How to Occupy Yourself When You're Bored Out of Your Mind

Preventing boredom requires imagination and awareness of your surroundings.

Perhaps you are number 54A at the DMV, waiting to renew your driver's license. Maybe you are waiting in the main hall to see if you will be called for jury duty. Whatever the occasion, events ensue where you are bored out of your mind and desperately seeking ways to pass the time. With no literature in sight or cell phone game interesting enough to play, every second might feel like a minute. Still, Alan Cohen, author of "A Daily Dose of Sanity," advises taking accountability for your entertainment: Doing so will ensure you are content in the present moment and an all-around happier person. You can stave off the boredom in a number of ways.

Instructions

1. Take coins and bills from your wallet. Look at the year on each coin and try to remember all meaningful and significant events related to this timeframe. If you were not born yet, rack your memory of U.S. history and remember the era associated with year.

2. Take up meditation. Instead of fighting the ennui-inducing stillness, embrace it. An MIT News article cites Harvard neuroscientists who found that meditation relieves chronic pain and reduces stress. Close your eyes and relax your body. Note any tense muscles and command your body to release the tension. Focus on your breathing: Work on inhaling through the nose, paying attention to the cold air entering your body. Exhale through your mouth in a slow, steady breath.

3. Sing the lyrics to every song you can remember. Try to remember every nuance of the song, beginning with the opening instrumentation to the way the singer inhales before the first line. Mentally sing along in your mind and try recalling the music as vividly as possible.

4. Build your social skills and strike up a conversation with the person next to you. Initiate conversation by complimenting the person's shoes or hat. If the person is reading a book, ask what she thinks of the plotline.

5. Have a scavenger hunt for items related to your surroundings. If you are in an office, make a list that includes a staple, colored paperclip, a picture of the tackiest wall calendar, an employee slacking off but trying to look productive and other assorted scenes or items. If you are in a crowd, find the person with the ugliest shirt, the individual most likely to be a kindergarten teacher and any other list of interesting, random traits.

6. Write a letter to a friend. Take up the long-lost art of letter writing by formulating a handwritten note. Include doodles and sketches if you have artistic leanings. Thank the person and list the ways he has enriched your life.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are not in a situation where you must stay in one place, use the downtime to hone a craft or skill. Develop a to-do list of all chores you have been meaning to accomplish, but were unable to tackle on account of your hectic schedule.

References

• "A Daily Dose of Sanity"; Alan Cohen; 2010
• MIT; The Benefits of Meditation; Ann Trafton; May 5, 2011