There is No Excuse to be Bored

There is no such thing as being bored. Is there? I don’t believe that being bored is something that would be the cause of anything but yourself. It’s all the matter of choice really. I surely don’t think that it is an option to do drum-rolling with your finger while you are getting bored to death. It is in the dictionary true but getting around the word is such shallow move. The mind capable of imagining makes no room for dullness. There are moments that you are getting tired and you’re body ain’t capable of moving or your brain got totally drained and have nothing left to do but being immobile. Sometimes just staying still and be quiet and have your whole aura rest is the most productive thing to do. And I guess this is not boredom but chance for renewal. Ones outlook has something to say in this matter.

“Life is never boring, but some people choose to be bored.” – Wayne Dyer

You are stuck watching a movie when everybody else is enjoying it while you are not. You found it boring and leaving is not an option because you think it will offend everyone in there. So you are sunk in your chair making yourself suffer with the thought of what-in-the-world-am-I-doing-here notion.

You are commissioned to housesit and you are all alone. And then you feel sad with the thought that you are alone. You become depressed and your mind is clouded from answers to what-else-is-there-to-do. And then you succumbed to being bored.

You are stuck with a lousy date and conversations just don’t flow and all you think really is how to get out of there quickly.

“There's no excuse to be bored. Sad, yes. Angry, yes. Depressed, yes. Crazy, yes. But there's no excuse for boredom, ever.” –Viggo Mortensen

Mind is capable of lots of things that you can be amused about. It’s a matter of utilising imagination. It’s a matter of looking at the lighter side of the spectrum. It’s a matter of being positive. A lousy movie may not be lousy at all if you consider any chance that you may find something benefitting with it. Maybe by looking at a different angle, movie watching is not really what you are trying to achieve here but to spend quality time with friends. Watching Barney with my child is never boring. Although I don’t fancy much a purple dinosaur, I still have a blast with my kid. Being alone in the house may be an opportunity for you to do the things that you can only do when you are alone. Pull out all the boxes of acrylics and start painting again. Exercise. Finish the book you have been neglected for a long time. How about getting deeper to the guy you are dating and see if there are more layers beneath. He may have the software that will solve the problem to a particular programme you are working on. He maybe a good singer whom you long for as an addition to a chorale you are forming. It’s a matter of giving chances. Give it a chance. Give it a darn chance. A second look or third look is worth it to brighten the day.

I remember a story of two soldiers at war. One had a worldly lifestyle and the other lived a moral life. The worldly guy said,” Herb, you seem to be happy. But if I had to live the way you do, I’d just as soon be dead.” He was implying that a life that is so moral had to be boring. Being boring and being happy do not sound right at the same time. Do they? There must be something behind the glow on their faces. Why don’t you just give it a chance? Give it a darn chance.

Opportunty

Opportunity knocks only once. Once you miss it, you disappointedly blew it. Is that absolutely true? I should say this isn’t. Opportunities can be everywhere. It may be acceptable to have a frame of mind that you only have one chance in order to be more watchful when it comes. The saying may have an underlying meaning that says grab the opportunity as it comes. Yeah alright. Opportunity is a precious occurrence. The problem is how to identify them as they come. Some of them are in disguise. Some of them are right under your nose but you are just blind to see them. Some of them are opportunities that will lead you to bigger opportunities. Why can’t most people see them? I am lousy when it comes to identifying opportunities. I wish I have the gift of smelling money when it is about to come. How would one know if a rotten egg is just rotten and not a blessing in disguise? Some of them are too scary. This fear dictates you to think that they are not opportunity although your subconscious mind is saying they are. People who are living in their comfort zone and who are afraid of changes would limit their access with opportunities. People who do not believe in their capabilities also limit their access with opportunities. Your capabilities are the opportunities themselves. How can you identify other opportunities when you do not identify the opportunity within you? The opportunity is what you possess at the moment. You miss the opportunity when you don’t make the most of what you have. You miss the opportunity when you do not live the moment. For one thing, the opportunity is YOU. Believing in yourself is opening doors to other opportunities. Most of the time opportunities knock when you make them knock. Orisen Swelt Marden said, “Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Weak men wait for opportunities; strong men make them.” Minimize the “what-ifs”. You’ll be alright on the other side of the fence when you believe that there is a greener pasture there.

The Bucket List

“The simplest thing is... I loved him. And I miss him. Carter and I saw the world together. Which is amazing... When you think that only three months ago, we were complete strangers! I hope that it doesn't sound selfish of me but... the last months of his life were the best months of mine. He saved my life... And he knew it before I did.”

This was what Edward Cole told about Carter Chambers before the audience in his Eulogy.

Edward and Carter became friends because of their common conviction in achieving their to-do list they called Bucket List before their terminal illness completely would fail them in few months. Edward was a billionaire who always found bitterness in the world. Carter was a mechanic with a remarkable talent in answering all the trivia questions, a man of faith, a good husband and a great father to his children. Both shared their influences with one another. I personally like the character played by Mr. Freeman as Carter Chamber, an ideal human being whom I want to be when I grow old. It was very rare to see a leading character in a film nowadays who can be emulated as a good natured and principle centered human being. Achieving to possess a character like that till the end is ideal. The movie is called The Bucket List and it became part of my greatest movie list.

