Sitting with boredom
I was inspired to share this after seeing this comment on another thread: https://tildes.net/~talk/162y/not_entirely_sure_how_to_fill_the_void_reddit_has_left#comment-87j6
Again, new to tildes here, so not quite sure if this sort of thing fits. It's not really a question, more, sharing something I do that I thought could be interesting for others. Maybe it belongs in a different group.
So the last few years I've started doing this little exercise: I will pick a time frame (usually few days, but a 24 hour period is great). I will turn off the phone (not just silence, but turn it off), turn off my modem, turn off the radio and music, pretty much any electronic device, and just... sit there.
I get bored quickly. But when the boredom comes, I sit with it. I analyze it. I try to understand boredom itself, and the unpleasant sensation its causing. I try to be aware of any urge that comes to distract myself from it, and I deny that urge, and see what happens internally when I deny that urge.
The boredom is uncomfortable, I won't lie. I really want to do other things. But I realize I'm capable of enduring it, and I so I sit there, because I want to see what will happen. And then something kind of wonderful happens: once the initial discomfort passes, and I accept I'm going to keep doing this, in the absence of things to distraction myself with, my thoughts begin to gravitate towards things that are genuinely important to me. What are the problems that I want to solve? What are the ideas that I want to work on? How do I want to make the world a better place? (Not what the news tells me is important, or friends, or the internet, it's all fucking noise - what problems are important to me?) This sounds like it should be so obvious, of course you know what's important to you, right? But something about this exercise illuminates it (for me at least). Almost like, I've got this tiny little flashlight, that I can point to whatever is important to me (we all do). When I'm in society, connected, I find that everyone has their flashlight on. Then big companies, news outlets, whatever, they have these giant ones, spotlights, all pointing in different directions. When all of this is on at once, it's so bright I don't even notice my own. I'm constantly distracted. I start to wonder "huh, that spot is bright, I wonder if I'm pointing my flashlight there." It's so easy to get confused. It's only once I turn it all off, and the world is dark, that I can clearly see what I'm pointing at. It's just so easy then.
This is not meditation, actually it's pretty much the opposite. I am not trying to clear my mind at all. I'm trying to see where my thoughts go when it's free of noise. Where they go is very revealing to me.
I'm still uncomfortable with boredom, I don't think that's changed at all. But I've become comfortable with sitting with it, and the fruits of this exercise have made it worth it to me. Moreover, the more I've done this, the more uncomfortable I've become with all the noise. I used to think I loved being connected, but now that I realize I don't have to be, it's actually the opposite... I really don't like having my phone on, I don't like having my modem on, and I dislike news, politics, and lots of that kind of stuff. It makes me feel almost claustrophobic. I find a lot of calm in being away from all of that. I'm still very grateful for these things, I just feel uncomfortable being connected to them 24/7, and I like to be away.
Actually... that is meditation. At least in Zazen (which I practice) it's not necessarily about clearing your mind of all thoughts. You simply accept your monkey brain thoughts, swinging from branch to branch, tree to tree. And you observe them doing so, but let them pass by without latching on to them, or getting frustrated at the new ones still arriving. Instead, you just try your best to go back to focusing on your breathing, and being present in the moment. Eventually your mind will likely quiet down, the time between each new thought will lengthen, and your mind may even become entirely still after a prolonged period. But that doesn't have to be the goal. Simply spending time observing your own thoughts can be a fulfilling, worthwhile, and relaxing experience in itself.
But digression aside, this is still solid advice. Thanks for sharing it with us! :)
Interesting, wow thanks for telling me about this. The only thing I've heard about meditation is about trying to quiet your mind, I didn't know there were other approaches. I will have to look into this!!
Ironically, intentionally trying to quiet your mind is usually the absolute best way to make it noisier, IMO+IME. That's why Zazen generally preaches acceptance of stray thoughts as a natural part of the process, but just not letting them effect you, and instead simply continuing to focus on your breathing (either by counting, reciting a sutra, or a koan while you breath). Your mind will naturally quiet down if you give it enough time while you simply focus on breathing deeply and rhythmically, and not allowing yourself to get frustrated at any stray thoughts. :)
thank you so much. Haha somehow your comment disappeared for a minute, I was really bummed and thought it got deleted because I didn't remember the name of this meditation. Will write this down. Thanks very much.
