What happens when our mind wanders?

Have you ever found yourself washing up and lost in a daydream? Sitting still and ruminating? Or in the shower and making a to-do list? As we will see, you are not alone.

We all spend much of our day doing simple tasks and letting our mind wander. An important question to ask is, how joyful are we in these moments? An important study in 2010 came up with some surprising results.

Harvard Psychologists Matthew A Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert, used an app to ask over 2,500 people from different ages and backgrounds what activity they were doing and whether their mind was wandering, and provided a 0-100 scale for “How happy are you right now?” Perhaps unsurprisingly, the study showed that regardless of the activity (other than making Love) the mind was not focused directly on the activity (in other words it was wandering) in at least 30% of the samples. The Research Psychologists Killingsworth and Gilbert state “People were less happy when their minds were wandering than when they were not… and this was true during all activities, including the least enjoyable.” They go on to say “People were no happier when thinking about pleasant topics than their current activity….and were considerably unhappier when thinking about neutral or unpleasant topics.” They conclude by saying "A human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind. The ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional cost."

So how can this help us?

We are more likely to find joy by deliberately focusing on the here and now. This is easy when we are engaged in an activity we love (such as exercise, art, puzzling, connection or play) but tough when we are doing everyday tasks (such as washing up, the laundry or work) and even harder if we are doing nothing at all.

A deliberate practice such as Yoga or meditation can introduce a discipline or routine to help train the mind to recognise when it is wandering and give it tools to return more quickly to the present moment, and to stay in it for longer. By training the mind to focus and find peace even when tasks are effortful, repetitive or demand little attention (such as noticing the breath in a sitting meditation), we can demonstrate that we can achieve moments of focus even when the mind has little to focus on, and slowly we can learn to stay in the present and find joy even in the activity of washing the dishes.

The mind will always wander, and it is okay when it does, and we can even enjoy letting it drift. However we do have control over our ability to notice our own mind and how we direct our attention and most importantly we can improve our ability to do this over time. It takes practice, but ultimately, a focused mind, is a happy mind.