And finally a mind wandering question

Maybe mind wandering is a bad thing.

Any of those yes responses are what we called mind wandering.

They said By Allah! truly thou art in thine old wandering mind.

In other words, maybe the pleasures of the mind allow us to increase our happiness with mind wandering.

The leaders of his people said Ah! we see thee evidently wandering (in mind).

Wandering rectangles

Wandering River

As it turns out, there is a strong relationship between mind wandering now and being unhappy a short time later, consistent with the idea that mind wandering is causing people to be unhappy.

So I've been talking about this, suggesting, perhaps, that mind wandering causes unhappiness, but all

In contrast, there's no relationship between being unhappy now and mind wandering a short time later.

Why wandering alone?

At the same time, this sort of constant mind wandering is also a direct cause of unhappiness.

As it turns out, people are less happy when they're mind wandering no matter what they're doing.

A few minutes ago, I likened mind wandering to a slot machine you'd never want to play.

I've been wandering around.

We're lucky in this data we have many responses from each person, and so we can look and see, does mind wandering tend to precede unhappiness, or does unhappiness tend to precede mind wandering, to get some insight into the causal direction.

Small people wandering about. (Laughter)

Now, don't go wandering about.

Working out, in the shower, in the grocery store, whenever my mind is relaxed and wandering something comes to me.

In other words, mind wandering very likely seems to be an actual cause, and not merely a consequence, of unhappiness.

She was wandering in the woods.

He is fond of wandering about.

AII I remember is wandering about...

But there's something I think that's quite interesting in this graph, and that is, basically with one exception, no matter what people are doing, they're mind wandering at least 30 percent of the time, which suggests, I think, that mind wandering isn't just frequent, it's ubiquitous.

And found you wandering, and guided you.

He is wandering around in a trance.

The boy was wandering about the town.

Yeats. The Song of Wandering Aengus. Huh?

Even when they're thinking about something they would describe as pleasant, they're actually just slightly less happy than when they aren't mind wandering.

If mind wandering were a slot machine, it would be like having the chance to lose 50 dollars, 20 dollars or one dollar.

Now you might look at this result and say, okay, sure, on average people are less happy when they're mind wandering, but surely when their minds are straying away from something that wasn't very enjoyable to begin with, at least then mind wandering should be doing something good for us.

Mind? Mind?

He has been wandering over Europe for months.

I was wandering, mad with rage, naked, impotent.

His glance, wandering inquisitively, fell on the bed.

She's a wandering soul, looking for her mother...

Plankton comes from the Greek planktos for wandering

We found him on the highway wandering around.

And He found thee wandering, so He guided thee,

Did He not find thee wandering and direct (thee)?

You mind? You mind?

He said O my people! No wandering is there in my (mind) on the contrary I am a messenger from the Lord and Cherisher of the worlds!

By thy life, in their intoxication they were wandering bewildered.

Did He not find you wandering, and give you guidance?