Atlas of the Heart: The Bestselling Guide to Understanding our Emotions and Developing Meaningful Connections

by Brené Brown

While most of us think of boredom as a negative feeling, it turns out that not all experiences of boredom are bad. In fact, if it weren’t for boredom, you wouldn’t be reading this book or any book by me. Let me explain the research first. A recent study showed that simple, boring tasks or mundane activities can allow our minds to wander, daydream, and create.3 The lack of stimulation that defines “being bored” gives our imagination room to play and grow. A big part of my book writing routine is watching super predictable, formulaic mysteries—even ones I’ve seen ten times. These shows would bore me to tears if I were in a normal mental space. But when I’m coding data and writing, something weird happens. It’s like the shows lull the easily distracted part of my brain into a rhythmic stupor, setting free the deeper, meaning-making part of my brain to engage and start making connections between things that don’t seem connectable. I actually sit on my couch with a notepad next to me because the more bored I get, the more ideas bubble to the surface.

THIS!