Beliefnet member Chante posed this question on the message boards: "Let's suppose that you have some time to yourself. Maybe it's raining outside. You're bored and don't know how to entertain yourself. How do you get rid of your boredom?"

Here are great member suggestions for keeping your brain and body occupied:

Time for Creation

"When I am bored that is the time I love to get out my construction paper and make things to send people. I love making cards and since there are so many on the computer you can copy, I give my printer a real workout.

"As soon as I think of others, that usually alleviates the boredom and I appreciate the gift of my creativity."

"At the moment I am into old country farmhouse recipes. I love to cook with readily available ingredients from your garden and good fresh meat. I also make wine from old recipies, and these are facinating."

"I have really good friends, and we get together all the time to enjoy each other. I can make something beautiful out of someone's junk, and so we go junking. I also refinish alley finds, and I have made some beautiful furniture out of junk that someone threw away. That is my contribution to recycling, and a lot of times, I have a sale and they all get sold, and I have extra money! I am going to start a lawn furniture business this spring, and see how that goes."

"Over the past few years, I have collected a folder full of inspirational quotes, stories, emails, prayers, verses, etc. Everytime I hear or read a quote or saying that speaks to me I write it down.

"Recently, I organized all of the information I have collected and started a spiritual scrapbook. It definitly filled the boredom and now I have a great inspirational book!"

Shake Things Up

"I find a way to shake things up a bit. I might have ice cream for breakfast, or go to a free art exhibit. (I live in Chicago, so there's never really any excuse to not find something to do.)...Even a tiny little change of pace is an opportunity to live a fabulous life. In fact, it's amazing how quickly my life can go from 'I have nothing to do' to 'when will I ever have time to fit it all in?'"

"On my list I have: Hiking, cycling, writing, playing guitar...the usual. But I really love music...so I try to mix things up a bit. I make all these music mixes from CD's and then when I go to an art gallery or hiking sometimes I will take my walkman. It really transforms the experience, changes mood and perspective."

Do You Welcome Boredom?

"I have three girls 7,5,2, I wish sometimes I could be bored!!!!!! Young children are very dependent on their parents. Someone is always hungry, thirsty dirty, cold, sick..etc... so.... I would not mind a little boredom every now and then..."

"I've always been able to entertain myself even if it's staring out the window and watching the wildlife. I've put out bird feeders and feed for the deer. It's very entertaining! The kids keep me extremely busy. My girl was 3 months early and has had pneumonia or bronchitis 12-13 times - I've lost count. So the past 3 years have been extremely busy. Boredom? I'd welcome it."

What do you do to keep yourself from getting bored? Share your suggestions.