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WHAT HAPPENS WHEN you let your mind wander?
Studies have shown when a human mind has nothing specific to
think about, it becomes chaotic, flitting from one thought to
another in a random way. But if any mind — your mind, my
mind — keeps wandering, before long, our thoughts will land
on something that grabs our attention: some fear or frustration
or unfinished business. You know what this is like: Your mind
sticks there, like a tire spinning in the mud, dwelling on the
worrisome or upsetting thought, and it ruins your mood. This
is what happens to a mind without a purpose.
Having a purpose on your mind keeps your
thoughts from devolving into chaos and bad moods. You can’t
stop your mind from thinking, but when you have a goal to think
about, your mental resources are less likely to drift randomly
into upsetting thoughts. They have someplace to go.
That’s why studies show that people
are more often in a good mood while working than they are in
their free time. It seems unbelievable at first, but it is easily
explained by the need for purpose. Most people are more likely
to have clear purposes at work than at home.
It is common knowledge that “idle
hands are the devil’s workshop,” but the important
factor, the factor that gets you out of the devil’s workshop,
is something you need to do that compels your attention.
Remember that: Something you need to do
that compels your attention. That’s the key — think
of it as vitamin P.
The human mind needs a purpose.
It’s like the ocelot scratching off his fur at the Seattle
Zoo. The zookeepers didn’t know what to do about it. They
gave him a female, but he kept skinning himself. They changed
his diet. They changed his cage. But he kept clawing at himself.
Finally, someone realized that in the wild,
ocelots eat birds. So instead of giving the ocelot meat to eat,
they threw an unplucked chicken into the cage. Sure enough, the
ocelot — using the same clawing movements he was using on
himself — plucked the feathers out of that chicken and stopped
skinning himself.
Your mind is like that. It needs a bone
to chew or it’ll chew the furniture. It needs a purpose.
And not just any purpose, but something that challenges you,
engages you, something you intend to accomplish, something you
want, something real and concrete. Your mind aligns around
that goal instead of being pulled into negativity, and you’re
happier.
Find a purpose that enthralls
you
and then actively pursue it.
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