Feeling bored?
Boredom is an unpleasant feeling. It isn’t a lack of thoughts – it is simply a listening to and believing inner mind-chatter that plays relentlessly and on-repeat throwing out thoughts like “I’m bored and I can’t think of anything interesting to do” or “what’s wrong with me – I need to better myself” and on and on it goes giving you the feeling of loneliness and emptiness.
Boredom has nothing to do with what’s going on or what’s not going on. I remember being in the middle of Las Vegas feeling bored (despite lots of things to do, my sports car, staying at the best hotel on the strip – and having just won a small fortune at one of the casinos). Back then my bored mindset was so stubborn that all the bright lights, fireworks and special effects in the world couldn’t shake me out of my apathy. In the opposite situation, I have felt excited and totally fulfilled in a moment where it may look like not much is going on out there. It’s all about our perception; it’s about our state of mind; what’s going inside of us. Being bored is being temporarily trapped on the wrong wavelength; a wavelength which plays bored and boring thoughts of the past and future.
The solution? Drop out of this wavelength into the wavelength of “fulfilment”; which will give you new, exciting perspectives and ideas of interesting things to do.
How to drop into the Real You
Meditation is a very good way to “change your channel” – and physical exercise (such as a good workout at the gym) may be even better.
Your bored inner mind-chatter will probably say that both of these ideas are – surprise, surprise – “boring” – but the key is to go ahead and do it anyway. Your very problem is this bored mindset you are in – and so you can’t expect it to support you in your changes. You have to change anyway.
Another practical tip
Rather than fighting your boredom – try to embrace it by writing down good things about being bored. For example, “being bored means I’ve got no big problems”. You will find more. As you accept where you are, you can move into better feelings.
Getting busy and setting a daily schedule will also give you something to focus on, and this is particularly helpful if you are self-employed or have a lot of spare time on your hands.
Michael teaches practical techniques which help move from boredom to inspiration- please see the events page.