Why The Capacity For Boredom Is A Good Thing

When was the last time you were bored -- truly bored -- and didn't instantly spring to fill your psychic emptiness by checking Facebook or Twitter or Instagram? The last time you stood in line at the store or the boarding gate or the theater and didn't reach for your smartphone seeking deliverance from the dreary prospect of forced idleness? But boredom might not be as not as bad as it seems; in fact, it could be a good thing, which is rather counterintuitive to much that we have learned as adults about what makes life interesting. It is a state we need to reckon with if we want to know ourselves more intimately, and it has the potential to bring us to the present moment.

http://www.dailygood.org/story/799/why-the-capacity-for-boredom-is-a-good-thing-maria-popova/