A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind (2010) [pdf]
There's a plenty of occasions, causes and distractions to make your mind wander. To me personally the most prominent ones are when reading a book (which is also the most infuriating) and while riding some sort of public transport.<p>The latter one helps me to reduce head buzz which is generated by randomly reading HN posts or working on a demanding task.<p>Reading a book, where I actually <i>need</i> to concentrate on the book, some contents generate occasional <i>mind branches</i>. That means, I continue reading, but I think about something else triggered by what's in the book. Then I switch back to the book realizing "Wait, where was I? I have no idea why I'm reading this, and now I skipped a whole page."<p>When I make a long trip I also have <i>a lot</i> of time to think. So, my scope of thoughts grows and my mind wanders. Basically that's the mode which potentially might make me very happy or deeply unhappy. Because the scope expands from decisions made in the past to decisions to make in the future. And that's where it hurts most.<p>Can anyone relate?