A General Idea

Fleeing from thoughts I’d rather not think about

Running away from emotions I’d rather not feel

There is a time and place for everything

Here and now is not that place and time.

It’s hard to want something so bad

And not know what that something is

But a general idea of what you are

And what I would be with you.

In a perfect high-performance functioning world

We’d just know what we need to know and proceed as directed

But this is not a perfect world

And, perversely enough, I like it that way.

13 marks the spot.

Linoleum Dream

I close my eyes to hear

my inner dialogues for two

of saccharin sweet nothings.

So off to sleep I drift

to dream of linoleum skies

and clay emotions I can mold to my liking.

As I see it, boredom is the failure of seeing one’s self within the greater context of things. It’s a state of self-preoccupation. When we keep reeling in the implication of things to ourselves, we tend to feel the most bored. Time and the world pass us by because we look at ourselves as distinct from the rest of the world rather than playing a small but active role in it. We make ourselves the center of the universe as we perceive it. And while it swirls around us, we see ourselves as central yet unmoved and left behind. Our sense of self-importance and the nagging feeling that we should be engaging in something more important than what we are currently stuck with make us feel weighed down and trapped and unfulfilled. If this is so, what then can we do to alleviate if not eliminate boredom from our lives? The solution, to my mind, is pretty simple.

If boredom is a state of preoccupation with the self, clearly excitement then lies in finding the world around us interesting. There’s something that I have noticed about people: some people look into our eyes so that they can catch a reflection of themselves in them; while others look into our eyes to find the treasures hidden deep within the recesses of our souls. Beauty is not confined to the outline of anything; it’s in the details. We cannot catch the details when we don’t pay enough attention.

Every person is different from the other whether they are strangers or close friends or colleagues or plain acquaintances. The human condition can be an endless source of fascinating observations. Even the lives of single-celled organisms pack exciting stories that may provide insights to the evolutionary process. Think the Red Queen theory of evolution. Or, remember penicillin? It’s just a mold called penicillium. The discovery of this antibiotic saved millions of lives and changed the course of history radically —- all this because someone was closely watching a petri dish.

One important point: it’s easy to be bored in a safe environment. I have yet to see anyone who takes risks go “I am so bored”. Bear in mind though that there is a huge difference between being a calculated risk taker and someone who is in a manic phase and is taking all sorts of reckless risks. As most calculated risk takers would advise, get out of your comfort zone and feel the wind blowing in your face. But when bird poop hits you in the face, don’t go rushing to close the window permanently while swearing you’ll never ever EVER EVER do anything like that again. Bird poop in your face can be funny. Hopefully, your mouth is not wide open when it hits you.

Give a lot of yourself to life even it sometimes means it can hurt a bit. That, I believe, is the only way to truly live. As long as as something doesn’t kill you, drive you insane or land you in jail…why, just do it! Of course, this means without saying that we are not supposed to kill others, drive them insane, or land them or ourselves in jail. Unless, of course, it is absolutely necessary.

Lastly, give more of yourself. When we are giving of ourselves to others or a worthy cause, we give our lives meaning and purpose. A person with a sense of meaning and purpose can never be bored.

Communion