My pleasure. I have panic disorder (recurring debilitating panics attacks) and have for over 30 years. And meditation (primarily Zazen, but others types as well) is genuinely one of the few things that has kept me sane and grounded all these years. So I am always happy to share the techniques with others. :)
oh man, I am sorry you have dealt with that... I had some medication-induced panic attacks (a medication used to treat symptoms of a throat disorder, oddly enough), and they were just... awful. My heart goes out to folks who deal with this on a regular basis. Just curious but in what way has it helped? Is it something you do once the panic attack begins, or you can feel it coming on or something, and do it proactively? (or maybe you just do it regularly, and you find that in itself has reduced the occurrences of panic attacks?)
I have some sort of opposite struggles to panic attack: my parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) seems to get activated too much, rather than sympathetic (fight or flight); I end up being very emotionally dull and unaffected as a result. I wonder if doing a meditation practice could help with that, because I'm deeply trying to solve that problem, so I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you've made this work for you.
Thanks for the sympathy. And as to your questions, it depends. I meditate daily, and have for several decades now. I used to get several attacks a day when I was in my teens, whereas now I only have a few a week, or a few a month if I'm lucky. Some of that is due to my diet, since I cut out most of my "triggers" like caffeine, chocolate, red meat, etc. But the meditation has certainly helped with that as well.
And even when I do have a panic attack nowadays, I'm so well rehearsed in meditating after all these years that I usually find myself naturally going into a meditative state when my body starts experiencing the panic attack symptoms (racing heart, racing mind, sweating, nausea, etc). That can sometimes stop the attack (if I catch it early enough), or reduce its length once its started, but it often doesn't, and so I simply have to accept the process and suffer through it. Even when the meditation doesn't end an attack it still helps me get through them without being completely mentally drained afterward though. Physically I am still drained, but I don't wallow in my self-pity and mental misery during or afterwards as much anymore. ;)
Whether it can help you with the opposite problem, I don't know for sure, but I think it probably can. I suspect more general mindfulness meditation might help more though, since that focuses more narrowly on being "mindful" (being present in the moment, in your body, and in your mind.. heightening your awareness of body, mind, emotions, etc) than Zazen does.
As someone with intense panic who has been fighting with meds for two decades, thanks for introducing me (and others) to Zazen! I’m excited to learn! I’ve never been able to quiet my mind and when I try to force it I end up failing and then beat myself up for it. Obviously the whole deal ends up harming me rather than helping me but the option of not judging myself for stray thoughts sounds really, really nice and peaceful. My psych always suggests learning grounding techniques so I’m excited to try this out.
If you ever need any advice, or assistance learning to meditate please feel free to reach out to me (here or via PM if you want). If it can help you like it has helped me, it's worth it. :)
p.s. If you want to give Zazen a try, I highly recommend this video tutorial as it does an excellent job going through the basics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDJ_wbjBL6c
cc: @kuzbr, if you want to give it a try as well.
hey thank you. I've always been curious about meditation but never really given it a shot. This sounds like something I could really get into. Checking out the video now!
Sure thing. And if you ever give it a try, let me know what you though about it, how it went, and if you need any advice. No pressure though. :)
Wonderful! Thank you! I really appreciate it.
When I had to report to jail once a week 30 years ago for a month. They would give you a day bag lunch. I used the bag to make a little basketball hoop, and would rip off the sides to make little basketballs. The 10 or 15 people sharing the cell would look at me oddly as I tried to pass the time "shooting hoops". Never understood how folks can just do nothing for an afternoon? And I was the weirdo.
Why did you have to report to jail?
