JumpStart National Jell-O Week (2/12/24)

Although it’s really just an empty food, Jell-O remains a favorite.
Especially salads made of Jell-O, like Cranberries in the Snow, a family holiday favorite with cherry Jell-O. Or Pretzel Salad with strawberry Jell-O and and a pretzel crust. Or one of my faves, Aunt Marge’s Green Jell-O Salad that has pineapple, pimento cheese spread, and lime Jell-O (was someone cleaning out their pantry when they created this?).


What’s your favorite recipe with Jell-O?

Big Idea:  Whenever I would complain to my mother that I was bored, her response was invariably, “Go outside and find something to do.” And, invariably, I found something to amuse myself outside, even if it was something simple like spending hours looking for arrowheads (never found one) or arrowhead chips (found lots of these pieces of debris from the making of arrowheads - although they just could have been naturally occurring, too, now that I think about it).


We explored Boredom in our last Mindful Monday (as suggested by a regular participant).  Of the four definitions that I’d found online, the vast majority of the people on the call agreed with this one: “A condition characterized by perception of one’s environment as dull, tedious, and lacking stimulation.”


Further research showed several interesting tidbits about boredom:

• Boredom peaks in the early teens, and is at its lowest in one’s fifties.
  
• Characterized by the Paradox of Choice:  options are not necessarily freeing and don’t make us happy.
  
• Became more of a thing in the Industrial Revolution (1760 - 1840), when our days became segmented into work time and non-work time.
  
• ‘Boredom’ as its currently used didn’t appear in literature until Bleak House by Charles Dickens (1853).   During the Victorian Era, it became a popular theme.
  
• The challenge that boredom presents is “What is going to be meaningful and useful in your life?”
  

Psychologist think that we feel boredom because we don’t connect with any of the options before us.  As soon as we start doing something that is meaningful to us, we are no longer bored. My sister and I got really excited by finding those ‘arrowhead chips’, so we were not longer bored.


Here are four ways to avoid boredom:

1. Don’t fight it. When you do, you layer suffering on top, so now you have two things to deal with.
   
2. Create a new routine.  Our brains are stimulated by what’s new.
   
3. Find purpose.  Boredom isn’t an absence of things to do, it’s the struggle to find value in the available options.
   
4. Avoid passive consumption.  If you’re enjoying it, great!  Just make sure it’s intentional.
   

This week, try this: The next time you’re at a loss for something to do, don’t pick up your phone. Sit with the feeling and be curious.  Ask yourself, “Am I really at a point where I don’t know what to do?”  If you really are looking for something to do, try doing something active but without external stimulation - no TV in the background, no music, nothing.  Let your mind go on its journey and see where it goes; I’ll bet it will go somewhere that’s meaningful to you.

Quote:  "The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom."  (Arthur Schopenhauer)

Educator Resource:  SEL Day 2024 - Friday, March 8, 2024. If you go to selday.org, you can sign your school up.  You’re actually just adding your name to a list of schools that are pledging to do something to promote SEL on this day.  They also have toolkits to help spread the word.  
Some other good SEL resources, especially for those in Illinois:
SEL4US - Advocates for SEL around the State and has some resources on their website.
Coalition of Schools Educating Mindfully (COSEM) - They have a whole library of resources including tons of recordings, as well as monthly virtual circles you can join.
Your SEL Hub - I am part of the Area 5 Hub, and there are 6 plus Chicago Public Schools.  They have access to resources, personnel, trainings, etc.
Mindful Practices - A group out of Chicago leading the way in Collective Well-Being, and who have done a lot of work here in Area 5.

Dad Joke:  My wife fainted on the baggage carousel at the airport.  Fortunately, she came around.