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Since I’ve become increasingly more busy I’ve been wondering about boredom.  It is a truly desctructive thing to me, most notably my mind.  Not being busy drives me literally a little bit nuts, and I’m fairly certain I’m not the only one.  Why is this?  What causes boredom besides just not having anything to do?  Is it a lack of ingenuity?  How can we solve this?

I believe the cause of boredom is that our lives have become routine, and we have become dependent on external factors to entertain us.  We spend most of our lives working, which is the routine.  That takes of time and keeps us busy.  Off of work we will have hobbies, friends, family–all good outlets to avoid boredom and inactivity.  But what happens when a day comes along and there is just really nothing to do?  We sit in front of the TV all day, or do some similar mind numbing activity just to pass the time.  Because of this, we have lost the ability to create our own fun, our own culture, our own reality.  We have become dependent on other things to tell us how we should be, and if we are not doing one of those things boredom sets in.  What if there’s nothing on TV?  What if our external sources break or go missing?  Then what?

We could turn to books or the like.  Teaching ourselves something new is always a good way to keep the mind active.  Actually participating in something as a means of learning is a way to keep our body active as well.  Exercise.  Create something.  Make your own culture and reality, don’t depend on anything external to feed it to you.

This post may seem wildly unrelated and random, but its purpose is to somehow inspire you to create your own fun, and to make your time spent doing worthwhile things.  Perhaps, I also needed to remind myself of this as well.

Lia Cross

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It became increasingly apparent to me today that America is a consumer nation.  Today is Memorial Day, and I was astounded by how swamped the grocery store was.  I was there to do a light shopping, just some food for the house and to return a rented DVD (which was interestingly enough a movie about presidency and a parody on our government).  Okay, I thought.  They’re just preparing for some celebrating.  Maybe some BBQ things they needed last minute?  The mere fact that people burn fleshy creatures as a means of celebrating astounds me, but that is a whole other topic for another day.

I was told by a friend today that the store he works in, a cell phone store, is also packed.  He apparently keeps receiving calls from people asking about deals, sales, and specials.  Now tell me.  Is that how a person celebrates their freedom?  Is that how you honor our fore-fathers for ensuring that we won’t be drinking tea at 4′o clock every day?  Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but you get my idea, yes?  Today is a day to celebrate the opposition of an oppressing government.  Now, some of you may be celebrating other war heroes, but I’ll leave those unmentioned, mostly because many wars I disagree with.  Nonetheless, young men and women — brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters — fought and died for us.  Human beings, loved ones.  They deserve to be honored for that decision:  the decision to sacrifice their life, or at least risk doing so, for what they believed to be the benefit of others.  It is a noble act either way you look at it.

So how will you celebrate it?  Please don’t tell me you’re running to your local cell phone store to see if you can get that sweet mobile for 15% off.  Please, please DO tell me that you’re celebrating it by being better than yourself today.  By doing something that sacrifices a part of you for the benefit of someone else.  I think that would be a far suitable way to celebrate Memorial Day.

Lia Cross

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I have encountered the term “over-think” a lot lately. I understood what it meant even though I had never bothered to define it. Realizing this, I have decided to define it, discover what about it is so problematic, and how to overcome it.

To over-think something seems to mean that there is an imbalance between thought and action. If we are over-thinking then we are thinking when we should be at the acting stage. To prepare for an action is wise, but to over-prepare can be just as devastating as not preparing at all (in certain instances). For example, imagine preparing to turn your car. You slow down. You turn your blinker on. Perhaps you near the right or left side of the road. This is only all acceptable in the event that you DO turn. If you miss the turn and continue on this course, it could be quite devastating to traffic and to yourself and anyone else on the road. There is a disconnect and misunderstanding in communication, and a lack of commitment to the action which creates confusion and in this instance is even quite dangerous. To prepare for any action in life is necessary, but only if the action is eventually taken. If the action is not taken, or if is taken too late, then this can be seen as a moment that one has “over-thought” the scenario.

What exactly is the problem with over-thinking? As you see, when one is so bent on thinking that they do not act enough (or at the right time), we can become paralyzed. Our thoughts literally stop us in our tracks. When we over-think, we tend to focus on not just how we should prepare but also on all the things that could go wrong in the event we take the action. This leads us to delay the action, or not do it entirely. This is clearly a problem for any individual wishing to lead at least a relatively normal life. Action is the only way we live, present ourselves, get anything done. Thinking is a precursor to it, but it cannot take action’s place.

