When our consciousness runs with familiar habits, boredom seldom exists. It is when consciousness doesn’t benefit from the old habits and you lack interest or purpose in what you do. Boredom is basically getting stuck in your mind with nothing to do and you lack the courage to explore the unknown.
To most people security is found in familiar habits. These habits can be thoughts, beliefs or behaviors. Security like that requires no courage, so the unknown poses no challenge. It is when those old habits don’t serve you and you have nothing to do, that initiates boredom.
I seem to appreciate the reality of less stimulation mentally because my consciousness is free to pray without attachments to my mind-made reality. That is when I approach silence with humility, receptive to literally touch the moment with my heart. In situations that seem boring to most people, I feel blessed to simply be.
Let’s take a moment and study what is boredom:
The negative aspects of boredom, which is how most people look at it :
• Inhibits the healing process because awareness doesn’t trigger the Wisdom of the Body
• Limits learning something new and the creativity to explore new things
• Boredom and spiritual growth don’t exist together because when you are trapped in old habits without the courage to explore the unknown, spirituality becomes an understanding and not experiential.
The benefits of Boredom, which is how I have been forced to look at it;
• It becomes a trigger that tells you to become hungry for a deeper quality of life
• It shows you where you get stuck in your mind
• It can become a trigger for a spiritual search, which stimulates the heart and strengthens your connection to God
• Reminds you to have a phone visit with the people you love.
• I think the most conscious moment emerges when a sincere dialog with God comes from nothingness, where your thoughts don’t intrigue you. That is on the threshold of boredom and it is a gift to be there.
Lessens your attachments to your thinking mind and frees you for a spiritual search.
Nothingness to the mind may cause boredom, but nothingness for the soul is a spiritual playground.
After dealing with a chronic illness for 29 years, Marc Lerner has learned to master boredom. Go to http://ahealthywaytobesick.org to see a practical example. This simple technique can be used to eliminate boredom in any difficult time. Life is too precious to waste.
© Marc Lerner and Life Skills 2010
Marc Lerner is the President of Life Skills Institute and has been working with people in a health crisis since 1982. Learning to discover oneself in difficult times is the theme of A Healthy Way to be Sick, the e-book Marc Lerner wrote. Go to http://ahealthyway.org to read a mini-version. Learn this same technique to deal with any difficult time with the e-book, A Light Shines Brighter in Darkness, at the same website. Marc Lerner is available for public speaking and tele-seminars. When you learn to master inner resources and avoid negative thinking, you automatically tap powerful inner resources to become an active partner with medical professionals. Patient participation can influence the results of the doctor’s treatment. The doctor’s relationship with the patient can also influence how the patient participates in healing. Marc’s work is dedicated to establishing this partnership.