When I go for a walk, I'm not thinking about walking, and I'm not very happy. When I take the family dog for a walk, the dog is not thinking about or even aware of anything except for what he's sniffing at, peeing on, or barking at, and he's happier than I could possibly imagine being.

stay in the moment = meditation / mindfulness

When i'm tired or hungry I wander more often, and a lot of times it'sabout unnecesarry or negative, stupid things etc. When i'm well rested I enjoy the day to day moments a lot more

What an epic name. Can you imagine how cool would it be when someone enters your office and say, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Killingsworth." Must feel like the leader of villains.

Wow! Sounds like a lot of people don't want to give up their angry unhappy thoughts. I must say I was filled with happiness after watching the video having realized that I was in a funk from thinking about many unpleasant situations instead of enjoying and making the most of this beautiful day and good health. Chow! I'm off to revel in the day filled with joy of the present.

I can't understand why people are criticising this video. The speaker is saying primarily about mind wandering into negative things . Live the moment, he is saying.

Up until now, I've found Ted Talks to be highly credible and to bring forth new perspectives encompassing multiple worldviews. This talk? A talk about the 650k surveys (on an Iphone) asking questions almost entirely catered to a western worldview on happiness? Good job. Arrogance at it's best

The problem is, in everyday life we so often have to spend time doing things we don't want to do. The only escape from the drudgery is a wandering mind. I've come up with some pretty great ideas whilst doing something boring.

This love this! Yes, reaching a goal is something that does not give you a higher degree of happiness but rather, what you did to get there did. When you learn that you can create a difference in the world it makes you smile. When you meet someone that thinks and feels like you, it creates happiness. Some enjoy what they have, others what they obtain. Some enjoy the world at peace, others the drama and chaos.

Perhaps 'daydreaming' is an evolutionary response that allows us to "worry about having water for tomorrow" "worry about finding a mate" "worry about chopping wood for a fire in the winter" etc. The action may, more often than not, cause unhappiness. However, the survival capacity of the individual is increased enough to be offset by any negatives brought upon by unhappiness.

Mind wandering is where creative ideas come from a lot of the time, and you are far more creative when you are happy.

According to enlightened people living in the present moment is the key to happiness! Thanks for the video!

And the thing that surprises me better is that he knew it without science, maths or anything we use now. He said that every living being is another version of ourselves, and if you take Evolution: life starting from one cell that multiplied itself infinite times that created all the different creatures... then it means every creature comes from one cell and just because they took different ways they evolved in something different... so, they are another version of ourselves. Beautiful, isn't it?

People who haven't tried paying attention to the present are missing this. Naysaying this approach without trying it is similar to going for one jog and dropping the practice because it didn't make you fit. Mindfulness and awareness of the moment is a completely strange idea to most of us who were raised to focus on distractions, and think continually about things in the past or future. It really is quite peaceful once you get there. But it takes months of daily practice to do so.

Intelligence is a factor that is really important for happiness if you ask me. The more intelligent you are, the better you understand actual situations and the more depressing they are, if you can't do anything against the situation. If you don't mindwander, you don't think about stuff. If you don't think about stuff you are not worried. It's like when you're getting drunk. The more drunk you are, the less you are thinking, and the less you care, instead of thinking you're having a good time...

Mind-wandering is something different of everyone. My mind wanders a lot. Sometimes it´s daydreaming, sometimes i recall diskussions, sometimes i make diskussiones which maybe will happen. It´s not just one thing and it´s something different for everyone.

Yes, I understand, I do too. But I have noticed being unhappier when I think a lot.

we could try to be more aware, but it's quite impossible to always be 'in the present moment' because of human's incredible capacity and constant necessity for forethought, as well as reflection on past experiences

He said something about worrying about being bald and the camera cuts to 3 bald guys sitting in a perfect triangle!! @4:08

I love that I was linked to this talk from the Aquabats song "Winging it" itself a decent example of the shortcomings of thoughtless contentment. Also I found in strange that he claims Aristotle's "chief good" to be happiness, when in fact Aristotle chief good was 'Eudaimonia,' a state of happiness which can only be achieved in the light of personal and philosophical reflection. This is sort of the opposite of the type of happiness Mr Killingsworth is encouraging us to embrace.

