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Boredom

Pollyanna83Pollyanna83 Explorer
edited August 2012 in Meditation
I know this will sound a bit ridiculous to some, but I suffer from chronic boredom. I get bored and tired of most things in my life-well everything. I even get bored of things that I am passionate about such as my practice. What can I do/focus on in my practice to help me with this?

Comments

  • ThePensumThePensum Explorer
    What have you tried so far?
  • Pollyanna83Pollyanna83 Explorer
    More time in mediation and identifying the feeling/thought when it arises.
  • Pollyanna83Pollyanna83 Explorer
    Though I'm not always sure what the feeling is. Sometimes I just identify as "thinking" or "feeling".
  • musicmusic
    This happens to me too. Even creative, beautiful activities become boring after a while. There is no solution except to switch from one activity to another. Meditation may not help because meditation itself is boring, lol.
    DaltheJigsaw
  • ThePensumThePensum Explorer
    I'm pretty terrible at meditation and have a long way to go on that front. But I do read that before meditating you should at least get in the proper relaxed state, which can take a few minutes itself.

    Pollyanna - are you saying you try to identify the feeling/though of boredom when it arises (when you are meditating)?
  • RodrigoRodrigo São Paulo, Brazil Veteran
    Everything passes, even the excitement we have when doing what we like. And then our life, our daily life, can be seen as boring. It is possible, however, to find amazement in the things we take for granted, like being alive, being able to walk, to talk, to interact with others, to do whatever we want. Perhaps meditating on your death can help you to live better.
    DaltheJigsawPollyanna83
  • fivebellsfivebells Veteran
    Metta meditation is likely to help with this.
  • VictoriousVictorious Grim Veteran
    1. Fight boredom with inspiration. Talk to friends or teachers that inspire you. Read/watch inspiring media.

    2. Grow your desires actively. This is an art. Focus on wanting things that make you happy. Daydream about them.

    3. Let go of the thought of Boredom. It is just a feeling just as any other. It is not YOU. It is an illusion just like other feelings.Starting with anapanasati to calm yourself go into meditation about the body and just as you do watch the sensation of boredom. Understand that it is illusion and can be chosen away if you see fit.


    Hope it helps
    Victor


    DaltheJigsawPollyanna83
  • SonghillSonghill Veteran
    Pollyanna83:

    Boredom is not an easy subject to tackle. Erich Fromm in his book, The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, has a lot of interesting things to say about boredom. We have to be careful about suggesting that being bored is the individual's problem. Not entirely. We live in a culture that produces boredom just as much as it produces pizza dough. Being bored is almost being normal. After my boring, monotonous job is over at five I might try to overcome the boredom by going out to a boring bar drinking boring beer talking with other people who are bored like I am. A counter to such boredom lies in finding something you love and are deeply interested in which takes you way beyond our culture of boredom. I recently had dinner with a NY fashion designer who is passionately interested in his designs, even eating Ramen noodles to do it (he recently won several awards). My friend Jamie is working on the new Iron Man movie, my other friends are working hard to open their own restaurant (Philip studied in Paris for two years). The list goes on.
    OneLifeFormDaltheJigsawPollyanna83
  • ZeroZero Veteran
    Pollyanna83 said:


    I suffer from chronic boredom.

    You make it sound like a medical condition - is it?
  • Nek777Nek777 Explorer
    edited August 2012
    I am not sure - but maybe the boredom in your practice is because your practice is really becoming a part of your life? I think when anyone first starts on any new activity, we have exciting experiences and feel a passion - infatuated with a new reference point. Eventually though, it all becomes familiar and the same, over and over. It could be that our boredom is a wearing thin of the initial reference pont.

    In such a way the boredom might not represent an obstacle to be overcome or something to fight; rather, its a sign of discpline - why try to fill in the gap? Its merely ordinary life. Go all the way with it.
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