The state of boredom
Boredom is that feeling of dissatisfaction with the world around you and disinterest in your current activity. While you want to be engaged with the world, you don't want to do any of the activities in front of you.
Boredom is our brain telling us it's time to switch activity. That feeling of restlessness is motivating us to find new pursuits that will bring more satisfaction.
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Rather than being frustrated with boredom or using it as an excuse, find out why you feel discontent.
- Most important is to stop dwelling on the idea that you are bored.
- Instead, figure out why you're bored right now.
- Create a list of activities for when you feel energetic and bored, and when you're feeling more tired. The activity could be reasonably mindless, like knitting an easy pattern or getting a cup of coffee. The point is to find an activity that feels meaningful.
- Boredom is the inability to pay attention, because a task is too difficult, too simple or doesn't feel meaningful to us at present.
- Boredom does not have to lead to poor choices. Understanding the reasons why people are bored is important in finding good solutions.
On the surface, boredom can appear to be a trivial problem. But it may lead to some more severe problems.
Boredom is associated with risk-taking behaviours such as drug and alcohol use as well as self-harm.
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In most of the ancient literature and philosophy, boredom is considered a personal, social and moral weakness.
Philosophers talk about boredom as proof that life is essentially meaningless, and that boredom hovers around any secure life like a shadow.
Boredom is not characterised by the absence of desire. It involves desperately wanting to do something, but not finding anything that can satisfy that restlessness.
When you're bored, whatever you are busy with now seems unfulfilling in some way. You may be unfulfilled by the daily repetitive work that never changes. Boredom is prodding you to explore better options for becoming engaged.
Boredom is an unsatisfied search for neural stimulation. But, there is scientific evidence that boredom prompts the mind to entertain itself and can enable creativity and problem-solving by allowing the mind to wander and daydream.