Getting Rid of the Soul’s Alzheimer

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.” Buddha

What I constantly feed my mind, what I always entertain in my thoughts and what I habitually do will be the result of what I will be. I would say that I have been careless in the past with what I absorbed and have not anticipated the ill consequences. I haven’t touched to the wisdom that I have grown up with. What happened to the teachings? What happened to the elders’ advice? What happened to the Road Less Traveled? What happened to the teachings in the kindergarten? What happened to the Purpose Driven Life? What’s the chicken soup taste like? Have I lost the seven habits? Did I mess up the four quadrants? Where’s Jesus? Where’s Gandhi? Where’s Covey, Fulghum, Bo, Canfield, CS Lewis? I haven’t been doing activities which personally and usually nourish my soul. When was the last time I dance? Sang? Painted? Have I created a new song lately? When was the time I laughed out loud? How frequent do I write in my journal? Have I arranged a new voice harmony lately? Doing what I am good at nourish my soul because they are what I was created for. My existence is depending on what I was made for.

I have put myself in to risk when I deviated myself to what is acceptable to the new generation in order to fit in and not to be branded as old-fashioned thinking that this is the way to penetrate the trendy environment. I found out that most of the time the new trend is dragging the value of the new generation away from the real power.

Noise is accepted to be the journey to find strength. I was thought in “Old School” that there is power in silence. I have proven this to myself that this is true. In the midst of the hassle and bustle world, one has to pause and rearrange once bearing and recharge. There is such thing as quiet time. It is essential. New Zealand has all the opportunity to spend quiet time because it has the entire conduciveness to exercise it. The sound of the sea. The serenity in the rustling leaves and the chirping of birds in the woods. The supreme sight of the quiet mountain. Why am I wasting such opportunity?

Anger dominates the tone to claim something. Flower power may be cheesy nowadays. Peace-man may be so 70’s. But I still want to believe that a smoking red face is not always the answer to make a point.

Stabbing other’s back finds its place to the acceptable strategy to claim anything you want. One who pulls down others is a likely prone to be pulled down by others. Up and down and up and down and up and down. Life is not supposed to be a spring board or a cycle. Life should progress and find its way to its real meaning. Definitely practicing crab-like retains you with the rest of the crabs. I have done many times to get out of the colony of crabs and find my place in other environment. I found out that crabs are everywhere. At first, it looked like the solution is that “if you can’t beat them, join them”. But the solution really is to exercise the power of your own choice. I have chosen not to be a crab. I have chosen to go up and the crab’s clamps have no power to pull me down. It is a mindset.

Are the values that I grew up with old fashioned and not conforming to the new norms? Revisiting the wisdom I acquired from the great leaders I looked up to in the past is rewarding. Getting them back is like welcoming back myself. I am the product of the teachings I absorbed in the past. Buddha said that all that we are is the result of what we have thought. Abandoning the value of the past is like having a present soul with Alzheimer. I already found the paradigm that works. This paradigm has done a lot of what describe me. There is no reason for me to look for another one. It’s time to get rid of the Alzheimer.
What am I thinking right now? I am thankful. Thank God that there is a great pause to recharge!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

He Who Began a Good Work in You

The Voice of Obi in Stress Management Course

The second session of Stress Management had something to do with the advice Obi gave to Luke in Star Wars during the space fight with the forces of Darth Vader. Luke was trying to go and place the bomb inside Death Star when all of sudden he ruminated on possible failure of the task. The voice of Obi suddenly uttered, “Wake up & Stay Awake, Control Attention, Become Detach and Let Go!” As I was listening to the speaker, I could not help to wonder a little. Did Obi attended the same seminar? I got that laugh in my head all of sudden. I have involved myself seriously in the seminar and have found it so rewarding and interesting until the speaker put the essence of the seminar based on the script of Star Wars. I almost vomited. George Lucas is not that fortunate in being praised in his story lines. My enthusiasm to the seminar rebounded quickly when a voice in my head (Probably Obi’s) was saying “This is not about the lousy script of George Lucas. This is not about being nostalgic about your childhood movie and get cheesy in the process. Forget about Star Wars and get on with the essence of the seminar. Don’t get snatched away and stay focus.”

Stress is the result of something you do with yourself: ruminating. When you found yourself dwelling so much on the what-have-been’s and what-if’s, you found yourself being stressed. One put more pressure when doing what has to be done at the very moment while carrying the load of the past and load of the future. Live the “Now” wisely and lessen the pressure. Most of the time you delayed what has to be done because you think too much on the overblown negative consequences. The tendency is procrastinating: avoiding the task because of too much thinking. Ruminating has been mentioned in the seminar frequently to give emphasis to the point of not being focused to what is important at the exact moment. You ruminate because you are the one generating stress on yourself. Stress is just a thought. Pressure and stress are different. No matter how pressured you are, you can be okay depending on how you handle it.

Have you ever heard of “Waking Sleep”? Waking Sleep is not another word for day dreaming but day dreaming can be the consequence of it. Waking Sleep is the avoidance of focus. Waking Sleep snatches away the attention. Waking Sleep is too much thinking. Have you ever had an instance when you completely have no idea if you already parked the car in the garage, if you already brought the rubbish out, or if you put you pants on going to work? Each of these instances would tell you that waking sleep has snatched away those moments. Waking sleep can be keeping focus on the safe side and not dwelling on the rapids that’s coming your way. A guy is having a discussion with his boss. The boss is talking about the importance of the coming conference while the guy was thinking about the Qantas Plane they’re gonna board going to the conference.

You put stress by ruminating. You put stress because you think too much. You put stress because you carry the loads that are not necessary at the moment. Live one moment at a time. Enjoy the moment. Enjoy the errands. Enjoy the dinner. Enjoy the conversation. Enjoy the hug.

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened” – Mark Twain