The best way I can tell to overcome over-thinking is to recognize a thought in the instant you receive it and then act upon it as immediately as you can. This overcompensation leads to action over thought, which may seem awkward and foolish at first but is, in my opinion, a better option than to over-think and avoid or delay action. In any event, the overcompensation will in all likelihood even you out to the point where you are thinking and action in equal proportions, and no longer jumping into action nor delaying/avoiding it.

Lia Cross 

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Alright, I know that not every country that’s held the Olympics is by any means perfect.  Yet this doesn’t mean that we should allow bad things to happen anywhere, especially where an event is held that symbolizes brotherhood and peace.  If you would like to ask President Bush to put pressure on China to fix their human rights record, please click here:

Protect human rights in China.

Thanks.

Lia Cross

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I will admit that these are two major problems for me. I have big dreams but almost never the motivation to complete them. Sometimes I even have trouble getting started. It seems to me that this is an area of trouble for many people, and that is why I am writing this blog.

Clearly, I do not know the answer to curing laziness just yet, other than just doing things, which is precisely the problem. So to find a way I am going to do an “Overcome Laziness” ten day trial. I will outline each day what I have to get done that day, what is extra, and what of that I actually get done. Then I will say how I started the day, how I felt and, conversely, how I acted.

To start us off, I will list some things I’ve read recently about procrastination. According to Russian spiritual teacher Gurdjieff, we have three selves that require balance: acting, feeling, and thinking. Hypnotist James Malone says, “When one part is either deficient or overactive, we cannot function at our best.

The procrastinator may channel too much energy to the thinking self and manifest the condition known as “paralysis by analysis.” Or it may be that there is too much action without consideration of priorities and in trying to be “all things to all people at all times perfectly” the old batteries get drained to a dangerously low level.” He further mentions that good feelings are the result of action and getting things done that we need to get done, rather than things getting done because we feel good.

I can most certainly relate to this. I don’t feel satisfied until I’ve gotten up, gotten my “action” self in gear, and have completed my chores and then some. On the other hand, I know people who try to be the “all things perfectly” and, although they keep it up, find themselves very drained at the end of the day. Either way, the result is a feeling of urgency to get things done that we either didn’t have time or energy for, or were too lazy to start at all.

To overcome laziness, for the next ten days I am going to try and keep my acting, thinking, and feeling selves in order. I’m not sure how else to measure it besides noting which self is lacking and then forcing it forward. Clearly, my acting self is nowhere to be found while my thinking self is dangerously overpowering. As for my feeling self, I honestly can’t say where it is or what its doing. Maybe a little lacking, as it always seems to be. Perhaps, if I engage my feeling self into activities that I am doing, I will find it easier for my action self to step forward.

In addition to balancing my three selves, I am going to keep telling myself “do it now.” It is a relatively simple concept, but I credit its motivation in me to a blog by Steve Pavlina. You can find the blog here: http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles/do-it-now.htm

While I find myself to be nowhere near Mr. Pavlina’s level, I do hope to change that in the coming days.

The trial is only ten days, which is an attribute to my ultimate laziness. I would have liked to make it last thirty days or more, so that I could ingrain better habits into myself, but I figure its best not to push it. If after the ten days things are going smoothly, I’ll keep it up but probably not blog about it. If after the ten days I’m a complete failure, I’m going to do ten more days with a new approach.

So far, other strategies I may employ include:

-Not sitting down except to blog and eat.

-No TV (I’ve actually already began this one).

-Once I wake up I stay up.

-No eating after 10pm. This one may seem arbitrary but I find a huge problem with my laziness is that I am not refreshed in the morning. I have been getting plenty of rest lately and, for the most part, haven’t gone to bed too late. Thus, I find the problem to be eating too late, which taxes the body all night as it strives to digest and cleanse.

I may come up with more as I go. I will let you know which strategies on which day I use, and we can judge my success from there. The first day begins tomorrow, which is really ideal because I have to wake early and I’m busy all day, so I’m forced to do things whether I like it or not! So, then, tomorrow’s trial, it seems, will be to see whether or not staying busy and having others count on you for an appearance affects how lazy I am.

Lia Cross

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