Bored? Escape, or do this instead…

That feeling.

I can’t quite pinpoint what it is.

A hollowness maybe. Boredom of some kind.

A heaviness in my abdominals.

Sort of like I don’t want to be here.

A kind of denial of the present.

Fidgety. Unable to do the work. Even though I know what to do.

Is it a need to escape?

Is my body telling me to up and leave? Go travelling somewhere?

Maybe I need to feel the wind in my hair on some Swiss mountainside, the sun gently nourishing my skin.

Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

This feeling of boredom is sometimes a sign that we’re not stretching ourselves enough. It could be that we’re too comfortable.

In which case, yes, travel might be a solution.

But in most cases, travel — or ‘escape’ is actually a diversion. It is not the root of the ‘problem.’

When I am uncomfortable in the right here, right now; when I feel this inexplicable undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the way things are, the reason is almost always the same.

I am not in my body.

Thought has polluted me.

This happens a lot in my job as a writer. Through continual thinking, I often forget to take a moment to return to my physical senses.

It’s why I always feel better after exercise.

Overthinking inevitably means I am ignoring bodily sensation. I am somewhere else.

It is not more stimulation we need when we’re bored.

It is physical expression; movement; play, but, ultimately, awareness.

We have not given enough attention to the body. Thinking has so far stolen the show.

And so the body speaks to me in the best way it can.

It is saying:

‘Hey partner, look I am here. Are you listening? Where are you? Hellooooo? I’m turning to stone here!’

It’s like a voice beyond a dream.

Your time in the future or the past is blinding you to what is with you, here, now.

That is why I feel stuck.

What I do in these moments:

Drop my shoulders.

Walk or exercise.

Focus on my breathing and body.

Find bliss in sensation.

Notice the tiniest details in things; also external things.

Focus meditation.

Feel and revel in stillness; the gaps between things; the pauses in sound.

Where are they?

What do they look like?

Feel your soul re-awakening.

This is where creativity and aliveness emerge.

Enjoy it.

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