Declare war on boredom!

Possibly one of the most consequential battle grounds in our lives, but least known is – boredom.

How am I defining boredom?  We’re not necessarily talking about idleness.  Rather, we’re talking about something that is much more crucial and influential.  Boredom occurs when our soul and spirit man are not inspired or engaged.  By all outside evidences we may look very busy… but inside we’re purposeless and languishing.

This kind of boredom saps our vitality.  It robs of our ‘cutting edge’.  We ‘dangle’ in ambiguity and lethargy… and end up frittering away our time and energies.  This profound battleground starts out very subtly.  It creeps into our minds and hearts so incrementally as to not even be noticed until it has gained a significant and effective beachhead of influence in our thoughts.  It can suck us down into a dark hole… or it can be the indicator that we need to activate a fresh new ‘jump start’ in our lives.

Unless we know the reasons for the onset of boredom and it’s M.O. (what it looks like), we may think that we’re just experiencing a ‘slump’ in normal life.  But there are some easily identifiable key ingredients, that if allowed to persist in our lives, will end up leaving us feeling hollow and inspiration-less.  Here are some reasons why people find themselves bored, empty or ‘lost’ in life.  

Things which lead to boredom

1. We give others too much right to think for us… and make our decisions
2. We don’t listen to our heart… we live from our head and too much by the rules
3. We don’t know who we are or our purpose in life… we’re passion-less
4. Our views of life and ourselves are generally negative… glass half empty
5. We don’t hang around the right people to inspire our DNA
6. We regret the past or fear the future… find it hard to live in the now
7. We ignore our ‘down-time’ and God-times… so our fuel gauge is on ‘E’
8. We don’t give God a specific way to direct us… put His ‘hands on the wheel’
9. Life has become all about ‘me’… and very little about others

Have you ever noticed how bad choices can give boredom the opportunity to get established in our thinking?  Failures can tend to demoralize us.  It’s our thinking that gets us in trouble.  In order to turn this thing around, we must arrest our faulty thinking.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” – Rms 12:2

I wrote a post about the two essential ingredients for healthy life, that are necessary for every living thing on the planet; plants, animals and humans.  And then I created a virtual ‘dip stick’ through which you can evaluate your own heart health.  Click here to check on the status of your own heart: ‘How’s Your Heart?… Try This Spiritual ‘Dipstick”

In that article, you’ll notice that in our downward journey, boredom is one of the first indicators of a problem.  And if we don’t arrest our ‘spiral’, the issues and consequences continue to get more severe.  So what’s the answer?

How do we escape boredom

1. Begin to take personal responsibility for our own life
2. Get in touch with our heart… how’s it doing?  where does it find ‘life‘?
3. Go on a search to find our own identity… who are you?
4. Take negative thoughts captive… force feed ourselves a positive environment
5. Find people who know who they are and can call forth the real you
6. Receive mercy for the past, find courage for tomorrow and live today to the full
7. Get radical to spend time with God… get ‘gas in our tank’
8. Don’t make any decisions without clearly hearing from God
9. Be a giver… give what you can (time, money or deeds) to someone in need

What do you think?  Can we do it?  Be patient with yourself because this process will take some time.  Resetting and refueling our heart is not usually a one time event.  Actually, it requires a lifestyle of staying in-touch with the status of our mind and heart.

So let’s declare war on Boredom.  Eradicate the conditions in our lives that promote boredom.  Then expect to experience “life and life more abundantly”… Soon!  

— MLH

 

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