Really good talk!

As you begin to become dis-identified from your body, thoughts, and emotions you begin to step out of psychological time, which can be represented as a vertical movement of moving deeper into consciousness. When you are in a state of identification it simply means that you are ‘that’. There is no separation, you take your self to be your thoughts, emotions, and body.

this is awesome

Killingsworth, what a fucking metal name

the central message of the philosopher Heraclitus was "panta rhei"... ... All flows. Nothing is permanent. And this is the hardest message life has to teach. Because what it says is your joy is transient, your anguish is transient, your fortune, your home, your dreams, your moments of great extacy, your moments of great insight, your moments of great empowerment, everything is flowing through your hands the moment that you are aware of it.

Well all I know is it is working well for me and my friends. I know I've tried both and the time i didn't think wasn't good.

So would it seem that people with attention deficit, and their minds wander,they are less happy?

My right ear enjoyed this. :)

Its true, every time I think of going to work I become v unhappy but when I'm totally living in the moment I am veryy happy :)

If mind wandering is so ubiquitous then maybe there is some natural benefit that it has. Maybe not an immediate happiness benefit, but perhaps a long-term overall wellbeing improvement.

He doesn´t give a definition, at least i didn´t recognize any and with no further information i would say he speaks of mind-wandering in general and this is my interpretation about what mind-wandering is.

I can't focus on things when I haven't taken care of my basic needs. So I guess that's why I mind wander. I doubt the mind wandering itself is what makes me unhappy though. This research is a bit too shallow, but it's a good start.

Data and statistics make me happy :)

The source of the data must be considered. Data acquired from an iPhone app will only hit a relatively limited demographic (as opposed to a broad spectrum of society as a whole).

I think he needs more data, he should have asked initial questions. for example, ask if the person taking a test is an introvert or an extrovert, seeing if that has any direct effect on unhappiness as well.

For the interested Viewer, this fits with the TED talk: "a Stroke of Insight"

Gee, I guess I'm weird too. I feel the same. Not saying it's right but it works for me.

I'm super happy about being Catholic.

The Power of Now.

I am not sure I totally agree. I listen to some authors on KBSU and their sample was maybe not quit as big but still large. Found, people with more money were happier. Working 80 hours a week, you have less time to be with people that make them happy. Just makes common sense…

As much as I agree with the point, I am sure something is hiding behind that. I wouldn't say that mind wandering is a fundamental factor. And I think that being obsessed about how happy you are in the moment is actually MUCH worse than mind wandering. True happyness is mostly about being in peace with ourselves... there's a big misunderstanding in my opinion between global happyness and whimsical "feeling good". The big picture is much more important than your current mood.

Cool because just as meditation, it also teach to be present :D

especially if the moment doesn't suck

i just wish i could control my wandering

oh the old intro i missed it

This guy looks like Alan from The Hangover. That's probably his secret of being happy ;D

nice one :)

I quite enjoy mind wandering, I enjoy activities when I can mind wander. and I've seen studies where people who let their mind wander often and especially abstractly are more intelligent. I know mind wandering has made me a better person. So ya, weak study.

People are unhappy because lo and behold, the things they think bring happiness don't. Money is about owning your time. Happiness is about freedom from others' domination and the ability to control your own experiences on your own terms.

Gibt aber dann meiner meinung eben auch positive "mind-wandering" sessions, wenn man so will... Die die durch einen positiven gedanken ausgelöst werden... Zb in der arbeit, durch eine beförderung, wenn man zb dann die chance hat neue ideen zu realisieren zb... Denke das macht einem

ok in that case we understand the talk differently. you surely heard the sageness "Live in the now." before, right? i assumed the talk was a way of delivering this message, and it certainly does not mean that one should stop thinking and close one's eyes. it rather means the opposite: one should fully realize any of the _current_ conditions and see how one can form them at one's will - now. spacing out into the past or future is rarely, if ever, necessary.

exactly :)

what is meant by mind-wandering is spacing out into thoughts about the past or future. it's not active thinking about your conscious process.

