Jump to content
Join the Unexplained Mysteries community today! It's free and setting up an account only takes a moment.
- Sign In or Create Account -

Why Mind Wandering Can Be So Miserable


Claire.

Recommended Posts

Why Mind Wandering Can Be So Miserable, According to Happiness Experts

For you, it could be the drive home on the freeway in stop-and-go traffic, a run without headphones or the time it takes to brush your teeth. It’s the place where you’re completely alone with your thoughts—and it’s terrifying. For me, it’s the shower.

The shower is where I’m barraged with all the “what-ifs,” the imagined catastrophes, the endless to-do list. To avoid them, I’ve tried everything from shower radio and podcasts to taking a bath so I can watch an iPad. I’ve always thought this shower-dread was just my own neurosis. But psychological research is shedding insight into why our minds tend to wander without our consent—and why it can be so unpleasant.

Scientists, being scientists, sometimes refer to the experience of mind-wandering as “stimulus-independent thought.” But by any name, you know it: It’s the experience of arriving at work with no memory of the commute. When you’re engaged in mundane activities that require little attention, your brain drifts off like a balloon escaping a child’s hand—traveling to the future, ruminating on the past, generating to-do lists, regrets and daydreams.

Read more: Smithsonian.com

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Thoughts seems to have a life of their own. Thought wants to be thinking. When I stop giving thought energy (attention), thought grumbles for a while then gives up and becomes quiet. :)

Giving attention to wandering thoughts is feeding them and encouraging them to continue. These kinds of thoughts are just thoughts, not too important. They're just looking for attention, like a unruly child. They usually just go 'round in circles, anyway, a waste of mental energy and can be annoying. Sometimes I say, just shut up for a while and leave me alone.

Of course, then thought seeks revenge and sneaks up on me again before I realize it. The conscious you is the boss, however. Wandering thought is a lower level mind activity, I'm the one in charge of my thoughts, not random thought. Random thought is just noise that interferes with clarity of mind.

A clear, quiet mind is a blessing and is your  intelligence revealed.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not really a mystery why.

Evoluntarily the genes that think ahead and think about past mistakes have a better chance a survival then the genes that only think about the moment 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

57 minutes ago, spartan max2 said:

It's not really a mystery why.

Evoluntarily the genes that think ahead and think about past mistakes have a better chance a survival then the genes that only think about the moment 

Unless youre daydreaming about last friday with the cheerleader and get hit in the head with a football.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.