Your trip has a safety briefing (context) on 3 words to read before we can safely takeoff and land in the boredom landscape.
1. Tourist: A tourist lives as a surface dweller or pleasure only seeker, so is on a 1-way path or acts as an opportunist.Exploration question framed as: "How do I…?"
2. Traveler: A traveler lives as a temporary community member or culture seeker, so is on a 2-way path or acts as a realist.
Exploration question framed as: "Why do you…?"
God: There is a song asking what if god was one of us. For this trip, lets imagine god got bored and wants to play an endless game called hide and seek with every single person.
Exploration question framed as: "Can you see me in this…?"
Ready to be a traveler harnessing imagination as your airplane?
Imagination as your metaphorical airplane is:
best enjoyed as a kid (open mind + open heart) because kids learn best through pushing boundaries and questioning everything thus gaining super powers to catalyze any type or length of boredom into an adventure.
a place where you or anyone else can go to anytime.
without rules, judgement or harming others.
Let's be a kid again (open mind & open heart) to start seeing boredom as a new friend and not something that we dread or try to hide with having, doing or being too much, too soon or too fast.
Really, I have seen retired people do very crazy things as they slowly realize they didn’t have to wait so long for a “permission slip” to do nothing and totally forgot how to enjoy themselves.
Do you feel the power in that waiting and permission part?
In Cambodia, people nap daily and nap openly without guilt, reason or shame as they are simply resting when needed and refuse to be members of the unhealthy cult of productivity. From that read, arrives a reminder “Technology is a great tool and a horrible master." Yet when that tool is depended on too much, technology will become more burdensome than helpful, and very dangerous.
You can friend boredom by understanding this common and crazy animal with many disguises by viewing it through various lenses:
[Reality] Boredom is a loud signal that you are afraid to sit still and be quiet because that would feel like a punishment.
[Realization] Boredom is at the heart of heart stealers (distraction).
[Consequences] Boredom is not a friend when you reach out to others, substances or activities to try to not feel boredom.
[Neutrality] Boredom is simply a stop sign or clue to try a new approach, nap or sit quietly with your new friend.
Next time you reach for something to distract, try asking yourself: "Why do you...?". Please do not shame, blame or guilt yourself; just notice that once an automatic habit is found, you can realize that trying to hide it takes too much work when you can be seeking better approaches and healthier choices to reach higher ground when you encounter boredom or fear of doing nothing.
5 steps for extra help from my boredom test in Cambodia which you can perform anywhere to find out how you will behave:
A promise of nothing but exploring, cooking and walking.
Walks to stores for fresh food, sights and air, rain or shine.
Explore bookstore seeking what sparks the imagination and found four things: Marvel yoga mat, puzzle, and two books:
Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self
The Right to Lead: A Study in Character and Courage
Notice a "Less is more." lifestyle being lived out with pure joy everywhere... The best was limitless ear to ear grins from the kids who always (without judgement or condition) paused to say hello to the traveler walking in their open playground.
Donate the puzzle and books to help another human to not entering the dizzying, meaningless and empty void … in order to catalyze a fresh entry into the imagination.