If boredom envelops leisure time, an individual might try to develop new interests, skills or hobbies, says Vodanovich, who has struggled with his own boredom. For his part, he makes an effort to spice up everyday routines, by varying his driving route to the office and even the way he looks at the world around him. “You can train yourself to see the richness of the environment,” he says. “If you can find a way to perceptually recognize the beauty of the world—the different colors of the leaves rather than just green, the different shapes—you are probably less likely to be bored overall.”

This heightened appreciation of self and immediate surroundings also lies at the heart of mindfulness, “the state of being attentive to and aware of what is taking place in the present,” wrote psychologists Kirk Warren Brown of Virginia Commonwealth University and Richard M. Ryan of the University of Rochester in a 2003 paper. Mindfulness training—a practice growing in popularity in educational, medical and office settings—is rooted in Eastern philosophies of meditation. Subjects are taught to slow down, focus on their breathing and bodily feelings, and let thoughts pass freely without judgment.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)
ANNA GOSLINE is a freelance science writer in Vancouver, Canada. She is also an editor at Inkling, an online science magazine. She is rarely bored.