Become a fan on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter! Subscribe to RSS Feed
World of Psychology

Wandering Minds

By Greg Rogers

A recent study shows that people are not thinking about what they are doing, on average 30% of the time.

The Wandering Mind

The researcher says he will study meditation to see if it helps. Of course, a lot of brain research has already been done on meditation, but this would be an interesting twist. So far, research shows that long term meditators use more of the parts of the brain that have to do with contentment, and less of the parts that deal with conflict.

Finding out that we can really do what we think we are doing in meditation practice (increasing our ability to pay attention) would be an interesting result indeed.

Meditation, through the method of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has been shown to improve patient outcomes in a wide variety of illnesses and reduce anxiety. Helping people learn to focus on what is really happening right now, instead of the story their brain is telling them, seems to help them put pain, distress, and life changing illnesses in perspective.


1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (7 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

One Comment to
“Wandering Minds”

Interesting. I meditate a bit and I don’t think it has had any effect on my ability to pay att…

Oops, time for lunch.

Join the Conversation! Post a Comment:


(Required, will be published)

(Required, but will not be published)

(Optional)


    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 20 Mar 2007

 


Recent Comments
  • Frank460: Another tip for improving your brain is to learn to write with both hands. It takes about a year or so to...
  • Sheila: As parents we have the ability and responsibility to do what we can to minimize depression in our kids. Maybe...
  • michael booth: I’ve been trying dirt with seaweed, hay if it works i dont care if I have to sniff my own...
  • Necie the Milk & Mocha Gal: I’ve met a lot of people on the Internet. I met my current (and hopefully LAST)...
  • Claire: This has been a fascinating discussion. I keep coming back to see what’s next. I think that Dr....
Article Tools
Bookmark
Print
Email Friend


Stumble It!


Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter


Users Online: 2850
Join Us Now!


Find a Therapist


 







Follow us on Twitter!

Find us on Facebook!