A wandering mind is an unhappy mind (2010) [pdf]

In one word: Yoga.

The author gave a TED talk about this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy5A8dVYU3k

and yes, the default mode of the mind is to wander: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Default_mode_network

Nope. Yoga is a discipline of practice - a way to develop a new set of habits of self-awareness and self-control via breathing techniques.

As a side-effect it calms the mind due to proper physiological balance (better saturation of hemoglobin, less tension in muscles, which in turn influences other sub-systems. such as digestive, etc.)

Yoga is the same kind of a necessary training routine as when children learn how to read before they could read "serious" books. But this is so-called non-verbal skill.

More accurately, it is acquisition of set of skills of remaining in a proper balance, very similar to bicycle riding. Once the body learns (new habits of keeping balance has been developed) you could ride any kind of bicycle and will never forget how to do it.

The bicycle you're leaning to ride (by doing) with yoga is your own mind whose states you lean to control "non-verbally" via states of your body.

This is just crap, for example:

- The quality of their claims is directly related to the quality of their input. There is no discussion on the quality of their input.

- They by no means justify their causal relation assumption

- They make weird claims, for example they call their method a "gold standard", but there does not exist a gold standard for this kind of pseudo-science at all. And their method has the same flaws they mention other methods have.

It looks like this specific author has looked at happiness primarily as defined by "how good are you feeling at this moment?". The observation is people who are not particularly enjoying their current activity tend to be less focused than those who are. This should not surprise anyone.

But the author then inverts this causally and states "mind-wandering is likely a cause, and not merely a consequence, of unhappiness".

Behind this opinion are the assumptions that unhappiness is a nuisance causally disconnected from your environment, that it should to be avoided with a mental trick, and that mind-wandering is an otherwise unproductive side effect of having an undisciplined mind.

On a fundamental level I think it's wrong to advocate against the wandering mind, because wandering brains are exploring brains. We definitely want that. Not enjoying the status quo is what drives progress. Worries, anxieties, regrets, those all have a valuable place in a well-rounded life and they're a part of learning, too.

The idea of optimizing superficial enjoyment by hacking your mental state only instead of hacking the environment which makes you unhappy is not a good solution overall. It certainly isn't a valid problem solving strategy. Hacking your mental state may work if you suspect you're unusually unhappy without a good reason. Outside of clinical depression there is actually a good external reason for unhappiness more often than not.

Telling people their unhappiness is a purely mental defect they need to overcome strikes me as particularly insidious. Instead of making yourself more compliant and passive, why not go out and change things?

Being unhappy is first and foremost a signal how something about your situation needs to change. In most cases, the answer "stay in the moment, citizen, and carry on" strikes me as the kind of self help content that doesn't help anybody. Contantly and single-mindedly maximizing happiness is shallow and ultimately meaningless.