In my childhood days, my Dad alwsys put us into brain teaser activity on newspaper or weekly magazines or ask some riddles to keep us alert all the time. Those were actually a productive and fun time days. Involving ourself into doing something rather than sitting idle. I remember we used to enjoy and also those little puzzles and riddles help us to sharpen our mind. We were put into those activity to get rid of the boredom and also not allowing our brain to rest. An empty mind has always been considered as Devils mind.
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A brain teaser is a puzzle that requires mental effort and creativity to solve. Brain teasers can be presented as riddles, questions, or activities. They often require thinking in unconventional ways and may involve lateral thinking. It is said to "keep the mind working" because engaging in mentally stimulating activities helps maintain cognitive function, build a reserve of brainpower, and potentially delay age-related cognitive decline by creating new neural pathways and stimulating communication between brain cells, essentially keeping the brain active and sharp throughout life. Brain teasers can be a good way to combat boredom.
Boredom can lead to negative emotional and cognitive responses, such as feeling dissatisfied with your environment or confused about life. It can also increase impulsiveness and disrupt our ability to focus on tasks. Boredom is a state of mind where we feel a lack of interest, stimulation, or challenge in life. It can be caused by a number of factors ;
Lack of external stimulation: We might feel bored if we are doing repetitive tasks, or if we are in a routine that's monotonous.
Lack of internal motivation: We might feel bored if we don't have a sense of purpose or motivation.
Unmet expectations: We might feel bored if our current reality doesn't match our desires.
Stress: We might feel bored if we are stressed out about something else and can't focus on our current situation.
Boredom is a natural response to a lack of stimulation, and it can be a signal that our current environment or activity isn't meeting our needs. It can prompt us to find more meaningful experiences. Boredom can manifest in a variety of ways, including: restlessness, apathy, disinterest, lethargy, and agitation. These days, we have so many ways to get rid of boredom. Thanks to advent of different social media platform, people spend a lot of time in creating content or sharing their world. People may hooked upon differrn videos or content to keep themselves occupied.
Super busy doing nothing
Recently, while travelling, I found myself in middle of not doing anything. I started scroling through my #youtube feed page to entertain myself. Likewise, in my village my old uncle has bought a "cow" to keep himself occupied. While watching video content over internet is unproductive way of getting over boredom, taking care of cows could be a productive way. My uncle knows how to make most of the time and he made sure to lead a productive life. Apart from.hooking to online videos, I prefer to learn something related to finance topic or get in depth analysis of certain topic. Last time, when I had lot of idle time, I studied deeply about State of Afghanistan, The UAE transformation and also about Pablo Escobar. There are no limits of topic. Here are some ways to use idle time productively:
We can learn a language, which can be fun and expose you to new ideas.
Consider what's working and what's not, and identify steps to move forward.
Focus on completing the most important tasks first to establish a sense of order.
Take a few minutes to focus on the present moment.
Take regular breaks to avoid burnout.
Make our workspace more organized.
Use idle time to brainstorm and strategize.
Make self-care a priority.
Keeping ourself busy has alwsys been advocated. When we are busy, we may not have time to dwell on negative feelings like sadness, loneliness, or anger. All this lead to a meaningful life.