Wandering mind not an escape: study
'A wandering mind is an unhappy mind'
Last Updated: Thursday, November 11, 2010 | 2:00 PM ET Comments128Recommend107
CBC News
Screenshot from trackyourhappiness.com. (Courtesy Matt Killingsworth)
People often let their minds wander but it tends to make them unhappy, psychologists say.
Researchers used an iPhone application to gather data on 2,250 volunteers' thoughts, feelings and actions.
Humans spend a lot of time thinking about what isn't going on around them, whether contemplating past events or what might or might not happen in the future. The ability helps us to learn, reason and plan.
In the study, participants were asked at random intervals how happy they were, what they were currently doing, and whether they were thinking about their current activity or about something else that was pleasant, neutral or unpleasant.
The real-time data showed that on average, people reported that their minds were wandering 46.9 per cent of time, and no less than 30 per cent of the time during every activity except making love.
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"A human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind," psychologists Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., wrote in this week's issue of the journal Science.
'Be in the present'
People were happiest when making love, exercising, or engaging in conversation. They were least happy when resting, working or using a home computer.
Kent Morley, a veterinarian in Calgary, says his mind isn't totally on the task at hand while on the job.
"My thoughts aren't going to be all sunshine and rainbows," said Morley. "They are going to be things I am trying to work myself through, either family stresses or work."
The researchers estimated five per cent of a person's happiness at any given moment was attributed to what he or she was doing. In comparison, "mind wandering status" accounted for nearly 11 per cent of a person's happiness.
Based on the timing of the responses to the trackyourhappiness.com website, the researchers said mind wandering was generally a cause of unhappiness rather than a consequence.
"It seems like human beings are often clumsy users of this ability and [this] often tends to reduce rather than increase their happiness," said Killingsworth.
Killingsworth and Gilbert noted that many philosophical and religious traditions teach happiness is found by living in the moment, and train practitioners to resist mind wandering. The new findings lend support to those traditions, they said.
"People keep fighting this simple, basic concept," agreed Vancouver-based life coach Monica Magnetti. "You have to be in the present to be happy. You have to know what makes you happy to be happy."
The subjects were mainly American and ranged in age from 18 to 88, with a variety of incomes, backgrounds and occupations.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/11/10/happy-mind-wander.html#ixzz15KOAk7pW
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