Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness.

Today, I'm going to talk about

what lies beneath boredom.

So when we take up regular meditation

practice, it's likely that at some stage

along the way that we'll experience

a little bit of boredom arising.

And, you know, when it does, the

important thing is not to see

boredom as a problem or something

bad that you need to get rid of.

Instead, that the point is to learn

to relate to it in a skillful way.

In fact, what we might actually

find is there is a lot that we can

discover through this process that can

help us live a more fulfilling life.

Because, you know, if you think

about how most of us are living daily

life these days, we are constantly

bombarded with mental stimuli.

Really with hardly any space

left to stop and simply be.

We wake up in the morning,

maybe we start scrolling.

We cram in as much as

possible into our to-do list.

And, you know, we fill

our social calendars.

So what happens is we get really

used to living in a state of almost

hyperstimulation, so that any gaps of

stillness, silence, or slowness, where

there's nothing left to do suddenly

brings up uncomfortable feelings.

So if we find ourselves sitting

at home alone, all the to-dos

are ticked off, we often scramble

for the phone or the laptop.

If we have to wait a few

moments in line at the store,

we often start to feel awkward.

So instead of just standing

there waiting, we grab our phones

and we start surfing the web.

When we're so conditioned to always

being so busy and distracted, it's

really easy to see why we can become

bored really easily in our meditation.

You know, without all of

that constant stimuli.

And when it arises, this feeling of

boredom, you might think, you know,

what's the point of this meditation,

I could easily find something more

interesting or productive to be doing.

But if we do that every single time, if

we go and get more stimulation, every

single time we feel uncomfortable,

we're kind of perpetually caught in this

knee-jerk response to any uncomfortable

feeling where we just make ourselves

more and more busy and distracted.

Now over time, this can become a bit

of a habit and we can end up lost

in a haze of doing and automaticity

and not really fully present or

truly fulfilled in our lives.

So the opportunity here is a big one.

It's to learn to stay with boredom

instead of running from it.

And in doing that, we train

our minds to gently face the

discomfort and let it be as it is.

We're training ourselves to stay present,

calm and grounded when discomfort arises

instead of automatically reacting to it.

So the next time you experienced boredom,

instead of running away from it, see

if you can just gently allow yourself

to feel it and be present with it.

Get curious about boredom.

See what it's actually made up of.

Is it a feeling in the body?

Is it a thought?

Maybe both?

Maybe through this exploration,

you'll find that it's not so

intolerable to feel after all.

And when we train ourselves to do

this in meditation, the benefits

really translate into daily life.

We become less reactive and distracted,

more clear headed, calm, and

genuinely at ease within our own skin.

As always, thank you for your practice

and for being here in this community.

Let's settle in now

for today's meditation.