1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,960 Hello, welcome to the Feelings Pod. My name is Sabrina Amina. I'm a holistic 2 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:11,520 health coach and an educator and this is a podcast where I talk a little bit about 3 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:18,160 feelings and share a mindfulness practice at the end of each episode. 4 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:27,840 Today's topic is boredom. And ironically I'm very excited about this topic 5 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:36,800 because I really think there's magic in boredom and I've set an intention to 6 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:48,200 embrace boredom. So you may be wondering where did you get the idea to 7 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:54,600 embrace boredom? Where did this come from? So in my classes with my students I 8 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:59,720 teach high school and I like to start my classes with a daily mindfulness 9 00:00:59,720 --> 00:01:10,560 practice and one of my students was like, so I give the invitation and I ask are 10 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:16,160 there any objections? I never want to have it. I never want anyone to feel like 11 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:20,840 pressured to practice and I always want to give space for anyone to opt out who 12 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:30,840 who doesn't wish to practice. And I have one student who very much I mean just is 13 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:36,520 not super into it and that's totally fine. It's not everybody's thing. She said 14 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:46,760 she said to me I just get bored and I so that kind of sparked my inspiration. 15 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:55,160 She inspired this podcast and yeah if you're listening you know who you are. 16 00:01:55,160 --> 00:02:04,720 So boredom. Yeah boredom is an interesting topic because generally I 17 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:10,880 think we live in a society that avoids boredom at all costs and like boredom 18 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:18,960 is this terrible thing that cannot be tolerated and I think it's just because 19 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:27,800 we're all overstimulated and we can't handle a bit of like unexpected 20 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:36,920 downtime. It's okay for things to be boring. I think when we allow for boredom 21 00:02:36,920 --> 00:02:42,120 first of all it's an opportunity to let the brain rest. Our brains don't have 22 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:47,480 to be working all the time. We can like just be with boredom which is exactly 23 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:52,720 what I said to this student. I was like okay maybe you can be with the boredom. 24 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:59,040 I'm not sure how that landed but and here's what I mean by that is just 25 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:06,960 getting curious about being bored and noticing your breath when you're bored. 26 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:14,080 Noticing the colors in the room when you're bored. Noticing body sensation 27 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:23,760 really create like any time you're bored it's an opportunity to 28 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:34,360 explore with mindful curiosity and I love curiosity. In fact I have a whole 29 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:45,240 episode about it and you want to check that out. Yeah so I've set an intention 30 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:54,360 to create more boredom bubbles and like not I do I notice I have this need to 31 00:03:54,360 --> 00:04:04,160 fill my time and actually there's a lot of magic in the void. Like not everything 32 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:17,480 has to be filled. It's almost as if if I have some some free time or some downtime 33 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:30,560 I'm excited to schedule a meeting with a friend or getting a massage or I don't 34 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:37,040 know mani-pedi like or just grocery shopping or doing things on my to-do list. 35 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:48,960 I was curious about some of the research behind boredom and so I did a 36 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:54,760 quick Google search about like boredom and the brain I think. I don't remember 37 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:59,160 what my exact search terms were but I came across an article in Forbes 38 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:10,040 about that really spoke to the idea of well actually I think I must have heard 39 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:18,000 this before but there's basically research saying that the brain needs that 40 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:30,160 boredom and we can also reframe boredom and I'm actually I have a very busy full 41 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:39,360 life and I think I don't get bored a lot because it's almost as if my life is 42 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:49,280 too full and the moments that I do feel bored or like that might seem boring are 43 00:05:49,280 --> 00:05:56,120 it's I actually feel like I get uncomfortable in those moments so being 44 00:05:56,120 --> 00:06:06,880 bored I think at least for me is I think I maybe avoid it because in the boredom 45 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:15,120 bubble that's where I have to face myself and be with myself and who knows 46 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:21,400 what could bubble up when you're bored. Oh could be some scary stuff that you've 47 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:31,440 been like avoiding in all your busyness so yeah I I I really do like this idea 48 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:36,860 of just creating more boredom bubbles not just for me but for my child as well 49 00:06:36,860 --> 00:06:47,600 because I think it's important for kids to be bored sometimes sometimes when my 50 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:57,240 daughter tells me that's boring or I'm bored I tell her sometimes it's good to 51 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:04,080 be bored sometimes it's okay to be bored let's just be bored together and for us 52 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:09,840 what boredom looks like or for her it's interesting when I do create these 53 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:17,960 boredom bubbles I and by that I just mean a period of time where we're not 54 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:24,960 doing things like we're not doing anything we're just the TV is off the 55 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:34,560 phones away and I just you know my child is left to her own devices under 56 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:41,040 supervision so and it's interesting it's really fascinating to see what she 57 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:53,400 comes up with when I've established a boredom bubble yeah she comes up with 58 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:59,480 strange and creative ideas another another thing that they did mention in 59 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:03,520 the article I don't know why I'm talking about an article today I feel I guess I 60 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:13,480 feel this need to like validate my thoughts on boredom that yeah I mean if 61 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:17,680 you want to read more about it I'll post the link to the article in the show 62 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:23,160 notes and you can also just Google boredom in the brain and see what pops up 63 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:33,320 for you yeah I'm gonna take a little pause for a breath and perhaps you can 64 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:35,720 join me 65 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:45,300 sometimes I get I get really excited and then I want to talk a million miles an 66 00:08:45,300 --> 00:08:51,960 hour and I just I'm so tickled that I'm so revved up about the topic of boredom 67 00:08:51,960 --> 00:09:01,040 and I'm I'm really going to I think