Study: An idle mind is not a happy one

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 13 (UPI) -- The motto "be here now" is backed up by findings that the mind is least happy when wandering, Harvard researchers say.

The psychologists found people are most content when focused on the job at hand, even more than when daydreaming about pleasant thoughts, The Daily Telegraph reported.

This is most likely to happen when having sex, exercising or in intense conversation. Listening to music and playing also help.

The mind wanders most when people are resting, working or using a computer.

Daniel Gilbert and Matthew Killingsworth, co-authors of the study, conclude, "A human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind."

Their study used "experience sampling."

Killingsworth invented an iPhone application that questioned 2,250 volunteers worldwide at different times of day about their levels of happiness, what they were doing and what they were thinking about.

The participants, ages 18 to 88, were asked to select one of 22 activities and record how happy they were while doing it, as well as whether they were thinking about their current activity or something else.

Their minds wandered 46.9 percent of the time as they pondered things not going on around them.