Dare to try the new!

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”     Theodore Roosevelt

Why is it that we feel boredom? Everyone experiences the feeling of being trapped in an unending series of routines and chores. Life becomes never-ending series of waking up, going to work, coming back, doing the regular chores and going back to bed again. When nothing excites us, we are as good as dead.

Mostly people live in an ‘autopilot’ mode, involving in experiences without actually living in them. While driving, working, bathing or cooking we are unaware of what we are doing. A constant monologue goes on in our minds which distracts us from concentrating in the job at hand. Is it this constant ‘unawareness’ that makes life drab?

Recently, I injured my right hand, forcing me to use my left for all the things that my right helped me with. Being a proud member of the largest group of people (90% of the world population) who can call themselves ‘right handed’, I didn’t till then realise the challenge of using the other half of my body for doing the most simplest things in life. I fidgeted, slipped and broke things around the house when I tried. But astonishingly, it shut up the constant rumbling of my mind and thus helped me psychologically to regain the gumption in life.

May be it is this ‘do it a certain way’ kind of approach to things that cause monotony. There is a pattern in our daily lives which we will not waver from. We have acquired this pattern since our childhood. For instance we brush our teeth in a certain way, standing in a peculiar spot or walking around the house, taking exact same amount of time, even the pattern of brushing is same every day. We have never questioned or tried different ways. Probably this addiction to classical way and refusal to deviate from age-old patterns, keeps us from enjoying an exciting life.

Ido Portal, a revolutionary who researches on the science of movement, is of the opinion that the modern man is less versatile compared to his ancestors. Our daily lives has confined us to a few movements such as  sitting, standing, laying down or walking. Portal examines the possibility of breaking these patterns and creating vivid movements. After years of research, he claims that his curriculum in motion will open up a person to new physical, mental and psychological dimension by reinventing the ancestral movements dormant in us. (Follow the link to watch his videos ido portal )

Sticking to the same pattern is something that we do with our thinking too. It is believed that even Albert Einstein tapped into only ten percent of his intellectual capacity. Except for some very special cases, all of us have the same brain structure. The interconnected neural networks formed over 1 million years is a unique facility for all humans alike. Unfortunately we tend to waste this potential by not using it to its capacity. Reading different books, familiarizing with different philosophies and so on can improve the plasticity and change our thought patterns. Even trying small puzzles like Sudoku or Crosswords we can dare our brains enough to feel the joy of venturing into unseen territories.

It has been proven that challenging ourselves once in a while brings the excitement back to our lives. Have you ever tried juggling? If not try learning it today from YouTube, you will feel the exhilaration of a teenager learning to ride a bicycle. Tried reading poems or dramas before? If not, pick up something of that sort from the nearest library to feel the elation of a child learning to read.

By constant repetition, we have become accustomed to the daily activities, thus making it tedious. Even simple efforts of trying to do daily tasks in a different way will indisputably change our mood. Going back to the previous example, try to brush your teeth with your other hand, standing in a new place in a different posture will undoubtedly make that interesting and even a little challenging. See for yourself the change this simple act brings about in your life.

It is possible that while trying different things in different ways we might stumble upon something that we are naturally talented at. Maybe it is Sudoku, maybe it is a musical instrument. Until we try, we won’t really know.

In short, there are hitherto untapped talents in all of us waiting to find an outlet. Isn’t it sad that a person living almost 80 or so years fails to find his real talent just because he is afraid to deviate from his daily routine and try something different? What if the boredom we experience is the cry for rescue from the hidden potential inside us?