I'm gonna journal about it even I'm really 68 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:06,320 gonna go for it this week and just like I am gonna be bored this week and that's 69 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:15,000 okay I am going to under schedule I I work full time as an educator so a lot of 70 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:22,480 my time during the week is scheduled for me but also sometimes there are just 71 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:27,680 boring mundane tasks that we have to do and that's also something that you can 72 00:09:27,680 --> 00:09:37,800 tune into with mindfulness and just notice something like a moment of you 73 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:44,400 know like kind of a moment of pause I suppose where there's really nothing of 74 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:52,040 note going on but there's always something to notice there is always 75 00:09:52,040 --> 00:10:02,040 something to notice there's always something to wonder about and there's 76 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:08,720 always an opportunity to just tune in and be with the breath and body and you 77 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:13,320 can do that anytime beautiful thing about mindfulness is like you can do it 78 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:20,960 anytime anywhere it's totally free you don't need anybody or anything to 79 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:24,760 practice except for yourself 80 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:39,480 yeah so my invitation for you this week is to notice your boredom bubbles notice 81 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:44,880 if you're like oh can't handle the boredom gotta pop this bubble or notice 82 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:51,800 if you can tolerate like allowing for your boredom and and maybe in in the 83 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:57,840 midst of our busyness we're not noticing the moments where we're bored and like 84 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:06,520 okay I have to do something notice or or you know remember that you you don't 85 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:13,960 have to be doing all the time oh there was an another really great part of this 86 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:19,920 article I really I really enjoyed reading it there's an Italian expression 87 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:29,880 about more being I wish I could remember what it was but basically the idea was 88 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:39,120 just allowing for the time to allowing for the time to to to be rather than do 89 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:45,040 and I thought it was pretty interesting in in the article they they talk about 90 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:52,880 how in America we we don't have any kind of expressions like that and the closest 91 00:11:52,880 --> 00:12:04,280 translation they could come up with was killing time and the oh the I'm not an 92 00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:10,520 Italian speaker but I did my best and it translates to the sweetness of doing 93 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:22,860 nothing I love that the sweetness of doing nothing I mean as a 94 00:12:22,860 --> 00:12:37,320 opposed to killing time like just do nothing be bored like the sweetness of 95 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:46,800 doing nothing can you find the sweetness in your boredom can you be 96 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:59,760 intentional with that void and let go of doing so that you can be I'm gonna read 97 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:06,160 a quote directly from the article and from the from the from the paragraph 98 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:16,760 where they talk about doing nothing has been compared to the pauses into 99 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:22,520 girl to a beautiful piece of music without the absences of sound the music 100 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:31,240 would be just noise it'll dole check on nt provides the brain the breaks it 101 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:41,160 needs to recharge so that it can be more productive alright so yes putting the 102 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:49,360 breaks on the brain is great recharging the brain is wonderful I take issue with 103 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:53,560 the idea that you need to recharge your brain so you can be more productive I 104 00:13:53,560 --> 00:14:00,540 know the purpose of I think well okay yes perhaps and a side effect of 105 00:14:00,540 --> 00:14:06,120 allowing for boredom is that yeah you can be more productive at other times 106 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:10,960 but I reject this idea that you need to take a break so you can be more 107 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:16,480 productive just take a break for the sake of taking a break be bored for the 108 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:24,480 sake of being bored but also if boredom is inaccessible to you unless you can 109 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:33,160 justify it I get that too but for me I'm just gonna enjoy my boredom bubbles 110 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:42,320 get curious and see what emerges from them today I feel called to just do a 111 00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:50,720 slow box breath with all of you I'm really into the b words today boredom 112 00:14:50,720 --> 00:15:01,120 bubble box brain break beauty and so yeah we'll get into a beautiful box 113 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:10,000 breath so find a comfortable position allow yourself to settle wherever you 114 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:17,200 are and if that's not possible in this moment go ahead and pause this episode 115 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:27,520 and know that you can always come back to it anytime you like as you settle 116 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:35,400 take a deep breath in let it go 117 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:53,880 notice the pause between each inhale and each exhale I invite you to really 118 00:15:53,880 --> 00:16:17,120 luxuriate in the pause take a deep breath in pause let it go pause take a 119 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:43,240 deep breath in pause and exhale and pause take a deep breath in and pause 120 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:52,960 exhale and pause 121 00:16:56,560 --> 00:17:03,280 notice how the body feels after just a couple of deep breaths after a few 122 00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:15,520 purposeful pauses do you feel an urge to continue or to abandon the practice and 123 00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:23,560 see if you're feeling a bit of that flight response feel into it a bit see 124 00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:32,840 if you could sit with the discomfort of sitting still or perhaps sitting still 125 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:44,320 is easeful for you notice what's present for you allow yourself to be with it 126 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:56,400 take a deep breath in as you count to four pause at the top of the breath and 127 00:17:56,400 --> 00:18:10,000 take a deep breath out for a count of four pause take a deep breath in 128 00:18:14,360 --> 00:18:17,360 exhale 129 00:18:17,360 --> 00:18:34,560 and pause if you'd like to continue feel free to continue that pattern of inhale 130 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:45,600 pause exhale pause at a pace that feels good for you and if you're ready to come 131 00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:55,360 back to the room feel free to open the eyes notice this moment of stillness 132 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:03,480 and offer yourself a bit of love and gratitude for setting aside some time 133 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:10,280 for yourself thank you so much for practicing with me thank you so much for 134 00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:17,000 listening if this episode on boredom resonated with you feel free to share 135 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:42,160 with someone who needs a little bit more boredom in their life have a great day