Boredom leads to Creativity

Boredom is essential to creativity. I believe this fully.

We have to let our minds relax, empty and not be entertained by stuff outside. Then we will get bored. We may feel lonely, agitated, irritable and restless for a while - or in other words - BORED.

Then, when we realise there is no entertainment coming our way, our minds will settle again, and that is when the magic happens. We may think of a song, a poem, a painting or we may go outside and just notice. We will notice the flowers. The sunset. The clouds. This is all creativity.

I have seen this happen in my child. The restless-boredom-creative cycle. He will be irritable and whiny because he is at a loose end, but, if I don't step in and entertain him, I have noticed that after a while he settles into a wonderfully creative game with whatever is around him at home.

Which brings me to comment on our modern lives - we stuff ourselves full of entertainment all the time. This is killing our creativity. It is also fueling our sense that we are, always, somehow, missing out.

We need to allow boredom back in.  Boredom is not a bad thing. And parents need to allow children to feel bored too.

When I was 14 yrs old, I wrote and illustrated a whole 26 page children's book during a long school holiday just for fun! I still have the pages and the story. The drawings are intricate and detailed. The story is well thought out. It is such a wonderful work of fourteen year old art but it would never have happened had I been constantly entertained during the holidays. No. I had time and I filled it with my own creativity.

So let's get bored and let our creative minds create!