What to do when we feel bored

You should not dread boredom!

You feel bored right now. This is a sign that things are going well in your life. Here are some thoughts, that can help channel boredom to express in a helpful form:

1. Write an article — take a paper and a pen and start writing down your thoughts. Start with writing few keywords, draw your thoughts, once you explored somewhat try to connect the dots and present them in an article or drawing form. Sometimes, just trying to do draw visual diagrams have the same effect.
2. Think hard — We generally do not think hard. We tend to put off understanding what is going on in our mind. So, we need to spend some time about what is going on around, what are our feelings about it. This keeps us in touch with our feelings and helps us be in control of our emotions. Take the help of books like books on psychology, neuroscience. Or if you watch movies, write down your thoughts halfway about characters in the movie — what is thought process, what do you feel about the main character, what is the plot style, can you connect yourself to the thoughts of one of the character for some 15 minutes and analyze the thought stream.
3. Do not read — read or work on anything that is uninteresting that is going to make sure you lose interest in that activity. Interesting tasks comes with it some uninteresting tasks, not those. For some tasks, the end goal itself feels uninteresting which can drain your attention and optimism reserves.
4. Read out loud — take a book or an article read out a page and if possible record it while reading it. Once we say it, they get solidify and we do not need to hold them in our working memory all the time which frees up some thinking space. If you have opinions about something, talk it out loud. If you have written an article on your opinions read it out loud, and think loud about your analysis.
5. Clean up your desk — take a cloth, microfiber/cotton cloth would do. Clean writing pad, PC, calculator or any accessories. Do an inventory check — count for pens, pencil, stationery items, Fix some rules such as only one book, two pens, no liquids or eatables on the table.
6. Personal grooming — take care of your hair, nails and personal appearance.
7. Be Aimless — Sit in the sun for a while doing nothing. For fifteen minutes to half-an-hour sit quietly at one place without doing anything, just sit if you have any other thoughts cluttering your mind do not bother about them. This aimless exploration helps you bring any hidden thoughts to surface.
8. Gratitude — Remember the things that are going good in your life. Mental rut over daily things is common. Think big, think about what is going good in your life — you paid your bills, no long mortgages, you can travel wherever you want for a week without much hassle, etc. If we do not notice this, we tend to lose out on these and fell into the trap of victim mindset. A clear mind gives a sense of agency for more responsive thinking (instead of reacting).
9. Prepare for future — Remember that there will be a time when you need to rush through things in near future. You will be put in a difficult situation may be tomorrow, or two years later. Brace for the impact. Try to work on avoiding any difficult situations like that. Long term planning is essential, not everyone knows how to do that. Start with planning a week, a month and then a year. Expect that things won’t go as per the plan all the time, it will be more like approximately 80 percent of the time they go according to plan.
10. Build something — Anything. Fix plumbing work in home, try to repair old watch, if there is an empty space in your lawn build a garden, repair the bike, or take the help of internet try build some DIY projects.