I’m Bored - Grasshopper

How many times have you said or heard someone else say, “I’m bored?” You can’t count that high.

I have a friend who is going through a tough passage in his life. It’s evident from his social media postings. He cites different possible causations for his malady, but he never lands on being bored.

 

Being bored is my best guess about him.

 

So, what is being bored? I think it’s something obvious and totally overlooked.

 

Being bored has nothing to do with outer circumstances. It’s an inner phenomenon. So, what is it?

 

Being bored is being bored with your thoughts. It’s that simple. It’s the thoughts that are running around in your head that are causing your boredom, not some external situation.

 

So, what’s the remedy? The old axiom “Change your thoughts; change your life” immediately comes to mind. But to my ears that’s a directive without direction. That’s like telling someone, “Don’t be sad.”

 

We get out of boredom the same way we get out of Dodge. We take some action that includes movement. Doing something physical interrupts boredom. It could be something as simple as taking a walk, washing the car, cleaning out a closet, taking a class, or buying a new mop.

 

Action is how we jumpstart the remedy. So, how do we sustain it? Do we have to always be active to keep boredom away? No, action is the starting point. Then it’s a game of interruption. When the boring thoughts come around again, notice them in real time. “Oh, I’m having the thought about being stuck in the house with nothing to do.”

 

Just the noticing of a thought causes a pause in your thinking. It’s in that pause that some new thought will come through. You are a cauldron of creativity. You just keep a creative thought locked away by not making any room for it. Noticing your thoughts, while they are happening, is the key to creating space and allowing a new thought to take boredom’s place.

 

Action and interruption are the proven tonics that will keep you from falling on your sword and saying, “I’m bored.”

 

All the best,

John

Hear the recorded version here.