What was that?
Lots of scary movies have soundtracks that rival the rattles and moans made by unfamiliar houses. The excess of everyday sounds in our offices and homes today can produce an unfamiliarity with silence. The really frightening aspect of our world is when the sounds suddenly stop. You know that feeling. A sudden absence of power and the beeping, whooshing and popping stop without warning. The vibration from the phone after is meant to alert you that your area is experiencing a loss of critical power. No kidding. The life soundtrack ceased a while ago. The click, click, click dripped out. In the past, I could increase my patience level while waiting for the gods to plug everything back online. But recently I noticed what really scared me. My modern self-diagnosed dilemma. My boredom now needed noise. That’s right. I recently found myself in some quiet spots that weren’t remedied by a pause or a moment of closed eyes or better yet, a minute to daydream. My fingers itched for my smartphone. I needed some noise to placate me. Critical mass had reached me. I was no better than all of the other humans staring blindly into their devices. At least that corroborates the ability to be ordinary. What I did next was watch myself to see what I was enjoying on my phone. I like a good matching game from time to time, and it is pretty easy to think that Solitaire is good for the brain. The weather required some checking due to the arrival of real winter, so there was that. I really wanted to check my use of stuff that had no benefit. You know, news more than once or twice a day, rabbit holes of entertainment that won’t be memorable in ten minutes or ads for more stuff I don’t want. So far, there is less scrolling. Probably due to my actually paying attention. I also grabbed a book off the stack I am always looking forward to reading and kept it nearby the places that boredom lurked. But I added something even quieter. I started to close my eyes and dream with a notebook near me. I took a great suggestion and played some music in the background on low. Now my soundtrack is less like a horror film. It is bound to be a hit.
You are Extraordinary!
Week 18: Let your fingers do the walking
As a member of the hearing impaired, I am sometimes reminded how wonderful it is to have the ability to hear. This does not occur often in movie theaters. The sound is super loud to get our attention and keep it. Smartphones are miraculous technical marvels. Most good stuff can be abused. This is a great task to see how you feel about the use of your boredom. It is likely you drift off differently than I do. It is also likely that you have other ways of dealing with it. This is a create your own scenario. And if you are delighted with how you handle the less interesting aspects of daily life, please come forward and help the rest of us. I will buy the popcorn.
