With a simple dose of imagination, my goal of teaching skills for conflict resolution, change management, and peak performance transforms into a sci-fi duel with witches and dragons from the Shadow Side. My lethargy begins to subside immediately. Even my seat on United Airlines with another plastic, microwaved meal suddenly becomes the Spaceship Enterprise commander's chair with a serving of Galactic brain-fuel to blast me onwards through the stars on another Mission Impossible. "Dum-de-dum-dum!"

My Magic team members who accompany me on my mission get into the act. We spark each other by creating a fantasy and playing our roles with gusto. Rod O'Connor becomes the "Rodo Cop." Ellen Stapenhorst is the "Warbler," and I'm the "Tominator." The company we are working with becomes the Fortress with thick walls of bureaucracy and fear, layers of armed guards at the ready to shoot down the first subtle signs of positive change or hint of vitality, leaving little likelihood of any opening for that arch-enemy, Transformation, to enter. Magically, our tiredness slips away, replaced with the energy and juice needed to add value at the highest level and to break through the fantasy, the embellishments and laughter grow. Now this is a challenge, not just another day at the office.

These on-the-road adventures speak to a theme that I touch upon often in my workshops, the relationship between boredom and empowerment. That is your choice? To allow the quality of your experience to be at the mercy of others - or to constantly live in the zone of creativity, imagination, and adventure? Often in workshops with schools I ask a group of teenagers to show me boredom. Within seconds they have modeled the state exquisitely - head tilted back, major slouch, arms drooping, legs sprawled, a totally spacey look on their faces. I test their center and their ki. There is none. They topple over and the arms go limp when I try to bend them. Then, I tell them to show me what it is like when they are excited, pumped up - like getting a test or a paper back that they have aced, or when they are going into the big game and playing great, or when they are about to go out with that special someone on a Friday night. Instantly their posture is alert, their heads upright, their eyes focused and bright. I test again, They are centered and their energy is flowing. I'll ask them to shift between the two alternatives several times. At the end, I point out that they have consciously chosen when to be bored, and when not.

Why give your power up to a teacher, event, or life situation, simply because it is not going your way and react by creating a bored state in yourself? The choice always exists for you to create an energized, challenged state at any time, regardless of circumstances. No matter what humdrum may be going on about you, the world that you can create in your own mind can always be valuable, creative, and fun.

So, the next time you find yourself on the edge of boredom, remember that the choice is yours, and dream up your own galactic adventure.

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