Could boredom be good for you? A Harvard professor says we should abandon our centuries-old contempt for feeling bored. He claims that boredom is what helps us to realise what is missing in our lives.
Embrace doing nothing, says professor
Uncomfortable thoughts: When we have nothing to occupy our brains, we are left with the wanderings of our minds. Glossary
Charles Dickens - The Victorian novelist is credited with inventing Christmas as we know it today through the warm descriptions of it in his books.
Aristocratic - Belonging to the highest levels of society — the top of the upper classes.
Victorian - The era when Queen Victoria was on the British throne, from 1837 to 1901.
Torpor - A state of inactivity.
Lethargy - A lack of energy and enthusiasm.
Depressed - Depression is low mood that affects someone's daily life, and can last for weeks or months.
Annie Dillard - An American author born in 1945, who won the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.