Boredom and Free Living

Walking in Toronto today as the sun shines and the blue sky wakes up from it's slumber. 

I remember when walking into the Apple store brought me so much joy. To see the latest in tech and innovation was such an experience. Now I can’t help but see a distracted generation (myself included) looking for something to soothe the inevitable boredom that comes with existence. Whoaaaa, but that’s basically it.

Why do we do anything? You watch TV, play sports, hike, go out for dinner, have sex, take pictures, smoke, drink, paint, play guitar – all ways to engage in the present moment more fully and remove ourselves from time.

Boredom is then the feeling and sense of disengagement from the present moment. Sit with yourself when you’re bored and report back to me about what that actually feels like.

We all have interesting relationships with mediocrity and monotonous living. I’ve spoken about this on the Being Human Podcast which seems to be a popular feeling for some. We want stability, routine and structure…until we’re so crippled by stability, routine and structure that we get a divorce then book a flight to the friggin Amazon to trip out on some frogs lmfao. OR some of us need that bottle of wine after work, need mushrooms and cannabis to help us engage with the moment again.

And I share all of this not only as an observer, but a human like the rest of us. My practice has been to sit with boredom. Before looking at Instagram or 278 Hinge matches, check in with myself to what I’m actually shifting away from and what I’m moving towards.

My attention is precious and so is yours. What’s worthy of your attention? A lot of time, pixels end up winning but this is the practice.

So my sister (check my YouTube community tab for a pic of us in Rome) came up with the sweetest saying:  “the sky is free”.

Shit, we forget about THE SKY?! We forget about the moon, the flowers, the trees, the strangers, the bus driver, the garbage man. How quickly we forgot about the free entertainment around us.  

The free is sustainable and pure - just like how you never get tired of water  Odourless, colourless, somewhat tasteless yet vital for human survival.

People, trees, the sky – all free and vital for human survival.

Notice what’s free today. Just by existing, we get soooo many goodies. Yup, with the goodies comes with the absolute horrors of existing, but that’s part of the deal. And yup, we didn’t sign this deal, we didn’t choose to be here but here we are. May as well look up and around once in a while to see the gift of FREEdom. 

Your buddy, 

Scott