It’s the cost of the free vaccine and the free COVID testing. And it’s only the first year. We’ll keep paying for this one for a while.

The economic system we live in does everything to make sure that we have a fragmented consciousness. Everything in our way of life makes us incapable of tolerating boredom, incapable of concentrating deeply, dependent on stimuli, and bad at silent contemplation.

But at the same time, it’s an economic system that punishes people who are incapable of tolerating boredom, incapable of concentrating deeply, are dependent on stimuli, and are bad at silent contemplation. Economic rewards accrue to those who can resist the fragmentation of their thought process.

Here’s an easy exercise to defragment our brains. As you stand in line at the grocery store or wait at a dentist’s, don’t whip out your phone at the first touch of boredom. Boredom is good. It’s your friend. Every victory over the impulse to treat quietness and boredom as sources of anxiety defragments our consciousness.