Wonderful analogy with the flashlights. I think a lot of people (including myself) find the only time they have each day is at night when they are in bed trying to sleep. All of a sudden everything they have distracted themselves from gets a chance to come up and it's not a good time to really be thinking about all that unfortunately.
this is really fair, especially the point about sleep, because sleep is just so damn important to your health, and I really don't think this exercise is worth sacrificing sleep at all (sleep is so neglected in many societies; your body will thank you so much for tending to it properly). I don't have a family so I have more freedom to do this, I think. And I realize it wouldn't be possible for everyone. I guess that word privilege comes up because I have privilege here, and maybe I even take it for granted too much. I hope it didn't come off them as me rubbing it in anyone's face. I hope that everyone has the opportunity to do this at some point, even if it's a later time in life.
I listened to a brilliant podcast, which I’m afraid I can’t remember the name of let alone the episode, but it talked about the importance of being bored for our brains. We are all so overstimulated. Including (ironically) that we listen to podcasts while doing chores. It made me put conscious effort into trying to do things around the house without the background noise of a podcast or audiobook, and it really does help me with mental clarity. I think music has less of an impact, if any, but I can’t quite remember, so I try to do a few things each day in total silence. I encourage everyone to give it a go!
There's numerous studies that have shown that boredom is good for children, for a lot of these reasons.
People marvel that I have two children under 8 that will just entertain themselves while waiting for something, like a doctors office. How well behaved they are in absence of a tablet.
The secret is forcing them to be bored. If they're bored at home, toss out 3 suggestions on non-screen things to do. If they reject them say "Well you'll figure it out."
And car trips....Tablet only gets busted out if its more than a 2 hour drive. If its less than an hour look out the window or talk to each other.
This is actually something I've worked on with my dogs (Australian koolies, which is a busy, high-energy herding breed). Working line herding dogs get bored very easily, and they are also prone to becoming neurotic if they don't know what their "job" is at any given time (they are huge people pleasers and want constant reassurance that they're doing what they're supposed to be doing).
I have things I need to do besides give them constant entertainment and positive feedback all day long, so I've gradually turned "doing nothing, being bored" into a job for them to do. I started by rewarding them for even very short moments of being idle, and then I gradually transitioned them into longer and longer periods of doing nothing. I don't make them do it all the time (I still give them puzzle toys, chew toys, etc., when I need them to entertain themselves), but I do encourage them to spend at least part of the day just being settled — not playing, not sleeping, not geared up waiting for me to give them a command: just being awake and idle, with no particular focus on me, each other, or anything else. And if I catch them doing it on their own, without me having to tell them, I praise them (quietly so as not to disturb their zen), maybe give them a small treat, and let them know what good dogs they are.
My younger dog (an 8-month-old puppy) can't do it for very long before she gets distracted or before she comes to me for attention, but that's OK; she is still improving. My older dog, who is three years old, is a champ at just being chill for hours on end, and I've noticed that the practice has made him generally more patient and relaxed in other aspects of life than he was before.
It's also really fun to watch them go from totally relaxed, lazing around, to suddenly at attention and raring to go when I say the word. People talk about training dogs to have an off-switch, but with it comes an on-switch, and it's pretty awesome.
Oh wow - another Koolie owner! :) I always get excited when I find another since it isn't a hugely popular breed.
I definitely agree with applying this to herding dogs. Though I've found Koolies seem to be better with this than some other breeds. We have friends with Border Collies and they are 110% all the time.
We have our big energy activity - frisbee, and then a few lower energy things like chewing bones, and then like you've described, moments of just hanging out. Ours is 10 now, so she's leaning more into the chill times, but it was a struggle when she was younger.
Whoa, I did not expect to encounter someone here who has a koolie! Whereabouts are you located? How did you end up with one?
Midwestern US. Are you familiar with the trainer Sara Brueske? She had a Koolie that needed a pet home and it worked out for us to take one in. She's been a fantastic dog and it's been really fun to learn about the breed. I would definitely want to get another in the future.
Whoa, you're one of the exceedingly rare non-Australian koolie owners! Are you familiar with the Koolie Club?
I've been to a couple of the annual events for the US club. They actually used to be pretty local to us. I'd like to go to some more. It's amazing to see what these dogs can do!
