I just had my first kickboxing session, and I thought I would die. I was the oldest person in the room, of course, but they encouraged me to listen to my body, and take time out when I felt overwhelmed. I had to do that when I threw up a little in my mouth. The place I go to is ILoveKickboxing,com. Not only is it rated the best in the U.S., it’s 7 minutes from my house. I think it’s the perfect exercise because it tones, gives you intense cardio, improves your reaction time and memory since you have to remember sequences of kicks and punches. I plan to go to my next one as soon as my muscles stop bleeding. 

Yesterday, blog member, Veronica sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers along with this note: “Dear Elisa: Your blog and Erik have lifted my spirits on many occasions, and I want to thank you for your selfless devotion to humanity. We all love you so much.” I don’t know Veronica’s last name. I wish I did so I could thank her personally because she touched my heart and reminded me that it’s all worth the time and effort. Thanks, Veronica! I love you!

I’m extending the deadline for Ask Erik column questions until 6 PM CT tonight because I’m going to accept a few more. Remember to email one question, stated concisely and coherently, to emedhus@gmail.com. I already have a lot of great ones!

Now for the first part of Erik’s take on boredom.

Robert: Hello.

Me: Hey, Robert, Erik. What’s up?

Erik (shouting): Wassup!

Me: Now you have the floor. We had Jesus and Mary in here, but now—

Bella comes into view.

Me: Say hi!

Robert: Bella!

Me: She needs a haircut so bad. Behave! She wants to walk all over my keyboard. Erik, I want to ask a question from a blog member. It’s about boredom. Why? What’s the spiritual reason behind boredom?

Robert laughs, then just stares forward for a long time.

Erik: Are you bored yet?

Me: I knew that was happening!

Robert laughs.

Me: No, I’m never bored with you in the room.

Robert: He was just letting us sit here without saying anything!

Me: Typical.

Erik: But you understand my point. You’re just sitting idle. For some people, their brains aren’t being challenged. Things become mundane. You need to go the fuck out and have experiences.

Me: Sure.

Erik: And if those experiences aren’t relieving your boredom, then you’re probably not bored. You’re probably depressed. Boredom can lead to depression.

Me: Yes, and it can be a symptom, too. That’s because you’re not engaged with life, you know?

Erik: Well it can be a very early symptom. It’s more like a precursor.

Me: What is the root cause of boredom? Why do people get bored? I know what boredom is, but why?

Erik: It’s about routine, doing the same thing day in and day out. That sucks all the life out of you. A lot of the things that are around you that you think you know are there to do, so you have these certain things that you always do, right?

Me: Mm hm.

Erik: After a while, they tend to become so routine that they don’t inspire a sense of wonder anymore.

Me: Well, why should routine do that?

Erik: It’s a message for you to broaden your horizons, to start investigating things and to start exploring the world. It’s trying to get you to branch out beyond your boundaries. Get out and go do!

Me: Is boredom particular to the human race?

Erik: No. Any species can become bored. There has to be a certain level of awareness though. That’s different in different species. Your dog can be bored. If he isn’t walked, he might start acting out and chewing up things. They’re trying to combat sitting idle. They need to get that energy out. A child can get irritable and grouchy when they get bored. Their brains are wired for new experiences.

Me: Is there a positive aspect to boredom?

Erik: The positive aspect is that it gets you out and gets you to do.

Me: So, it’s basically a signal from your Higher Self telling you to go and experience.

Erik: Right. And it doesn’t have to be in the physical world. Some people are introverted, so it’s an opportunity to dig deeper.

Robert: He’s using me as an example.

Me: Which I know you love!

Robert (laughing): I don’t like that!

Me: I know. Nobody does.

Robert: It is easier to describe because for me, whenever I’ve written poetry and I’m writing about the same story all the time, it starts to get boring. I didn’t realize this until just now, but part of the reason is I can’t find anything new to say about it, so I’m done with [that topic.] So I have to start thinking about new things to write about, things that maybe I was apprehensive to write about because I didn’t know what it meant or there were places in me that felt too dark, and I’d think, ‘I’m not ready to go there yet.’ Once I’ve explored those other things until they become very routine and I learned everything I could possibly learn from it, I’m pushed to look at those things that I put aside. The benefit of that is that I needed to do all this other exploring first in order to have enough awareness or wisdom or whatever, and that then prepared me to look at this other stuff that’s dark.

Me: Yeah, you open up a new window.

Robert: It doesn’t have to be dark. It could be anything I’m uncomfortable with or not fully aware of.

Me: Okay.

Robert: So that’s from the introspective side.

Erik: It’s very similar from the extroverted side. It’s about expanding your horizons, going out and seeing something that you haven’t seen before or haven’t done before. If you’re the kind of person who’s into adrenaline rushes—

Me: My husband! Motorcycle racer.

Erik: You might start with motorcycle racing, and eventually that might get routine.

I doubt that!

Erik: Because you’ve learned everything you need to know about it, and it’s not a challenge for you anymore. So you move to something else.

Me: Boredom is like a cattle prod to get you to experience or explore.

Erik: It’s compelling you, motivating you. It’s a sign that gets you to think, “Okay, I need to get up and move, figuratively and literally.”

Me: Okay, what advice do you have for people who are chronically bored? Give me something specific.

(Long pause as Robert stared forward)

Me: Are you trying to bore me again?

Robert (laughing): No, no. He’s just talking, and he’s showing me a lot of visuals. I’m trying to figure out what he means, and then I’ll start hearing him speak again. Sometimes he does that. He’s like setting it up [with images.]

He’ll answer that in Part Two. Oh, and if you missed yesterday’s radio show, click on the appropriate button on the righthand sidebar. For the first 15-20 minutes, motivational speaker and pro-wrestler, Jamin Olivencia, spoke about resiliency, and it was a riveting conversation! I was amazed by how aligned he and Erik are on the topic. Here’s the direct link as well!

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