When was the last time you heard yourself say, "I'm bored"?

In today's world of technology it is rare that we are bored. We have our phones, our TVs, our computers, our never-ending to do list. We are always preoccupied with something.

One good thing to do when wanting to heal is to just sit and watch your surroundings, even if it's just the wall. To be bored.

If you can do this, you can calm down your nervous system. If you can calm down your nervous system, you can initiate repair.

In the "olden days" people did this automatically because they had boring times. Now we are not bored. We don't have these moments. We need to deliberately put them into our lives so that our nervous system can slow down. That is why meditation is becoming such an important practice for overall health, but especially for mental health.

Our brain needs time to organize, file, prioritize. All of the incoming information - because let's face it - there is a lot of it. If the brain doesn't get this time it becomes like a desk overflowing with loose papers.

For my own mental health I am grateful I took time to be bored this summer.

When I got back from my trip I had several days of doing nothing. I didn't go anywhere. I didn't invite people over. I spend a lot of time sitting on the porch watching the traffic and people walking by. It was hard for me. I kept feeling like I should be doing something. Now I realize I was doing something. I giving my body time to repair. I was letting it heal.

I encourage you take more moments to be bored.

It is in the boring moments that we can catch up and perhaps heal the broken things inside of us.

Now I would love to hear from you! When was the last time you were bored? When was the last time you deliberately did nothing? Leave a comment below and I'll be back next week with another edition of Doctor as Teacher Tuesday!