She’s back! Cleaned the entire bathroom. Are you proud of me?
Plan C just went to Hades. The gaming store my nephew wants to visit while I am shopping is not open on Mondays and today is…..? Very good! I knew you were an intelligent group ?.
Planning ahead. Flexibility. I have plenty of food (even if I feel like I am becoming a hoarder!) and I can survive until Thursday. I am flexible enough to juggle plans and not flip out.
Remember the reed. It bends instead of breaking.
I also have a few things I can do. I can clean. Even if that is low on my list it passes the time. I can listen to my books. I can sit and be mindful of the beautiful day.
Of course, I have some other things I am thinking about and don’t want to do. I just had lunch and I am NOT hungry but I keep thinking about eating. Generally, that is a pretty good indication of my mental state. In short, I eat when I am bored.
Boredom. I just found an American Psychological Association article talking about it. The article is entitled “Never a Dull Moment”. According to the article, Canadian researchers have found boredom is all about attention. Cool. I just taught the difference between attention and awareness last week in DBT. Attention is a form of focused consciousness. It is the flashlight beam instead of the overhead light. I know what attention is.
The researchers found bored people don’t always have nothing to do. Bored people want to be engaged and stimulated but they are unable to find anything in their environment that will do that for them. Eastwood, the researcher, refers to a bored mind as an unengaged mind. It is a mind that is not paying attention.
Eastwood went on to say boredom can lead to lethargy or it can lead to agitation. In other words, both crawling into bed to sleep the afternoon away and pacing like a caged tiger are results of boredom.
The article goes on to state that distractions are not the same as engagement. Just doing something to pass the time or that needs to be done – like me cleaning! – does not reduce boredom. Engagement is the key.
Being underwhelmed with life can be a problem for many of us. Visual impairment as well as other impairments does not thrust you into the exciting mainstream of life. Risky behavior in search of stimulation can be a problem. Have you ever walked into a casino and looked at the people playing the slot machines? Ever notice how many are handicapped? Big percentage. Bored people looking to be engaged.
Does the article make any concrete suggestions? Of course not! These people are research scientists. What they did offer was a finding. Boredom can be dispelled when your activities have purpose.
Purpose? That sounds like Viktor Frankl. Remember? If you have a why, you can survive any how? Funny how everything seems to interconnect.
Hope this page engaged you. It did me. I have focused my attention and I am no longer bored. Good thing, this.