Boredom and the Meaning of Life
Yesterday I was bored. Today I am bored. I get bored easily, always looking to be over scheduled and slightly overwhelmed. I have always felt that I am at my most productive when I have too much to do. I love the feeling of getting a lot of things done - really accomplishing something! But am I really just trying to distract myself? From what?
So, let's explore - is life judged on productivity? Does it add more meaning to life?
Anytime I spend too much time pondering the meaning of life I confuse myself and end up with no particular answer. Clearly there isn't a book that tells us why we are here and what the point is. This uncertainty can lead to two opposing feelings. One, a depression, that there just isn't a point of doing this, or that, or anything. Why do anything at all if it doesn't change the outcome? It's all just one boring hamster wheel, just spin another day to get to the next. Eat, work, do laundry, pay bills, sleep and start again.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, it can also lead to a sense of freedom. If there isn't anything specific we need to do with our lives, we can do whatever we want! Of course there are some things we have to do to live, but we have a great deal of control over how we do those things.
This freedom though, often looks like a lack of focus. If we can do whatever we want, what would we do? We bop around from thing to thing until we get bored and decide to move on to the next thing.
In reading a slew of self help type articles in the past few days, so many of them talk about visualizing goals and setting intentions for the day. They speak of focusing on what we can do to change the world. I think this is a difficult concept for so many of us. Do we want to change the world? I certainly don't wake up every day looking to create a giant legacy for myself. Maybe my ego just isn't big enough. I feel the same way about goal setting. Do I want to travel the world, pay off my house, invent a new product? Or is it smaller, do I want my kids to feel loved, my husband to feel appreciated and my house to be a minimal level of clean? To me, these are more realistic and attainable goals. I don't need to write these down though, or focus on them each morning because they are easier to do. I guess I just don't know how to have goals in the middle. Maybe that is my goal - figure out how to have goals in the middle.
I believe that the purpose of life is to receive, experience and give love. In any given action we are working toward this goal.
Some actions result in self love or self appreciation. For me these might include making a cup of coffee, going to a yoga class, writing a blog or going to sleep early. These actions also make it easier for us to accept love from others.
Some actions show direct love for others. In this category I count going to work, making school lunches, matching tiny socks, date nights, calling my mom on her birthday and making Thanksgiving dinner.
I guess what I've learned from today's post is that my boredom did lead to some self reflection, so we will count that as a good outcome. Also, my goal is to make medium sized goals for myself and use my extra mind space to either love others or myself.
Thoughts of the day....
So, let's explore - is life judged on productivity? Does it add more meaning to life?
Anytime I spend too much time pondering the meaning of life I confuse myself and end up with no particular answer. Clearly there isn't a book that tells us why we are here and what the point is. This uncertainty can lead to two opposing feelings. One, a depression, that there just isn't a point of doing this, or that, or anything. Why do anything at all if it doesn't change the outcome? It's all just one boring hamster wheel, just spin another day to get to the next. Eat, work, do laundry, pay bills, sleep and start again.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, it can also lead to a sense of freedom. If there isn't anything specific we need to do with our lives, we can do whatever we want! Of course there are some things we have to do to live, but we have a great deal of control over how we do those things.
This freedom though, often looks like a lack of focus. If we can do whatever we want, what would we do? We bop around from thing to thing until we get bored and decide to move on to the next thing.
In reading a slew of self help type articles in the past few days, so many of them talk about visualizing goals and setting intentions for the day. They speak of focusing on what we can do to change the world. I think this is a difficult concept for so many of us. Do we want to change the world? I certainly don't wake up every day looking to create a giant legacy for myself. Maybe my ego just isn't big enough. I feel the same way about goal setting. Do I want to travel the world, pay off my house, invent a new product? Or is it smaller, do I want my kids to feel loved, my husband to feel appreciated and my house to be a minimal level of clean? To me, these are more realistic and attainable goals. I don't need to write these down though, or focus on them each morning because they are easier to do. I guess I just don't know how to have goals in the middle. Maybe that is my goal - figure out how to have goals in the middle.
I believe that the purpose of life is to receive, experience and give love. In any given action we are working toward this goal.
Some actions result in self love or self appreciation. For me these might include making a cup of coffee, going to a yoga class, writing a blog or going to sleep early. These actions also make it easier for us to accept love from others.
Some actions show direct love for others. In this category I count going to work, making school lunches, matching tiny socks, date nights, calling my mom on her birthday and making Thanksgiving dinner.
I guess what I've learned from today's post is that my boredom did lead to some self reflection, so we will count that as a good outcome. Also, my goal is to make medium sized goals for myself and use my extra mind space to either love others or myself.
Thoughts of the day....
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