I will look for this. Yes, the thing about putting on background noise, I used to do this so much, and I never realized how often I was doing it to avoid boredom. Yes, it's a totally different experience to just clean, cook, whatever, without anything in the background.
We just live in this world where we don't have to be bored, and I think as human beings, it's in our nature to want to avoid anything that's uncomfortable. It's great we have that option, but maybe we are missing out on things by being able to sit with discomfort. Maybe we are even becoming less resilient as a species, I don't know.
I think we crave it because we are so isolated now compared to any other time in our history. Hundreds of years ago we would cook with a group, chatting and singing and telling stories. We try and replace that with radio and podcasts and whatever, but it’s engaging a different part of our brains so it’s not satisfying the social need it’s just noise
that's a really interesting take, and I hadn't thought about that at all. Yes, we are wired to be social. Thanks a lot for mentioning this.
Hey OP, I'm very honored that you found inspiration in my post and I appreciate you sharing your personal experiences with boredom! To be honest, it's something I still struggle with and I really resonated with your approach on dealing with it.
Something that inspired me to reinvent my perception of boredom was a recent concept my therapist shared with me. I am bad about carrying the energy (or lack of thereof) of being overworked from my stressfull job once I am off the clock. It has caused me to demonize menial tasks or things that should be self-soothing because I am viewing them from the lense of return over time. This is falling into what my therapist called the "capalistic mindset," the feeling that I need to be productive in my off time which is counter productive to embracing boredom.
The act of mindless scrolling or using other media gives the illusion to my dumb monkey brain that I am utilizing this free-time. But in reality, it's never allowing me to turn-off all that noise and instead was leaving me in a state of constant anxiousness. Learning to embrace boredom allows for that transition to happen into a calmer state of mind I believe, especially when dealing with persistent stressful situations. For the longest time I've rejected the idea of meditation or similar acts because I've been relegating them as too boring or a waste of my precious time, when reality it would be one of the healthiest ways I can purge my daily stressors.
Best of luck in your journey in accepting boredom!
Oh wow... your response... obsessing with being "efficient" with your time, I 100% do this and it has really, really hindered my life. It got to the point where I could barely do a load of laundry because I would sit there trying to analyze "well is it more efficient to do this today, or tomorrow at x time while I'm doing such and such and"; if it didn't seem efficient to do in that moment, I would feel like I was wasting my time and hate myself. As a result, I would find myself never doing anything in my personal life unless it fit perfectly into a puzzle of efficiency (simple tasks, hobbies, whatever). I have never really seen anyone else express this before. By any chance are you a programmer? A big part of me thinks it's how I initially fell into this trap, because with coding I am constantly obsessing over efficiency, so that line of thinking comes naturally. I do admittedly struggle with OCD, and the big breakthrough for me for solving this problem, was realizing that it was actually an OCD tendency (in my case). I realized that the feeling of "efficiency" gave me a sort of relief/calm. i.e. "I did these 10 tasks in a perfectly efficient way, that feels great". My life had grown very stressful, and I was looking for that relief, and didn't even realize it. The moment I realized this, the moment I could break the pattern, because I saw it was all an illusion and was doing me no good in life.
I relate to this as well. I think the scrolling (for me and others at least), can also be a distraction. I do not know if that is the case for you. I also rejected meditation for the same reasons, as it didn't fit into my efficiency mindset.
I don't know if anything I wrote is helpful or if you relate, I understand it might be off the mark for you, but sharing it in case it's useful to you or anyone else.
I wish you luck as well. And yes, I hope one day you will just force yourself to sit with the boredom. Do it for 30 minutes, an hour, whatever. Turn off the phone, the devices, allow yourself nothing as a distraction. When the boredom hits, it will feel like crap, I hope you will just sit with it, and realize it's not as bad as you might think, which will show you that you have the power to endure it. I found that after I hit that place, a few hours into it, I find a strange liberation, realizing I have more power in my life and thoughts than I realize. That's why I go back to this exercise time and again.