I don't like the use of the happiness chart...the range from 57 to 66 is not as drastic as the appearance of the chart which makes people look over twice as happy when in the moment. I completely agree with the point of the talk. I just don't like statistics manipulated to seem bigger than they are.

What did he say? I couldn't focus when he was talking

i was just saying hey to say hello

Lot of truth to this. Bad situations become more frustrating when we understand why they happen yet can't resolve them. When I think of happiness in not thinking, I think of someone who has almost no capacity to think, such as a retarded person. Their happiness seems to be truer than any sane being I've encountered. Maybe we should all have lobotomies; our intelligence seems to do us more harm than good nowadays.

sure, but mr. Killingsworth seems to talk about a specific kind of mind-wandering here. my comment was in context to the video.

AMEN

The key is being present. One way of achieving this is through meditation. Another method is being conscious that you are not your mind. The mind is not the one controlling you but it is actually the opposite. The spiritual you is the one controlling the mind. When the mind is wondering, your are able to stop the mind from wondering any further since you are aware of its activities and has control over it. However majority of the human being are living in the state of "unconsciousness". In Islam we believe that happiness can only be achieve through remembrance of Allah i.e. the "Zikr" which means "Remember". This is the most effective method of being present as you are remembering and "in connection" with God 24/7. The mind has no opportunity to wander, and as a result you achieve the objective of being in the present moment and at the same time in connection with the Creator/God every second of your life in this world. This is the method adopted in Sufism. The end result is what every mortal is looking for, the Happiness.

9:32 only 40% of people's minds wander when they rest/sleep. How can you focus on sleeping?

That might happen, but would you stop thinking just to be happier? The things you think about don´t vanish just because you stop thinking. Even thought watching news doesn´t make me happy, i don´t close my eyes.

The mind works great, it needs feelings of unhappyness more or less to work like that. We really have not that much of a choice in the matter, It gets us stuff done. The world is getting better because of the people that over analyze and feel bad about stuff wich drives them to problemsolving, monks that meditate and claim to be happy out of enlightment never really fixed that much. The mind needs that feeling, it doesn't care if we like that or not .

Maybe it's good to mention that there are thousands of years of experience with this. The Buddhist idea of meditation to reach Nirvana was not unfounded, because meditation is an exercise in concentration. Similarly, mastering an art or skill is pretty much universally rewarding, and being a true master requires a lot of attention. But by all means, ignore the dude who's dedicated his whole life to research on why people are happy, in identifying things that make people happy.

@Jordis0n sir that's 90,000 people and not 9 which were surveyed

Hmm, thanks for pointing out to that, I was only listening to the video.

Ignorance is bliss. But yeah. :/ Now that I'm considered more "educated" and the more I learn... the more depressing it can get. But at the same thing, the more I understand and appreciate the advances in science that we're making and I'm more mature and appreciate the good qualities in my fiance'. And I wouldn't trade this new understand and the happiness that comes with it for anything.

And what did that add to the video?

idk I rather think and mind wander then be happy, is that weird?

I fell asleep crying in the bathtub last night.

And he succeeded.

I'd like to point out that only iphone owners supplied data for this study. What about people who can't afford that thing or maybe don't think that it's important to have such devices and document their every move? Did he actually made the effort to sit down with some people and ask them what makes them happy or unhappy? Honest words spoken loudly have more weight than a push of a button. Also I think he's trying to prove his own truth.

im happy when my internet doesn't fucking buffer

thumbs up if you were mind-wondering while watching this video:P!

hmm maybe my daydreaming does cause me unhappiness.. but not really I mean.. I love daydreaming in the car, or in school, or on the bus. Maybe i would be more happier in the moment, because sometimes i realize im thinking of other things even when im talking to people.. and that sometimes causes me to be left without a response. But honestly I dont see any real signifigance in these statistics, this isnt really something you can figure out.. least not by having people answer opinianted questions

If mind wandering is ubiquitous, i.e. an inherently human trait distinguishing humans fr machines, then what is the benefit of changing that? If one does not experience unhappiness, how does one know what happiness is? Does "imagination" count as "mind wandering"? Or must one pick a time and place to do the imagining? By the way, how the research team verified the authenticity (say, age) of the participants? And 15,000 iPhone users do not make it "random sampling".

