Boredom/Attraction/Wanting the Whole Package

In this talk, Bruce Di Marsico discusses boredom, attraction, and wanting the whole package.

Boredom is believing there is something else I should be doing. If we believe that it would be better for us to do something else other than what we are doing, we have the choice of doing it (and why not, after all we believe that it would be better for us!) or being bored. Doing something we do not like is not boring if we are in touch with the action as an intermediate step for something we are motivated towards.

Attraction is a question: do I want to move towards this? What is more attractive, is a louder question. When the question is answered, then we want, which motivates our doing. It is common for people to feel confused about a choice between attractive options. When we are in touch with our wanting, we feel the attraction as a question: how much do I want this? How much do I want that? This question is either enjoyed interminably, or eventually dissolved into indifference, or resolved into a choice.

We do not want to do what we are attracted to, in itself, if we do not want the whole package that doing it entails. For example, even if we are attracted to go on vacation, we will not want to if we do not want the whole package of travel expenses and the foregoing of the activities we could do instead, such as earning money.

Option Method – Safety and Boredom