Havard researchers Daniel Gilbert and Matthew Killingsworth have published a new study that reveals a surprising fact about daydreaming. They distributed a custom iPhone app to 2000 people that would interrupt them throughout the day asking them about moods, what they're doing, and how they're feeling.
"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.
"Mind-wandering appears ubiquitous across all activities. This study shows that our mental lives are pervaded, to a remarkable degree, by the non-present. Mind-wandering is an excellent predictor of people's happiness. In fact, how often our minds leave the present and where they tend to go is a better predictor of our happiness than the activities in which we are engaged."
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It does appear the mind-wandering is a cause, not just a correlation. The researchers did separate time-lag analyses that helped demonstrate people's mood was affected by their wandering mind, not the other way around.
The upside: Being in the present moment can bring joy. Worry is the realm of the future and the past.