What about mind wandering of a daydreamer, like that of a mathematician thinking about shapes over dinner? Or an Artist imagining colors while taking the shower? Surely this kind of mind wandering does not cause unhappiness!

How old is this? I'm sure I've watched it before.

dann glücklicher... Also zusammenfassend: stress oder unglückliche tagträume sind schlecht... Positive kreative tagträume sind gut... Ergo: positiv denken... Es bringt nichts sich mit negativen aufzuhalten... Wenn du zu spät bist, wird dir alle 3 sekunden auf die uhr sehn und jammern nichts nützen... So sieht's aus...

I was calling him out on the fact that he was adding nothing to the video by saying "hey" for the sake of being first where as he could of put something meaningfull that added to the video.

u wanna be happy? believe in something.

“That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, the length, the depth and the height.” St Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians 3: 17, 18

That IS how graphs are built. It would have been stupid to show a huge useless part of the graph with the common values. It is clearly labelled and he never said they are 3 times happier. Unless you can't read the goddamn labels, it's clear as crystal. Also, the difference of 9 points (15%) is significant in this case.

Well, what is happiness?I think Mind-Wandering is more about being ¨Liberated¨ not ¨Happy¨

People are not happy since they confuse Happiness with Recognition.

Mind Wandering or Mind Pandering? It used to be that good mental health was a function of developing the intellectual and emotional skills that come with education, family life, and good friendships. Or as Freud said, happiness is the ability to love and do productive work. Well, throw that hoary old cliché away, dear new agers, as mind wandering is the new go to source of our anxieties and woes, and can be resolved with a lot less muss and fess than, say, developing a certain maturity in your life. According to Matt Killingsworth, those folks who let their minds freely wander are overall an unhappier lot than those of us who are fixated on singular goals. Just reduce it, and you will be fine! Well, I feel just, so, enlightened! Well, although mind wandering is fun to do, if in our wandering we encounter a sling, an arrow, or some outrageous fortune, its hard to back out of our anxiety, depression, or rage, since these are affective states that can keep us fixed on our emotions. Painful emotions are just hard to escape, but they are pretty easy to avoid, just shut down all their traipsing down the mind strewn lilac fields of good old-fashioned day dreaming and be mindful. Good advice, to a degree. It’s just that mindfulness can get boring real fast, and despite the hype of being in the moment, its in the future moments where all the action is, and if you step on a mental minefield every now and then, consider it the price of being fully alive. Well, back to roaming around at doctormezmer, a place full of mine fields.

Mind-wandering - isn´t that simply thinking? So thinking curses beeing unhappy? It´s like happy and dump, and unhappy and intelligent! Focus on showering, eating and pooping...really? I prefere to use my mind!

What was the point?

he wanted to be first without writing "first"

hey

This is not scientific. Where are the positive and negative controls? How does one quantify happiness, really? Do we really have the capacity to understand our own happiness? Maybe happiness is like Schroedinger's cat - we don't know it's state until observing it, but by observing it, we change it.

Then im very depressed.

i believe you shouldn't take everything so seriously

The more I learn, the more I'm convinced that Buddha was right all along... =)

um... how?!!

im i the only one having a dejavu?

the answer to happiness is to find out what the fuck is going on with all this on this giant rock flying thru the universe, that journey of knowledge is happiness. deconditioning your mind to the cultural shtick

Well, then, I guess I wouldn't like to be happier.

please tell me where in the bible it says that your religion is the correct one

The graph at 6:26 is ridiculous. The lenght of the bars suggests that the fucused people are more than twice as happy than the mind-wandering people. When you look closely it's just a trick to make this video more credible and flashy. The graph actually begins at 52 and stops at 68. That means it's JUST 66 (focused) to 57 (mind-wandering). 66 to 57. Seriously. 10 minutes TEDtalk because of 9 little points difference.