Some years ago I read 13,99€ by Frédéric Beigbeder, a French publicist who wrote this novel as a biography, which took him to get fired after its publication. Octave Parango, the main character and alter ego of the writer, is a successful creative executive in the advertising industry, one of man “who decide what the public will want tomorrow”. However, disgusted with the industry and its manipulations, he decides to write a book in which he exposes the hidden aspects of the advertising industry…
During the course of this story, the writer doesn’t just focus on detailing the bad reputation of the advertisement industry, but he also shares very wise comments about life, and that’s what made this book so interesting (there’s even a movie!)
There was one specific sentence that made me think about my own way: “Mankind will be safe the day that everyone on Earth accepts boredom”. He explained in the book that advertising companies are in charge of promoting products and activities that make people feel distracted of their real life: don’t we watch TV, play games, surf the Internet and do many more unnecessary things constantly in order to avoid getting bored? We’re always willing to have holidays and more free time to relax but then, we don’t know what to do with so much spare time!
I recognize myself in this type of behavior but, fortunately enough, meditation has helped me to live the present and to accept it, to be more still and find pleasure on doing everyday-usually-not-interesting tasks. I’ve learned that the simpler life is, the happier I get.
Doing nothing is a healthy practice! And we must learn to establish it in our daily and usually stressful life. Remember, happiness is nothing more than the failure of unhappiness, as Mr. Beigbeder wrote.
