Connectedness & Boredom vs. Peace

Here are some leftover Brain Bits from the end of August.

Choosing the Connected Lifestyle

Everyday we are bombarded with thousands of decisions. Some of these decisions allow us to further connect (to ourselves, others, and the present moment), while others don’t. Lately, I’ve been consciously trying to make more connected decisions. Fore me, this includes:

• Waking up early VS. constantly waking up later than I say I will… even if this means sacrificing some sleep
• Quickly getting out of bed directly after waking up VS. laying there ruminating and fantasizing
• Making time for morning movement, meditation, and creativity VS. jumping straight into my day uncalibrated
• Getting a 12-18 hour fast in for cleansing & focus purposes VS. immediately caving into morning food cravings (usually resulting in poor food choices)
• Eating foods with hydration, protein, fiber, and micronutrients VS. sugary, carb heavy, convenient foods
  • Connected: Veggies, eggs, meats, sweet potatoes, whole grains… etc.
  • Disconnected: Rice cakes, chips, excessive amounts of nut butter, granola, honey, maple syrup, and GF cookies
• Taking breaks at work to stretch, walk, and hydrate VS. powering through tasks and sitting still for long periods of time
• Appropriately spacing out social activities VS. planning back-to-back social outings everyday of the week and draining myself
• Doing a grounded activity after returning from work/school VS. defaulting to doom scrolling Grounded activities include:
  • Doing yoga, breathwork, or meditating
  • Taking a nap
  • Journaling
  • Reading a book
  • Tending the garden
  • Mindfully preparing & eating food
  • Running or working out
• Making-time for a wind-down routine before bed VS. expecting myself to fall asleep immediately after getting home
  • Finish eating 2 hours before bed
  • Dim lights in house
  • Read 5 pages of a book
  • Wind down foam-rolling & stretches
  • Optional breath-work & meditation

Many of these decisions revolve around transitions in the day. These are the moments when the positive momentum of one part of the day can quickly shift into negative momentum with the wrong choice. So, as Andrew Huberman would say: “Master the transition states”.

Boredom vs. Peace

A few months ago I was having a mid-bike talk with my buddy Ty. We were exploring the topic of boredom and doom-scrolling when an interesting spectrum popped up. I realized that as I’ve developed my capacity for presence, moments of low stimuli have shifted from feeling “boring” to “peaceful”.

With our current societal structure being infiltrated by attention manipulating technology… it is no surprise that most of us spend too much time chasing stimulation. As a result, we’ve gotten really bad at curating and permitting moments of low stimuli into our lives. A cure to this dilemma would include developing enough presence and awareness to help identify moments where peace is seeking us out. This means:

• Allowing ourselves to sit in the lulls of the day… usually the transition states mentioned above. This entails not reaching for your phone or other sources of heavy stimuli:
  • Compulsively eating convenient food, especially sugary or processed food
  • Ruminating about things you have no control over
  • Trying to fill your time doing things for productivity’s sake
• Incorporating activities that are low in stimuli into our day:
  • Gardening
  • Walking
  • Meditation
  • Naps
  • Journaling

Overall, I think we need an appropriate balance between high and low stimuli.. We need intense bursts of focus, work, and excitement, but we also need to ground ourselves within moments of peace. Typically, peace will find us, the challenge is whether we have the capacity for presence necessary to accept it.

Boredom is unappreciated serenity - Jimmy Carr