restless feelings

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creativity, discontent, feeling, health, life, mental-health, psychology, random, restlessness, thoughts

Today I am feeling restless, I am finding it hard to focus, concentrate and although I have plenty to do I just can’t seem to make myself sit down and just do it. This state of impatience and fidgetyness (if that is even a word) is quiet annoying yet it seems as if I just have to except it and wait till it passes.

As I pondered this unpleasant state I am in I remembered an article I read about a month ago in Psychology Today. It was called Devine Discontent and looked at the positive side of feeling bored. Boredom seems to be something we all experience, some more than others and some even seem to be predisposed to the inability to focus, always following the lure of the new.

I can’t really remember being bored very often as a child, but I do remember my grandmother, a true Hanseatic lady with Prussian blood, always saying “only stupid people are bored”. And although I understand what she meant I tend to disagree.  While some people may become bored due to lack of imagination or stimulation I think many feel restless with something because it has become too mundane. This feeling of discontent with what is happening  around you or feeling unsatisfied with where you are in life can be a great motivator for change. After all why change something when you are happy with it, so maybe we need discontent to actually focus on something we don’t know yet, imagine a different future if you will.

Of course we need the stability of the known to be able to sustain a day-to-day life but isn’t it the unexpected, the search for something different that makes life interesting and more exciting?

So maybe instead of just waiting for my discontent and restless feelings to past I should harness them and try and figure out what would help. Refocus my vision, reorganise my thoughts and who knows maybe I will find a certain kind of contentment in my own discontent.

reading not writing

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books, dr david lewis, feeling, miscellaneous, random, reading, stack of books, thoughts, ultimate relaxation, writing

As I have been feeling a little low this week I have done more reading than writing. Okay I did write a few film reviews, but then that is kind of my job, but my novel has suffered and so has my blog.

But my stack of books I own but still haven’t read has shrunk by four volumes … yes four. Since Saturday I not only started and finished the Hunger Games Trilogy (a gift) but also a book called “The Locket”. Sadly I have to admit that it was only light reading but hoping into  a few worlds that aren’t real and only a few pages away was like a holiday from myself.

A few years ago the Telegraph published an article on the positive effects of reading on your psyche. Neuropsychologist Dr David Lewis was quoted saying ” Losing yourself in a book is the ultimate relaxation.” After all the results from a study measuring the scale of relaxation rated reading at 68% within six minutes. Surprisingly higher than both having a cup of tea or coffee , hard for any Irish person to believe, and going for a walk.

Going by that study I should be so relaxed right now that I would have turned into a pile of badly set jelly, but although I am feeling better and yes possibly more relaxed I think I need to read a few more books to be completely back to myself again. Sadly my purse doesn’t allow me any book self browsing in  bookstores but I do still have a few on my”still to read” pile and I just hope they are good.