This article extends the study of a phenomenological investigation (Bargdill, R. W., 2000) in which six participants wrote protocols and gave interviews describing the experience of being bored with their lives. This study found that the participants gradually became bored after they had compromised their life-projects for less desired projects. The participants felt emotionally ambivalent because they were thematically angry with others involved in their compromises while being pre-reflectively angry with themselves. The participants non-thematically adopted passive and avoidant stances toward their lives that allowed their boredom to spread to more aspects of their lives. The participants' boredom led them to identity issues because they no longer were actively working toward projects. They felt empty and apathetic because they felt every action led to boredom, and thus action was futile. Preliminary distinctions between the experience of life boredom and depression are considered.

This article will compare and contrast the author's theory of Habitual Boredom with a phenomenological account of Unipolar Depression. The habitually bored show more external ambivalence, passive avoidance, and shame, as well as a tendency toward passive hope and identity confusion. The depressed show more internal ambivalence, willful (but futile) determination, and guilt as well as tendency toward hopelessness and identity objectification. The article also discusses some of the experiential similarities and developmental differences between the two phenomenon as well as some aspects of the defensive structure that initially prevents the bored from becoming depressed.

The majority of research on boredom concerns the situational aspects of boredom, such as monotonous stimuli and decreased arousal; however, clinical concerns such as addictive behaviors involve people who experience boredom habitually. This paper describes a phenomenological study focused on 6 persons (16 to 67 years old) who experienced habitual boredom, those who were bored with their lives.

There has been a great deal of attention given to the "free will versus determinism" debate. However, little attention has been paid to the most common expressions from this controversy-people's everyday experience of fate and destiny. In fact, fate and destiny are terms that are often used as synonyms as if there were no differences between the two words. This paper distinguishes the two concepts by reviewing some historical distinctions made by a variety of philosophers, psychologists and scientists. The paper also discusses some of our contemporary understandings of destiny and concludes that an individual's stance toward fate and destiny significantly affects one's sense of life-authorship and vitality.It is common to hear the outcome of events being described as being the result of fate, destiny or sometimes a result of both. But fate and destiny are not just concepts with an entertainment value, these ideas point to serious issues of great interest in a number of important areas such as: philosophy, theology, physics, psychology, and, of course, biology. This paper will concentrate on some of the historical thinkers who have contrasted fate and destiny as well as point out some of the important issues implied by those thinkers. But first, the definitions of both terms will be evaluated.According to an online Greek translation service (Craine, 2004), fate and destiny in ancient Greek came from exactly the same word: moira. This may suggest that the ancients saw little or no difference between the terms in their own times. In Latin, the word for fate is fatum and derives from the verb meaning "to speak." Bollas (1989) notes that a fatum is a prophecy and that a fatus is an oracle. This definition centers on the fact that most knowledge of one's fate came through a verbal statement or riddle. Destiny comes from the Latin word Destinare and means "to fasten down, secure or make firm" (Bollas, 1989). Rollo May (1981) states that destiny means "to ordain, to devote, to consecrate" and is connected to the word destination, suggesting that destiny

In this qualitative study, six college-age participants (three males and three females) provided written and narrative accounts about an event in their lives they found to be personally meaningful. The accounts were analyzed using an existential-phenomenological framework. The results suggest that a meaningful life event is often experienced as uncanny or completely unexpected. The participants believed that circumstances proceeding and following the event included actions both by others and their selves that were not forthright. The resulting conflict in this meaningful event will require authentic actions from the participants. Those authentic actions helped participants reaffirm their identity, revitalize vulnerable relationships, and expand their sense of purpose. Participants eventually felt gratitude toward the difficult but meaningful event.