Wow. Sorta hit the nail on the head there for me. The very act of determining what fits in that hierarchy of time is also taxing in itself and often times I would find myself picking the item of least resistance in that flow. Playing a short instanced game versus a lengthy adventure one. Making a less healthy dinner instead of one that taps my creativity in the kitchen. Staying in rather than going out to run errands. While each offer a scale in mindfulness, the level of effort needed depends on how much I am willing to give. If I deduced myself into that efficiency thinking, more often than not I would go with the shorter investment items that would only provide marginal levels of self-soothing in comparison. Chasing this simplicity due to lack of energy only further negated my acceptance of boredom.
All or nothing thought patterns are something that I also struggle with, and accepting boredom fell into the nothing realm because I am constantly chasing that "all". The reality is nothingness is OK! But due to constantly feeling like a chunk of MY time is being taken from stressors like work, I persistently fell into an "all" mindset when that time was available to me. Even if that time was spent doing low-effort scrolling, I was still classifying it as utilizing that time.
Formerly, but now I've been shuffled to Project Management type stuff. Though with the exception of one job, it feels like all have dealt with crunch which compounds that capalistic mindset. Those work environments persistently breed the need to process stuff efficiently for hours on end and it feels like a noise that is difficult to turn off when it comes to my personal life. But even prior to that, I obsessively planned my college schedule through bullet journaling in order to manage my heavy course load.
I guess in a way I've become so accepting of all this "noise" in my professional life that I turned towards "noise" in my personal life to drown it out. Accepting boredom initially felt like accepting that professional noise to ebb back into my personal, but in reality it helps you learn how to manage it in more effective ways instead of through distractions. It and meditation type practices encourage you to actually reflect on them and use boredom to healthily silence them out.
I'm not advocating this for everyone and advise thorough research before attempting, but mushrooms really helped me recently overcome those mental hurdles I personally had with boredom and instant gratification. Your personal struggles with OCD are relatable to mine with CPTSD/Anxiety, and a light trip helped break those mental walls I formally had against enjoying life in a slower manner. Our busy professional lives have wired our brains to be in that constant go mode for the sake of efficiency and has weaken the mental fortitude of just appreciating the things in the now. For the first time in years, I was able to pause the need for a constant deluge of activity and take a moment to enjoy the small pleasures around me. To actually stop and reappreciate the beautiful pattern of a print I grew accustomed too or not over stress in how efficiencently I am prepping food for a meal that I am excited to make. In return it has also allowed me reevaluate how much space the overstimulation of a stressful job has in my life and has given breadth to the ability to accept just doing nothing! Because quite literally doing nothing gives your mental self a break to simply recover and build back the energy to do something else instead of attempting a long distance marathon.
I think it's the perfect conglomeration of what you, I, and many others are having to reflect on in the age of a changing internet. Each person needs a different catalyst perhaps, but Reddit fell in a realm of instant gratification and refusing to accept boredom. In reality it may have been a temporary morphine to address some of these realities that have come up in your discussion and others. Shirking it and encouraging others to find their own ways in addressing boredom is a far finer use of my time online; thank you for sharing!
Thanks for taking the time to write all this out. (Sorry I didn't respond sooner, I haven't been online.) Kind of helps me refine some of my own thoughts on this, on what could be going on. Also, I did this same stuff with going for unhealthy meals vs cooking, because of the whole "efficiency of time" thing. Interestingly, I forced myself to start cooking about 6-8 months ago, and I think it's one of the things that has helped me break through this efficiency issue; I really began to reap the longer-term benefits of sacrificing my time in the short time (feel better, feel healthier, etc), and it changed my perspectives a lot. Now I meal prep about twice a week. Another interesting thing that happened, is I find that I genuinely enjoy cooking now, whereas before it was a chore. :) That in itself has been a really nice reminder for me how adaptable we are, and how just because I am averse to something in the moment, doesn't necessarily represent how I'll feel about it long term.
By the way, I also was stuck in some incredibly demanding positions that just suck my time from me. I think it's also what got me to be so obsessive and protective of my time. At the end of the day, I think time is one of the most valuable assets we have. It's so limited, and I want to spend it wisely. I just want to balance that desire out with not screwing other parts of my life. That said - I think that you and I and others in this position got the "wakeup call" of seeing just how valuable time is, is a kind of silver lining of having to that situation. (At least that's how I spin it in my mind.)
