Benefits of Boredom

How often do you allow yourself to get bored? According to research (and, duh, common sense) boredom, especially in solitude, is actually a great catalyst to creativity. Children, in particular, should have the opportunity to “get bored” on a regular basis, so that the child’s creativity may take hold in those situations. Click here to read an article about this phenomenon.

One of my favorite movies is The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. It’s a French film based on the memoires of Jean-Dominique Bauby, a one-time editor-in-chief of French Elle magazine. He led an extraordinarily extravagant life, until he suffered a massive stroke at the age of 43, leaving him with a condition known as “locked-in-syndrome.” This is a condition wherein the mental faculties remain intact but most of the body is paralyzed. For Bauby, the only movement he could muster was to blink one of his eyelids, which was later discovered as his means of communication leading to the painstaking writing of his memoires- one blink at a time. I imagine the hours of solitude in his hospital bed left him beyond bored, thus leading to astonishing creativity.

Anyway, I love this film because it highlights, in a visually exquisite form, the power and refuge of the imagination, as Bauby might have known it. Incredible imaginary scenes play out in his mind. I think that this kind of creativity is forged only in the greatest of need, and truly I believe that creativity is of greatest need in our world today. Everyone needs to be creative to solve the challenges of modern life. The creative mind is the only kind to stand up to the injustices of the world. Is that not our charge? So, take some time to get bored today, and see where it leads you.

Peace, Love, and Laughter,

Emily