Those are all excellent points, and letting your mind be still and wander and work through -- and with -- boredom is crucial: For the spirit, for creativity, for decoupling oneself from the mad demands of the world.

In this piece I was aiming at something very specific though: How to actively feed yourself lots of ideas, thoughts, and information -- without relying on the passive drip of social media feeds.

But bien sur, having things to think about -- having gathered materials, ideas, brilliant bits of writing or philosophy or history -- aren't any good if you don't also give yourself time just to meander and muse.

I wasn't very clear about the context in which I was offering these suggestions ...