At a retreat I attended, Rupert Spira remarked that boredom stems from resistance, and expectation stems from seeking; they both are two aspects of the same feeling: rejecting the now. His description felt true, but I still spent a fair amount of time afterwards noticing my own experience to be sure. I don’t suffer much from boredom, but I have to cop to expectation–it shows up. After an extended period of deep looking, I can report that my experience is the same–both boredom and expectation come from my rejecting what is going on in the present moment.

My son suffers from boredom a lot. It has always been difficult for me to understand this–life is such a roller-coaster, so curious and bizarre–how could anyone be bored? But now I see that his body-mind has different pathways for rejecting what’s happening, that’s all. Perhaps one day I’ll get to point that out to him. (I’m smiling. Still a mom.)

When I notice either resistance or boredom in myself or supposed others, it serves as a gentle reminder to stand as awareness, not as an imagined separate self.

© Amrita Skye Blaine, 2013
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