We've created so many distractions in our everyday environment - social media notifications, scrolling the web, socializing endlessly, shopping - that we feel like we might explode. Our hyperactive lifestyles and constant mind-chattering have forced us to develop an allergy to sitting in stillness.

Can't Live A Minute Without A Distraction

Hot boredom feels like being locked in a padded cell. You are bored, miserable and irritated. Hot <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/bored-of-your-isolation-workouts-just-dance-baby">boredom</a> is that internal groan when you’re in line at the DMV or stuck on the <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/how-to-get-some-sleep-in-an-airport">airport</a> tarmac, and your <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/cardio-iphone-distraction">phone</a> dies and there’s not a <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/t-pain-cocktail-book">book</a>, magazine or any source of distraction within reach. At its worst, it can feel almost physically painful.

Hot Boredom Defined

<ul><li>Hot boredom is a common struggle people encounter when they first try to meditate.</li><li>A big part of getting past it is learning to sit with that discomfort, instead of fighting it.</li><li>Don't resist it because when we allow for hot boredom to exist, we give ourselves the possibility of transiting to the spaciousness of cool boredom.</li></ul>In order to move beyond hot boredom, you have to feel it burn a bit first.

Hot Boredom Is An Obstacle In Your Journey

<img alt="Article Thumbnail" src="https://melmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Hot_Boredom-1024x427.jpg">Here are my symptoms: I’m without my phone and my head is ready to explode<img src="https://melmagazine.com/wp-content/themes/mel/redesign/images/twitter.svg" width="32" height="32" alt="Twitter"><img src="https://melmagazine.com/wp-content/themes/mel/redesign/images/facebook.svg" width="32" height="32" alt="Facebook"><img src="https://melmagazine.com/wp-content/themes/mel/redesign/images/flipboard.svg" width="32" height="32" alt="Flipboard"><img src="https://melmagazine.com/wp-content/themes/mel/redesign/images/pocket.svg" width="32" height="32" alt="Pocket"><img src="https://melmagazine.com/wp-content/themes/mel/redesign/images/link.svg" width="32" height="32" alt="Copy Link"><img src="https://melmagazine.com/wp-content/themes/mel/redesign/images/instagram.svg" width="32" height="32" alt="Instagram">The first boyfriend I had after moving to New York refused to walk up <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/my-arm-was-eaten-by-an-escalator" dir="ltr">escalators</a> in subway stations, calling it “a little vacation.” To me, this was wildly annoying, especially when I was in a hurry. As it turns out, that infuriating feeling I had while stuck just standing there wasn’t disdain for my ex — that was my hot boredom talking.<div class="embed-placeholder" data-type="youtube" data-id="JBBQdFSvvTE"></div>Although it sounds like a phrase used to describe <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/zoolander-animated-show-history" dir="ltr">Zoolander</a>-esque model poses, “hot boredom” was coined by Tibetan-Buddhist <a href="https://shambhala.org/teachers/chogyam-trungpa/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" dir="ltr">Chögyam Trungpa</a>, a key figure in the popularization of <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/tag/buddhism" dir="ltr">Buddhism</a> in the 1970s in the U.S. In one of his many posthumously published books, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Action-Yourself-Meditation-Awareness/dp/1611803535/?tag=doverxmel-20" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" dir="ltr">Mindfulness in Action: Making Friends with Yourself Through Meditation and Everyday Awareness</a>, Trungpa <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Trungpa/photos/hot-boredom-cool-boredomhot-boredom-is-like-being-locked-in-a-padded-cell-you-ar/10154475361738933/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" dir="ltr">described</a> “hot boredom” as the sense of “being locked in a padded cell. You are bored, miserable and irritated.” In modern terms, hot <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/bored-of-your-isolation-workouts-just-dance-baby" dir="ltr">boredom</a> is that internal groan when you’re in line at the DMV or stuck on the <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/how-to-get-some-sleep-in-an-airport" dir="ltr">airport</a> tarmac, and your <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/cardio-iphone-distraction" dir="ltr">phone</a> dies and there’s not a <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/t-pain-cocktail-book" dir="ltr">book</a>, magazine or any source of distraction within reach. At its worst, it can feel almost physically painful.“We’ve created so many distractions in our everyday environment — social media notifications, scrolling the web, socializing endlessly, shopping [methods] that generations before us did not have,” explains meditation practitioner and mindset expert <a href="https://ananda4life.com/about-me/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" dir="ltr">Dipal Shah</a>. Thus, when faced with an unwanted sense of stillness, “we feel like we might explode. Our hyperactive lifestyles and constant mind chattering have forced us to develop an allergy to sitting in stillness.”Although hot boredom may be an “allergy,” it’s not innate. Rather, hot boredom is something we pick up over time through being socially conditioned to <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/work-calendar-mixup-horror-stories" dir="ltr">work</a> hard, perform well and push through at all costs. Unfortunately, an unforeseen cost of this always-on mindset is that those brief moments of quiet — when we should be resting, resetting and recharging — feel fucking excruciating, putting our bodies under even more unnecessary stress.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<h3><a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/what-is-kambo">
 The Rise of Kambo — A Toxic Frog Fluid Wellness Detox </a></h3><div>
 Mental Health </div>Meditation teacher and executive coach <a href="https://www.michaelobrienshift.com/home" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" dir="ltr">Michael O’Brien</a> has found that hot boredom is a common struggle people encounter when they first try to meditate. A big part of getting past it is learning to sit with that discomfort instead. “Don’t resist it because when we allow for hot boredom to exist, we give ourselves the possibility of transiting to the spaciousness of cool boredom.”Shah echoes the sentiment that in order to move beyond hot boredom, you have to feel it burn a bit first. Also like O’Brien, she stresses the importance of sticking with it, even if you “feel like you’re going to blow up like a pressure cooker,” she says. Beyond that, she recommends giving yourself about 21 days to practice consciously sitting with hot boredom, and eventually, the irritation will cool off.&nbsp;Trungpa described cool boredom as the idyllic opposite, and a central goal of meditation overall. “Cool boredom is quite spacious, and it creates further softness and sympathy toward ourselves. In that space, we are no longer afraid of allowing ourselves to experience a gap,” he <a href="https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/cool-boredom/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" dir="ltr">wrote</a> in Mindfulness in Action. “In other words, we realize that existence does not depend on constantly cranking up our egomaniacal machine. There is another way of existing.”At first, it may sound like something you’d find on an inspirational TikTok or Yogi Tea bag, but cool boredom is basically the realization that “we don’t always have to be spinning away,” O’Brien explains. If we get stuck in line, “we can make space for stillness, and this moment in time calls for us to slow down.” While this acceptance may seem to slow us down at first, it ultimately conserves our resources and is “the best way to go fast.”So the next time I’m stuck standing on an escalator, I may not fully meditate, but I can at least remember that boredom isn’t a good or bad thing — it’s just best served cold.&nbsp;<img src="https://melmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/0-8.jpg" alt="">

