How to overcome the feeling of being bored with life using mindfulness

A Quick Guide

Feeling bored with life is common, but practicing mindfulness can help bring back excitement. Embracing a beginner’s mind, like in childhood, allows for curiosity and openness to new possibilities. Through a visualization exercise, engage with the world as if experiencing it for the first time, appreciating details and finding joy in everyday experiences. Repeat the exercise to overcome boredom and maintain a present-focused perspective.

Introduction

Adulthood can be a real drag sometimes. Especially since a lot of us lose the zest for life with increasing age. We no longer feel the excitement for things like we used to do. The food starts to feel the same. Our relationships lose that spark. The seasons or movies no longer entertain us. In short, the things that brought us happiness seem duller than ever since we lose the meaning in them and generally no longer see the point in any activity. In short, we feel bored with life.

Being bored with life is a relatively common experience among individuals worldwide. This explains why we turn to newer materialistic things, trends, or newer experiences in the hopes of lighting up the spark again. However, we get bored with that as well after some time. Thus, the vicious cycle continues.

So the question is, how can we bring back that excitement and stop feeling bored with life? The answer lies in practicing a simple mindfulness exercise.

The Beginner’s mind vs The Expert’s mind

To explain the above, let us first look at the idea of ‘The beginner’s mind’ given by a famous Zen master Suzuki Roshi. According to him, the difference between an expert’s and a beginner’s mind is that the first one sees few possibilities. Whereas, the latter is more open, inquisitive, curious, and entertains multiple possibilities. To apply that to yourself, look back on your childhood days.

Why weren’t you bored with life as a child? : The Childhood YOU vs The Adult YOU

Remember the time when you used to get fascinated by ordinary things and get excited about everyday events e.g. color day at school, going to the park, eating french fries in lunch, etc.  Similarly, if we extend that further to the time when you were a baby, there must be multiple incidents when you were in awe of the simplest things. For example, looking at colors, giggling at funny sounds, playing again and again with the same toy with fresh enthusiasm, etc.

So, what makes the current you and the childhood you so different? When you were a baby or a toddler, you used to see things for the first time with no awareness of prior ideas, beliefs, or concepts fed into you by others. You did not see things from a subjective lens. You lacked the intellectual aspect. Since everything was raw, you loved it.

Children- Naturally mindful beings

In short, children including you had natural mindfulness which added joy to every experience. During adulthood, you can cultivate the same attitude of the beginner’s mind and see things afresh. This will help you tackle the feeling of being bored with life.

Mindfulness Exercise– Overcome the feeling of being bored with life.

1. Find a relaxed position. Sit or lie down in a comfortable place where there are no distractions. Ensure, the environment is quiet. Gently close your eyes.
2. Try to visualize yourself lacking the power of sight. This means that you never experienced color before. You have heard others talking about it but you don’t know what it looks like. You know nothing about the shadow, gradients, and reflections of color. Spend at least ten minutes visualizing this scenario. Your mind may wander during this to other thoughts. If that happens, gently bring it back to this exercise.
3. Remember to breathe deeply during this process to relax your body. Visualize the details of this scenario in your mind to make it convincing for your mind. When you are ready, gradually open your eyes and see the world in color like it is your first time. Notice everything from a new perspective and see the various shades in your surroundings. Enjoy the intensity of each color, its gradients, how the light reflects from it, and the shadow its casts. Appreciate the warmth it brings to you.
4. Notice that looking at everything like this is making the same room and the same things look less dull and brighter than before. You may even notice new things that you didn’t before. This is a sign that you are engaging with the exercise.
5. Continue with this exercise and interact with the world with a beginner’s mind attitude.

Extend and Repeat this exercise

You can extend this exercise to other experiences as well. For example, looking at an old object with new curiosity, attention, and fascination.

With repetition of this exercise, you may find that things are not that boring anymore. In each experience, you will look and experience things like a child and have fun. Thoughts like ‘I know what will happen’ will occur which is natural but they are not useful. Try to counter them and experience each moment as a unique and new experience.

Know that the first time you do this exercise, it may be more fun and invigorating. There are chances that when you practice it again, you will compare it with your first time and rate it to be less helpful. Try to avoid doing this and keep your mind focused on the present moment. Although this will be a struggle and not too easy, you can try your best.

To learn more about mindfulness and its applications, check out the related articles.