I totally know what you mean. I am so guilty of this. Even if I pull up somewhere 3 minutes before I need to go in (like to the preschool to get my daughter) I’ll whip out my phone and send a quick text or even check fbook updates! Trying to be very mindful of this now 🙂