Pick up a hobby. Find something you're already interested in and dive in!
Oh I meant to say that when boredom hits, I find myself really wanting to do anything else than sit with the boredom (but then I force myself to for a bit). But what you said is actually perfect. Because when I'm doing this exercise, and bored, and searching for a way to take my mind from the boredom, it makes me want to do new things, or maybe drill down deeper on things I'm already interested in (but never take the time to develop). I think I usually ignore those thoughts, thinking "it's just my mind trying to distract myself from boredom", but it's actually something very illuminating now that I think about it; I should take this as "this is something you're interested in, but you haven't realized it, this is worth pursuing and exploring". so thank you very much for that
I don't know your age but I had a childhood/ young adulthood before computers were an every day part of life.
Being bored pre computer was a very different kind of bored , for me it was absolute misery. The kind of bored where people did mean shit to one another out of boredom.
Buh bye to that !
With that said, what you are saying here has a lot of value.
Like you, I've started turning the phone off and it makes a big difference in my mental and emotional state.
One of my uses of tech is to distract from painful feelings and I've noticed it has the effect of making those feelings go on much longer than if I just sat with them and journaled or talked to my friend about them. Not like the feelings maintain their initial intensity but like they become a low constant hum .
Always being "on" adds to the depth of mental exhaustion as well, it slowly becomes a feeling of harassment in today's surveillance capitalism. Being still can easily feel like I'm "wasting time" or not working toward whatever current goal.
Gratefully, I live in a dumb house and it only takes turning the router off to feel completely free.
I've also resumed taking walks and running errands sans phone but only since all the people in my life have become adults and I'm not responsible for any one person lol.
The closest I come to sitting with boredom is sitting with my cats ,watching them watch birds and other wildlife. It is a nice moment in my day and the cats like that I'm hanging out with them ,it's cute.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I'm encouraged to try what you have now.
Cheers!
When I was getting my ADHD diagnosis, I was asked about how it felt when I was stuck in a boring situation, like waiting in line or something. This is because having less tolerance for boredom is an ADHD symptom. And I realized as I answered that the smartphone era has totally masked this symptom most of the time, because in those situations I can just do random shit on my phone. But if I were in the same situation and, say, my phone were dead, it would be unbearable. I wonder if the existence of such easy ways to relieve boredom might genuinely prevent some people from getting diagnosed in the future.
It is really interesting you bring up age, because I think there's probably a huge mental gap between a lot of folks due to this, and I hadn't thought about that before. I am just on the borderline of that age where computers were kind of always there, and I grew up living on the computer honestly. I really wonder what kind of impact this has made on folks like myself that never really had to deal with boredom properly in their formative years. I wonder if the boredom seems worse to us because we've made a boogeyman out of it, maybe like someone who has never had a shot before that's become afraid of needles, because they look so scary to them (when really it's just a little prick). Maybe that's why I've gone to the extreme of doing this boredom exercise (i.e. doing it for multiple days at a time), because I needed something that extreme.
I think the boredom of pre computer era was a very different kind of boredom we have today, and I think this is a good thing.
It took ages to get information on anything you'd want to learn about and there were so few choices in subjects.
Because if the information age we know have just millions of choices in what we want to be a part of or learn about..
So even when being quiet or offline, there is just so much more for the brain to muse over and the heart to get excited about .
The boredom of long ago was stultifying, dumb feeling. Then again, we didn't have much money and that could also have been a factor.
I told my kids that when I was younger they advertised gardening lessons and you'd get a couple of cards a month to learn with. Just awful .
Congrats on your efforts, I'm going to try this soon now too.
Very interesting perspective here, and I really had never considered that the type of boredom itself was different back then.
Now that I think about it, what you're describing is almost what I am trying to get at with this boredom exercise.
By the way, in no way am I trying to say that all this info we have , or being connected, is some awful thing. I should make clear, I am so grateful for the information we have available to us in this day and age. To me it's incredible, and I make use of it constantly. I feel so lucky to have been born when I was. I genuinely believe knowledge is power, or rather it buys you options and opportunities. So I hope nothing i've said comes across any other way.
