ON BOREDOM

In the last few days, I have been increasingly attracted towards Buddhism, its theories and concepts. The attraction started after going through Robin’s creation “ The monk who sold his Ferrari”. I don’t own a Ferrari, but admit clinging to a lot of worldly pleasures, which give me sense of pride and satisfy my ego. So when I wrote my previous posts on Boredom, I was inspired to find out the psychological reasons of Boredom and its consequences on human behavior. I went through a lot of articles, but none of them seemed convincing except for the one that is stored at this link http://www.buddhistinformation.com/beyond_boredom_and_depression.htm. And once again, I found myself at Buddhist doorstep.

It is interesting to note the demands of stimulation are increasing manifold in our generation. No wonder the audience is glued to TV serials that make so many things happen in a short span of airtime. Fast success, fast relationships and fast break ups. Result, we are conditioned to expect everything to run through in our lives and the concentration/attention is lost. The article describes Boredom as a state of mind, which occurs when the mind has lost the ability to be interested, to be sensitive, to be contented with what is. And it constantly searches for something new, different from the current situation, which of course is never attained. The way to recondition the mind is to change our attitude. Boredom can be got over by changing the attitude in the mind and the quality of mind. Once we understand this we can avoid being bored even in ordinary situations. At the very least we can be contented and peaceful. (photo courtsey: www.pcbypaul.com/wpclipart/ cartoon/boredom.png)