Why boredom is good for you, and how to practice it gently

When was the last time you were truly bored? Not busy, not distracted, not scrolling: just sitting with nothing to do, waiting for time to pass?

For most of us, it's been a long time. Every queue, every waiting room, every quiet minute is instantly filled by a phone. We've almost eliminated boredom from our lives. And we may have lost something with it.

What boredom does

Boredom is uncomfortable, but it's also a kind of open space. When nothing is demanding our attention, the mind starts to wander. It daydreams, makes connections, remembers things, plays with ideas.

Some research suggests this wandering can feed creativity. In one small British study, people who first did a deliberately boring task, copying numbers from a phone book, came up with more creative ideas in a test that followed. It's only one study, but many writers and artists would recognize the feeling: ideas often arrive when nothing else is happening.

Why we avoid it

Boredom can feel like emptiness, and emptiness can feel like anxiety. Reaching for a phone is easier. But constant stimulation leaves no room for our own thoughts, and leaves many of us feeling oddly tired and scattered.

How to practice boredom gently

You don't have to sit in an empty room for an hour. Start small:

1. Wait without your phone. In a queue, at a bus stop, in a waiting room. Just look around. 2. Look out of a window for five minutes. No goal, no task. 3. Take a walk without headphones. Let your thoughts go where they want. 4. Do a repetitive task slowly. Fold laundry, peel vegetables, water plants. 5. Sit in a café without reading. Watch people come and go.

At first, it will feel restless. Stay with it. After a few minutes, the restlessness often softens into something calmer, even pleasant.

What you might find

A forgotten memory. An idea for a letter, a project, a solution to a problem. Or simply a quiet sense of being here, in your own life, without needing to be elsewhere.

A quiet five minutes

The First Letter is a short sensory meditation on receiving a letter: a gentle way to spend five unhurried minutes. It's free to read or listen to, with a sample of my magazine, "(meditating) On Art". Something slow, for the minutes you'd usually fill.

Remember to take as much time as you need, and meet me at the next one.

Love, Evi