I guess it's some sort of double edged sword. Maybe we as humans just haven't evolved to a point where our brains can responsibly handle such an endless stream of information and dopamine hits.
This made me laugh bc I have to constantly check my storytelling/ connect the dots part of this brain that swims in that endless stream of information. It's work I tell you. Cheers
This sounds like a really enlightening practice. I'm curious what you've discovered about your own interests, goals, etc. when you're in these sessions, if don't mind sharing.
Sure. So for context, I usually do this exercise for a minimum of 24 hours, but usually a few days, so that probably makes a difference. Also, I usually do this when I'm trying to make progress on a personal project of mine.
What usually happens is that for the first few hours, I start to get bored quickly. By the first night, I am just sitting with that boredom which is very uncomfortable, wishing I was doing other things, often just thinking about the exercise itself (why am I doing this? how long will I do this? god this sucks... etc). By the second night, I've accepted that I'm doing this, and my mind is no longer preoccupied with thinking about it/(resisting it?). It's still uncomfortable, but I'm resigned to it.. At this point, where my thoughts go is really telling to me; I'll find myself thinking about certain problems in life (most often: creative projects I've been stalled on, ideas I've been toying with, unsolved problems in my own life that require more thought, etc.) Where those thoughts chose to gravitate becomes really revealing, because in that moment, I have literally nothing but my thoughts to occupy me, and I could chose to think about anything, so I start going to the problems I want to solve the most (thus telling me what's really important to me). I guess like, if you had your choice of any food you wanted to eat, you might chose the thing that is most appealing to you. Maybe you don't realize plums are your favorite food until you find yourself reaching for the plums, when you have the option of literally anything. I hope that makes sense, I've never put this into words before... (there could also be other reason you reach for those plums, maybe they seem the most filling, etc. so that's something to take into account. but for me, it's usually telling to me what problems i want to solve.)
Conversely, when I'm not doing this, I don't find that freedom with my thoughts... Every few minutes it's constantly broken by getting on the internet, fiddling with a device, checking something on my phone, etc. And each time I do that, i see something that ends up stealing my focus (some internet drama, some text message, some thing I have to do, etc, etc endlessly...) This exercise puts me in a place where all of those distractions are gone; I have nothing but my own thoughts to occupy me. Also, since this goes on for long stretches and the concentration is unbroken, the thoughts can evolve and go further than when they're constantly broken. I'm able to come up with a lot of solutions/creative progress that I easily can't reach otherwise.
Something very interesting: I should mention that after about 48 hours, I'm not longer uncomfortable at all with the lack of devices/distractions. I really settle into it all and feel very calm and comfortable. When I go on longer than that, usually, the idea of being on the internet or a phone becomes very uncomfortable. I don't crave it, I don't want it. Moreover, it feels like a threat to my freedom, like I'd be giving my thoughts and energy to something for free. Like emptying my bank account into someone else's hands or something. I find myself thinking "how did I ever do this before (spend so much time on the computer, etc)?" Of course, the moment I get back on the devices, I'm right back to where I was before. It's very strange.
I found something else interesting last time I did this. I found that when certain thoughts would come up, I'd immediately start thinking of something else. This was telling to me, and I realized - why am I doing this? There must be some reason I'm avoiding this thought. Sure enough there was.
Again, I get that not everyone can do this (most people have families, etc. and this would be pretty much impossible). Also, sometimes life is just demanding and too busy, and this sort of thing is just not possible. It would not have been possible for me a few years ago. But I think there's lighter versions of this (not looking at email for the evening, turning all the phones off once everyone is safe at home, turning the tv off, etc.) Sometimes this isn't possible either, though.
I don't know if this is helpful. A lot of this is probably heavily dependent on the context of my own life. I imagine if someone else does this, what they get out of it will be very unique to their own context. (And maybe for others it would not be useful at all.) Similarly, if I did this 5 years ago or 5 years from now, what I'd learn from it would probably be very different.