{"id":1393,"date":"2016-07-14T07:51:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-14T14:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.youwealthrevolution.com\/blog\/?p=1393"},"modified":"2018-05-16T02:08:01","modified_gmt":"2018-05-16T09:08:01","slug":"wake-up-world-wandering-toward-unhappiness-how-a-drifting-mind-can-make-you-miserable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.youwealthrevolution.com\/blog\/wake-up-world-wandering-toward-unhappiness-how-a-drifting-mind-can-make-you-miserable\/","title":{"rendered":"Wandering Toward Unhappiness: How a Drifting Mind Can Make You Miserable"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carolanne Wright\u00a0of\u00a0Wake Up World\u00a0writes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Matt Killingsworth Ph.D., studying happiness is a full-time job. A Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar, inventor of the Track Your Happiness app and doctorate in psychology from Harvard University, he\u2019s driven by the idea of learning what\u2019s behind being joyful. So much so that he embarked on a groundbreaking journey to study people\u2019s happiness in daily life \u2014 on a tremendous scale, around the world. Through the use of the app, Killingsworth and his research team were able to compile a massive amount of data concerning what makes us happy (or unhappy) at any given moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy results suggest that happiness is indeed highly sensitive to the contents of our moment-to-moment experience. And one of the most powerful predictors of happiness is something we often do without even realizing it: mind-wandering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Track your happiness<\/h2>\n

By using Killingsworth\u2019s app, participants received signals on their iPhones at random times, where they answered questions about their experience the instant right before the signal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is that if we can watch how people\u2019s happiness goes up and down over the course of the day, and try to understand how things like what people are doing, who they\u2019re with, what they\u2019re thinking about, and all the other factors that describe our experiences relate to those ups and downs in happiness, we might eventually be able to discover some of the major causes of human happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first question concerned happiness: How do you feel? on a scale from very bad to very good. Next, an activity question: What are you doing? on a list of 22 activities ranging from eating and working to watching television. The final question was about mind-wandering: Are you thinking about something other than what you\u2019re currently doing? Participants could say either no (they are focused on their activity) or yes (they are thinking about something else). They were also asked if the subject matter of those thoughts were pleasant, neutral or unpleasant.<\/p>\n

As of July of 2013, the project has collected over 650,000 real-time reports from over 15,000 individuals. And it\u2019s a diverse group, from a wide range of ages (from 18-80), incomes, education levels and marital statuses. \u201cThey collectively represent every one of 86 occupational categories and hail from over 80 countries,\u201d said Killingsworth.<\/p>\n

The team then poured through the data. The results were clear: when we don\u2019t pay attention to what is in front of us at this very moment, unhappiness ensues.<\/p>\n

Want to be happier? Stay in the moment<\/h2>\n