Research proves that it’s good to be bored. I agree, but it’s a privilege and an alien concept for today’s Homo sapiens. Three factors play a major role:

a) We all are conditioned that a busy life is a good life. We are trained to absorb, not observe.

b) When we turn five, we step onto the hamster’s wheel of life – school, college, job, etc. We are always on the go, we are always onto something.

c) In the age of information we are constantly bombarded by the gigabytes. Thus, we have forgotten to enjoy sunsets and sunrises, we have forgotten to pause for the new roses that bloomed. We have forgotten to live, in the moment.

The human mind is built such that it cannot remain idle for long. It implies, if you are bored, you will find ways to remain busy.  But ‘what’ actually happens when one is bored? ‘What’ will we find to remain busy? The significance of ‘WHAT’ is profound.

There may be hundreds of things happening around us yet they might be invisible to our senses. However, few among them will catch our attention. According to Ayurveda, these few will be the ones in sync with our ‘prakriti’ or inherent nature. Only we might become inquisitive about them. And we will gravitate to our curiosity. Thus, the first step of learning is always curiosity.

Let me tell you a story. A story that perfectly encapsulates the phenomenon of learning. Oh no, it’s not a new tale but an old familiar one. Use your reading glasses if you like.

Newton sat under an apple tree in a somber mood. Maybe his girlfriend ditched him or his father scolded him for being too lazy which he must be, or else who sits under an apple tree? But we can’t assert that because history and writers didn’t record. Instead what we know is that he was deep in contemplation when suddenly his concentration was disturbed by an apple that fell from the tree. Think of it, was it a novel occurrence? Apples had been falling to the ground long before Newton’s great great grandfather was even born. Yet, the whole generation was a blockhead because no one noticed. No one became curious. It was Newton who picked the apple and looked up at the tree. He must be so angry at the apple tree for bothering him, that he threw it upwards as if ordering the tree to take it back. But to his astonishment, the apple kept returning. It just won’t go up! And the rest is history oops…physics that created the Newtonian era we all devour upon even today.

I spun the story to establish the fact that curiosity is the base of any learning. Period. Things that we become curious about, attract our attention. This very attention brings the focus and an unconscious intent to learn. And without us being aware, our learning journey begins.

I take your leave, as I have to bore myself. Who knows I am able to evoke the Newton in me, which will be the beginning of a new Shrutian era.  Until then, stay bored and stay curious.

The article is originally written by Dr. Shruti Shankar Gaur for Sankarsingh-Gonsalves Productions and can be accessed here.