Things to do when you're bored

[jacab]

Everyone has them. Moments of absolute boredom, when you do things you normally wouldn't. At home, at work, at the office.....these moments can hit anywhere and anyone.

Soooo.....therein is the question. What do you do when that moment of boredom comes over you?

[ZenFender]

Great thread!

When I'm bored, I usually read. The problem comes when I'm bored AND tired. Can't read when I'm tired (especially slightly more complicated books)!

Anyways, meditation, internet surfing, cartoon viewing, guitar playing, computer gaming are the more common things I do when bored.

Any more suggestions?

[songwriter]

Things I like. But obviously it is different for everyone.

[Boreas]

I go to wikiquote and keep hitting "random page", till I find some quotes that inspire me.

[Rainbowdazzle]

I go to a website called bored.com and check out what new stuff they have on there. Failing that I read women's weeklies, terrible I know but they're good for a laugh!

[wolfgang]

I realize I may be close to enlightenment and fully embrace being "bored". I ask myself, why am I bored? How did that happen? Am I really just avoiding feeling something that is making me procrastinate? Actually I don't get bored much...

[nvictor]

Bored?

A feeling that I miss a lot! I don't even have time to be bored. But when I was bored, I play basketball.

[Paul C]

Originally Posted by wolfgang

I realize I may be close to enlightenment and fully embrace being "bored". I ask myself, why am I bored? How did that happen? Am I really just avoiding feeling something that is making me procrastinate? Actually I don't get bored much...

Yes, the sense of being bored can point to a lot of things that aren't often visible when you're otherwise doing.

The more common explanation is that the one being bored doesn't have a passion in which to absorb their time.

And the word time brings me to the next one: To be bored you need to have time in which to be bored in, yes? So, by being within the moment, there isn't much to be bored about. Unless of course there is something that you consider urgent to do.

Something that I'm finding more and more useful when I have moments doing nothing is to observe my surroundings. For example, focusing on the sounds within my environment and/or admiring nature.

Watching pets run about seems to produce a good laugh.

Originally Posted by nvictor

Bored?

A feeling that I miss a lot! I don't even have time to be bored. But when I was bored, I play basketball.

Often experience the opposite. But I'm grateful regardless, gives a person a lot of space to reflect.

[Brutha]

Accepting the fact that I am bored at any given moment would leave me about a dozen thing to do that I could do (having my PDA always with me).

1. Card Memory Recalling my deck or reshuffling and memorizing the order of the cards.
2. Card Magic Tricks
3. Pen action (improves Agility a bit)
4. Learn Japanese (I don't find time to do it, but when I am bored I would have per definition time to do it)
5. Read a ebook on my PDA
6. Solve a Sudoku
7. Chess
8. Listen to music
9. Listen to audiobooks
10. Listen to some guided meditation tape
11. Organising Data on my Palm
12. Just experiencing my suroundings

When I am at home I have a lot additional things I can do.

[ChrisCountryGirl]

Internet surfing
Play with my dogs
Read if I'm not tired

[Steven Moros]

I find that a change of environment helps. I usually go for a cycle, or a drive. Sometimes calling a friend is enough,

[llong]

Bored = laziness, if you have goals...you *know* what you should be doing. Here are some things I do, when I don't feel like moving around a lot.

1) Practice Japanese
2) Make a To Do list
3) Stretch
4) Clean out my voice mail
5) Clean out my email (all accounts)
6) Clean out my cell phone's Phonebook
7) Go to the grocery store and buy something
8) Play guitar

[ZenDude]

If you're tired you can take a powernap, take a shower, exercise, cook.

If you're bored, maybe try creating something, anything, music, drawings, painting something, just randomly typing away, taking a walk and listening to an audiobook, taking photographs.

This one I heard of but haven't done yet: walk in a city, at every crossing flip a coin or throw dice to decide which direction you'll take. You could also do this in the subway, how many stops till I get out? You're bound to see some interesting things, so take a camera.

Good luck

[Scott]

Bored? C'mon... awakened people never get bored.

But if you insist otherwise, try learning something!

[Lola]

Originally Posted by ZenDude

This one I heard of but haven't done yet: walk in a city, at every crossing flip a coin or throw dice to decide which direction you'll take.

OMG!!! We called them Nickel Walks! (This was decades ago so with inflation they're probably Half-Dollar Walks now ).

My cousin "Neecy" and I spent an entire summer doing this when we were kids. I'm sure it originated with gram's weariness of hearing us whine, "We're bored!" and wanting to get us out from under her feet. She gave us a nickel, told us to walk out to the end of the drive, flip the nickel, (heads - right, tails - left) and start walking. Repeat the coin flip at every corner. We burned up miles of sidewalk and kept ourselves entertained all day. Somehow, miraculously, we always ended up close to Papa's hardware store around lunch time. That would get us burgers and shakes at the diner counter down the street. And maybe a couple of bucks to buy cheesy, plastic jewelry at the dime store.

Thanks, ZenDude, for dredging up that fun memory!