Note: This article is based on research by Hooria Jazaieri, in which she tells us about her research on the effect of mind wandering on attention.
My colleagues and I recently published a study in the Journal of Positive Psychology to learn whether mind-wandering makes us less interested in what is happening around us and what we can do about it. Previous research has shown that mind-wandering has detrimental effects on our mood and even our physical health.
We texted 51 adults twice a day for nine weeks while they took an empathy education course. Several things caught our attention: First, we were interested in measuring the amount of distraction and the types of thoughts people were having—whether they were pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant. Because the participants were enrolled in the meditation and compassion course, we were interested in whether they had engaged in meaningful meditation and compassion-related activities that day as well as whether they had shown kindness or assistance to someone or something.
Self-care behaviors include requesting help or looking after one's physical needs through rest, a healthy diet, exercise, and calming activities like cooking, gardening, bathing, and massage. Caring actions include things like smiling at a stranger, picking up trash on the street, letting someone pass in front of them while going outside, and paying close attention to a friend.
Our research revealed that a wandering mind can be less objective. The point is that when the mind wanders on unpleasant or neutral topics rather than pleasant ones, it demonstrates less concerned behavior with oneself and others. In contrast, when it does so on pleasant topics, it demonstrates behavior that is more concerned with oneself and others.
Prior research suggests that mind-wandering causes us to be unhappy because it can cause us to feel bad, which weakens our resolve and causes us to miss opportunities to focus. On the other hand, we might experience positive emotions that sharpen our focus and enable us to be fully present and interested when we reflect on positive experiences.
Fortunately, our research suggests that developing empathy may make it possible for us to alter our ingrained tendencies toward mind-wandering. Participants' minds were off about 59.1% of the time before the empathy course, more than 46.9% in earlier studies. At the conclusion of the nine-week course, there was a 54.5% overall decline in mind wandering, with a slight increase in mind wandering for pleasant thoughts.
Importantly, participants who said they regularly practiced meditation also reported less mind-wandering for unpleasant thoughts and more for pleasant ones, suggesting that regular meditation practice may have the dual effect of boosting and lowering various types of mind-wandering.
If you discover that your thoughts are frequently drawn to unfavorable subjects, you might want to try some of the exercises and meditation techniques included in your program for developing empathy:
- Mental Stability and Concentration: When you become aware that your attention has strayed, gently bring it back by breathing normally.
- Empathy for Your Loved One: Wish them luck, consider a time when they were struggling, and express your love for them.
- Self-Compassion: Imagine yourself in a positive light and wish yourself well. Consider a time when you were struggling, then send yourself good vibes.
- Acceptance of All People: Consider three different people in your life: someone close to you, someone with whom you have neutral feelings, and someone with whom you have had some difficulties. Now consider how they all want to be happy and live without suffering. So, these people are all equal.
- Empathy for Others: Be more aware of the people in your neighborhood, city, country, continent, etc., and consider how much you want to be happy, how they all want the same things, and so on. In this way, you will realize that we are all connected in some way.
- Active Empathy: When you breathe in, imagine relieving others of their suffering; when you exhale, visualize sending them happiness and good fortune.
Our study adds to a growing body of research showing that most of the time, our minds wander. Although mind wandering is frequently criticized, it might sometimes be good. But we can train our minds to alter the scope and course of thought wandering. This is essential for developing empathy and caring for both oneself and other people.
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