MUSINGS OF AN (UN)MINDFUL MIND
Blame it on my Piscean traits, for nothing else can explain how distracted I’ve been feeling recently. This entire week my mind has constantly been wandering into a vacuous space where I find myself fluttering between nostalgia and the imaginings of an unformed, unplanned future. Not in the present at all. All my efforts to rein in my thoughts, channel them into being productive/constructive have proven to be futile.
Unable to pin this persistent sense of restlessness on any particular incident or a definitive reason, I decided to do what every logical person does in such a state of mind – I googled it. And what do I discover? According to a scientific study (isn’t that ironic?) published in 2016, our mind wanders for about 50 per cent of our waking hours. The keyword here is ‘our’, meaning all of us – the phenomenon is not gender, culture, region specific. So now I not only feel distracted, but validated too.
And if that’s not a lot to digest, the same research says ‘psychologists previously tended to view mind-wandering as largely useless, but an emerging body of research suggests that it is a natural and healthy part of our mental lives.’
I love this research.
For now I have an answer for all those who ask me why I have a blank look on my face. ‘Because I have a healthy mind’. That’ll definitely stop them in their tracks, don’t you think?
And if that’s not enough, the same research says highly creative people have a tendency towards a variation on mindwandering known as ‘positive-constructive daydreaming’, which has also been associated with self-awareness, goaloriented
According to a scientific study, our mind wanders for about 50 per cent of our waking hours. The keyword here is ‘our’
thinking and increased compassion.
I don’t know about the first two, as I’m still too distracted to self-audit my mental state, but I definitely agree with the third reason – increased compassion.
After reading about Afra Al Dhaheri (page 22) and Assia Riccio (page 30), two women who are doing all they can to make the human race look good with their charitable efforts, the sense of compassion in me has been at a heightened state.
Their purpose in life not just inspires me but also anchors my wandering mind.