People often hunger for new and unfamiliar experiences.

Do you think you get bored easily or crave exciting or different things?

Do you want more variety or ever describe yourself as having a low boredom threshold?

The experience of new that most people crave or desire is a feeling and all feelings come from the same place – from our own thinking and the perceptions that thought creates. Thoughts of boredom create feelings of boredom.  Thoughts of wonder, create feelings of wonder.

And while it seems like the situation (something ‘out there’) is creating our thoughts and feelings of boredom, it isn’t.

I remember standing looking up at the beautiful and imposing sight of my local Abbey. I’ve admired this place many times. But on this particular day, it felt as if I was seeing it for the first time. I had what felt like a new sense of wonder and awe.

In that moment by the Abbey, I realised with absolute clarity that we are always creating the experience of new from the inside, via our own minds. And then it occurred to me that we are also creating the experience of old in the same way. And this has some fantastically helpful implications – especially if you’re a ‘newness’ junky.

Here are a few of them…

1) If the experience of ‘boring’ is purely a matter of perception and perspective, this means that something you’ve been perceiving as stale or boring can become fresh and interesting in a heartbeat. This includes your partner, colleagues, job or hobbies. Yes really!

When you notice how the mind is the architect of your perceptions and perspective, this recognition alone is enough to pull you into the present moment. And in the present moment, there is no old or new because old and new are ideas that we make up. That’s why you can feel bored in a situation that you’ve never encountered before and feel excited or interested in a situation you’ve encountered many times.

For example, have you ever watched the same film many times or read the same book more than once and still enjoyed it? Or perhaps you’ve visited the same place more than once and still found it fresh and exciting?

2) Things you may have written off as ‘past their sell by date’ may actually have plenty of life left in them after all. This includes your own ideas, a job, hobbies, places or people. There is always the potential to see something with new eyes or hear with new ears.

3) We can choose to give up the sometimes relentless and often exhausting pursuit of the next new and exciting thing. Instead, you can continue to enjoy what you have right now. Every moment is fresh and new – only our thinking makes it old.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t seek a thrill or try new things. I’m as partial to wanting new and exciting experiences as the next person. I’m just offering an alternative way to understand where the experience and feelings of new really comes from, so that you can have more of that feeling NOW without having to do anything different – i.e.,without changing your partner, job, furniture or hobbies.

Now wouldn’t that be a new experience?!