Everything is spiritual but there are some things that seem to detract from life while others seem to build it up. I’m a bit of a digital and information junky. I’m the former because of the latter. The digital world is like plugging information straight into your veins. For this reason I need tools that enable me to ‘unplug’ and be present. This is one of them.

Photo: Francis Ritchie. Starting another puzzle.

There are a whole bunch of activities generations before mine (and even mine when we were younger) did that enabled them to slow down and be present – and shock, horror – even get bored. As a quick note, boredom, as abhorrent as it might seem in a culture of constant entertainment, is a very very healthy thing. Allowing ourselves to enter a zone of boredom gives us the ability to then cross into a creative zone that is just beyond it. The brain needs down-time in order to allow the room for creativity. Boredom signals that we’re in down-time.

Fishing, knitting, model building, quilting, baking, painting, cross stitch, reading fiction (and the list goes on) are all activities that are alive and well but have been minimised amongst the generations that have grown up with the digital world occupying our time more. Each of those activities has built into them the ability to zone out – to disconnect and each of them has the ability to allow for boredom.

One of my favourite activities growing up was to sit out on the white fence outside the flats I lived in. As a young lad I could sit there for hours and do nothing. I’d just watch people and cars go by, my mind would wander and occasionally a friend might come by and we’d end up spending time together. Sitting on that fence made me present in my neighbourhood. It allowed me to get bored and then for my head to go to those places it desperately needs to go to stay healthy and to get creative. Life doesn’t allow me to do the same thing any-more but we all still need ways to disconnect, zone out and create space for the mind to wander.

A ritual practice of silence, prayer and contemplation is a significant part of that for me but recently my wife, daughter and I also started doing puzzles (1000 pieces). It may seem quaint to many and obvious to others but I don’t know many families that do it. When I was younger we knew plenty of people who did puzzles – all from the generation before mine.

Upon reflection I’ve found putting the puzzles together to be a deeply rich experience. I have to focus, but it’s not an intense focus. I have to be present, but not in a way that inhibits my mind from wandering and there are moments when I get bored sifting through a box to find that one piece I want. That’s healthy. There is no goal to get the puzzle done in a certain amount of time – it’s not a competition – and so it can go as quickly or as slowly as it will.

This may all seem self evident for many, but I’m guessing that for many more, it’s not. You see, doing something like a puzzle in this day and age is like choosing to watch Little House on the Prairie when something like The Dark Knight Rises is on offer (by the way, I adore the latter). Why would we choose slow when fast and stimulating is what we have become accustomed to? Why would we? Because we need to but so often we don’t, simply because it’s slow and boring and we’ve been conditioned to think that boring is bad… and as another note – too often churches are now shaping their services around that exact same ethos rather than offering a way to ‘unplug’ and slow down. In our services we’re scared that people will get bored and go somewhere more stimulating – and the reality is that too many people ARE shopping around churches looking for the most stimulating and entertaining rather than finding what they really need.

We all need things that enable us to ‘unplug’, slow down, be present and even get bored. Puzzle making is now one of those things for me. What works for you?