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Productivity

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Personal Development

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Time Management

Here are my symptoms: I’m without my phone and my head is ready to explode

The first boyfriend I had after moving to New York refused to walk up <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/my-arm-was-eaten-by-an-escalator">escalators </a>in subway stations, calling it “a little vacation.” To me, this was wildly annoying, especially when I was in a hurry. As it turns out, that infuriating feeling I had while stuck just standing there wasn’t disdain for my ex — that was my hot boredom talking.

Although it sounds like a phrase used to describe <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/zoolander-animated-show-history">Zoolander </a>-esque model poses, “hot boredom” was coined by Tibetan-Buddhist <a href="https://shambhala.org/teachers/chogyam-trungpa/">Chögyam Trungpa </a>, a key figure in the popularization of <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/tag/buddhism">Buddhism </a>in the 1970s in the U.S. In one of his many posthumously published books, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-Action-Yourself-Meditation-Awareness/dp/1611803535/?tag=doverxmel-20">Mindfulness in Action: Making Friends with Yourself Through Meditation and Everyday Awareness </a>, Trungpa <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Trungpa/photos/hot-boredom-cool-boredomhot-boredom-is-like-being-locked-in-a-padded-cell-you-ar/10154475361738933/">described </a>“hot boredom” as the sense of “being locked in a padded cell. You are bored, miserable and irritated.” In modern terms, hot <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/bored-of-your-isolation-workouts-just-dance-baby">boredom </a>is that internal groan when you’re in line at the DMV or stuck on the <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/how-to-get-some-sleep-in-an-airport">airport </a>tarmac, and your <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/cardio-iphone-distraction">phone </a>dies and there’s not a <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/t-pain-cocktail-book">book </a>, magazine or any source of distraction within reach. At its worst, it can feel almost physically painful.

“We’ve created so many distractions in our everyday environment — social media notifications, scrolling the web, socializing endlessly, shopping [methods] that generations before us did not have,” explains meditation practitioner and mindset expert <a href="https://ananda4life.com/about-me/">Dipal Shah </a>. Thus, when faced with an unwanted sense of stillness, “we feel like we might explode. Our hyperactive lifestyles and constant mind chattering have forced us to develop an allergy to sitting in stillness.”

Although hot boredom may be an “allergy,” it’s not innate. Rather, hot boredom is something we pick up over time through being socially conditioned to <a href="https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/work-calendar-mixup-horror-stories">work </a>hard, perform well and push through at all costs. Unfortunately, an unforeseen cost of this always-on mindset is that those brief moments of quiet — when we should be resting, resetting and recharging — feel fucking excruciating, putting our bodies under even more unnecessary stress.

The Rise of Kambo — A Toxic Frog Fluid Wellness Detox

Meditation teacher and executive coach <a href="https://www.michaelobrienshift.com/home">Michael O’Brien </a>has found that hot boredom is a common struggle people encounter when they first try to meditate. A big part of getting past it is learning to sit with that discomfort instead. “Don’t resist it because when we allow for hot boredom to exist, we give ourselves the possibility of transiting to the spaciousness of cool boredom.”

Shah echoes the sentiment that in order to move beyond hot boredom, you have to feel it burn a bit first. Also like O’Brien, she stresses the importance of sticking with it, even if you “feel like you’re going to blow up like a pressure cooker,” she says. Beyond that, she recommends giving yourself about 21 days to practice consciously sitting with hot boredom, and eventually, the irritation will cool off.

Trungpa described cool boredom as the idyllic opposite, and a central goal of meditation overall. “Cool boredom is quite spacious, and it creates further softness and sympathy toward ourselves. In that space, we are no longer afraid of allowing ourselves to experience a gap,” he <a href="https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/cool-boredom/">wrote </a>in Mindfulness in Action . “In other words, we realize that existence does not depend on constantly cranking up our egomaniacal machine. There is another way of existing.”

At first, it may sound like something you’d find on an inspirational TikTok or Yogi Tea bag, but cool boredom is basically the realization that “we don’t always have to be spinning away,” O’Brien explains. If we get stuck in line, “we can make space for stillness, and this moment in time calls for us to slow down.” While this acceptance may seem to slow us down at first, it ultimately conserves our resources and is “the best way to go fast.”

So the next time I’m stuck standing on an escalator, I may not fully meditate, but I can at least remember that boredom isn’t a good or bad thing — it’s just best served cold.

What Is ‘Hot Boredom,’ and Do I Have It?

Can't Live A Minute Without A Distraction

Hot Boredom Defined

Hot Boredom Is An Obstacle In Your Journey

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