Mental focus key to happiness, study shows
If you can stop your mind from wandering, and stay focused on an idea, it is likely that you will be much more happy and successful, a recent study shows.
The research report published in the journal Science showed that human brain was tuned to wander, and people spend about 47 percent of their waking time in thinking things other than what they are doing. This takes a toll on the emotional state of the person. While the authors of the stud agree that this ability to think of something else while working on something other is a cognitive achievement but it takes a toll on our state of mental happiness.
The authors Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert both attached to the psychology department at Harvard based their findings on 250,000 data points on the thoughts, feelings, and actions of 2,250 people as they went about their daily lives. The data was collected via an iPhone app, which contacted people at random intervals, asking about their state of happiness, the work they were doing, and their thoughts at the moment.
The results revealed that people were happiest when making love, and also enjoyed exercising, and conversation. Surprisingly people were found to be least happy when eating, resting or using a computer at home. According to Killingsworth mind wanderings and where our thoughts go is good indicator of our state of happiness than what is happening at the present.