Reflection: How Do I Deal with Boredom?

In this lesson, we've learned how our seven lonely friends deal with boredom. We've also asked you to reflect on some questions about strategies for dealing with boredom, either on paper (if you're an individual learner) or in your group discussion.

Now that we've looked at what we do when we get bored, let's dig a little deeper into why we get bored.

Notes for users:

Getting out a pen and paper, read through the three reflection prompts below. Choose one and respond. Spend at least five minutes writing your reflection.

Notes for facilitators:

After reading Character Profiles: Dealing with Boredom, have your client choose a reflection prompt below. Spend five minutes each free-writing your own reply. Afterward, spend some time discussing what you both wrote. If you're working with a group: starting with reflection prompt #1 and working your way through the prompts, ask for volunteers to share their responses. Encourage the rest of the group to chime in with their own ideas, too, even if they didn't write a response to that prompt. Once all who wish to contribute to the prompt have done so, move on to the next question prompt and repeat.

Discussion tip: remember to maintain a safe, nonjudgmental sharing environment! Feel free to review and use the Mindful Listening framework in Mindfulness: Learning Tools for this conversation.

Reflection prompt #1. After taking some time for reflection, write about what makes you bored. What are some of the things you are bored by?

Reflection prompt #2. Sometimes we get so caught up in the patterns and repetition of our lives that we fall into certain behaviors (watching TV, checking our social media) that we don't actually notice we're doing it because we're bored. We can call these our default behaviors. Thinking of habits of behaviors of your own, are any of these default behaviors that are a result of your boredom? If so, are there other ways you could do when you realize you are bored?

Reflection prompt #3. How are loneliness and boredom related in your life? Or: hearing the stories of our Seven Lonely People, what connections can you imagine exist between their loneliness and boredom?