How Boring - Words of Wisdom - WOW

Are only boring people bored?  Is it a reflection of your character if you are bored? It is the way we cope with boredom that is the real question.

The Dopamine System.

There is a reward centre in our brains. It could be called, more correctly, the "desire centre". It is here that the chemical dopamine operates.   It could be regarded as the motivation system, without which, we wouldn't even be motivated enough to get a drink of water when we are thirsty. 

However, the corporate digital world exploited our reward/desire system to keep us clicking on the internet or Facebook, or playing on screen games searching for the reward.  Before we get all high and mighty about those young people, the digital gen y and their phone addiction - let's think about our own guilty pleasures, food, gambling, alcohol, the internet. 

Let 's also consider how TV uses the reward centre to promotes itself  "coming up next". We are given an exciting teaser and we are hooked. 
As with any reward - like any addiction or compulsion - as we become habituated, the level needs to be greater and greater, because our dopamine receptor "down regulates" that means we need more and more for the same reward.  They have also discovered that random rewards are more attractive than a reward every time. For example, if you were to glance down at your phone and see a text message every time, it would not be as thrilling as not knowing whether you have a message or not.

However, there is something exciting you can do. I should say "boring" you can do.  You can have one boring day per week.  The idea is have an entire day without your particular guilty pleasure.  This resets the dopamine levels.  So that boring hard work, can become more interesting. To illustrate this, imagine that a man were to be served gourmet meals every day,  if he were then to be offered a bowl of steamed rice,  it would not be attractive.  However, if the same man were starving, that bowl of steamed rice would be delicious.

We live in a high stimulus, short-attention-span environment. Maybe our circuits need a break.
Go bathe in the forest - Shinrin-Yoku. 

"shinrin-yoku" is Japanese forest bathing.  It is a thing. There is no water involved, though. "Japanese research has identified measurable health benefits from a stroll in the forest"  (ABC Life)  

I also recommend Cal Newport's two books "Deep Work" and "Digital Minimilism"

Here is a link to the dopamine story on Youtube:-

Dopamine Detox by "Better than Yesterday"