# Soft Boredom


I recently read Pema Chödrön's
[_Living Beautifully_](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13414918-living-beautifully),
and I was struck by the following passage:

> Chögyam Trungpa demonstrated the co-emergent nature of feelings in a teaching
> on boredom-on how we feel when nothing's happening. Hot boredom, he said, is a
> restless, impatient, I-want-to-get-out of here feeling. But we can also
> experience nothing happening as cool boredom, as a care-free, spacious feeling
> of being fully present without entertainment -- and being right at home with
> that.

I quite like the phrase "soft boredom." When younger, I experienced "hot
boredom" often: when impatiently waiting in the back seat of a car, when waiting
for a class to end, when on a plane without anything to do, when there was
nothing interesting to look forward to. Boredom was so unpleasant that it needed
to be planned around. The anticipation of boredom was itself unpleasant.

I've thought to myself over the past several years, "I don't really get bored
anymore." This isn't quite true; there are still times that my mind is empty and
searching for something to busy itself with, but the experience is quite
different. With "hot boredom," the quality of feeling is distinctly negative.
With "soft boredom", it's -- as Trungpa says -- a more "care-free" experience. A
thought may float in my head that I wish to engage with, or not! And either is
fine.

Along the spectrum of "hot boredom" and "soft boredom", I believe there's also
an identifiable "lukewarm boredom" which expresses itself as "always having
something to think about". For me, there was a transitionary time when "hot
boredom" was no longer present in the absence of an engaging activity, but only
because I could always think myself into being engaged. With "lukewarm boredom,"
you don't get the restless _I-need-to-be-doing-something feeling_, but your mind
still needs to be continuously active.

Now, I feel "soft boredom" with a relaxed mind. An hour can float by without
serious thought or restless _what-happens-next_-ing. It's quite pleasant.

In any case, I'm writing this on a plane after having taken a week off work. I
spent the week hiking in Arizona. As I drove through the desert, hiked
(partially) into the Grand Canyon, and watched sunsets amongst Arizona's sparse
flora, I quite appreciated being able to fall back into the spaciousness of
"soft boredom".