Discussion Forum > Mind-wandering can be good for you
The books distinguish mindfulness and mind-wandering (the first book page 153) and the last book, which also has a chapter on mindfulness, attempts to tell when daydreaming is good or not.
March 28, 2022 at 5:29 |
Mark H.
Mark H.
Add Time Surfing as another book that advocates for mind wandering.
March 28, 2022 at 19:11 |
Aaron Hsu
Aaron Hsu
Aaron,
Thanks.
I found the posts on Time Surfing.
http://markforster.squarespace.com/forum/post/2788227#post2788237
http://markforster.squarespace.com/forum/post/2733920
Thanks.
I found the posts on Time Surfing.
http://markforster.squarespace.com/forum/post/2788227#post2788237
http://markforster.squarespace.com/forum/post/2733920
March 28, 2022 at 19:57 |
Mark H.
Mark H.
I have gone back to books that I have skimmed over, and found that they deal with this too. I think I skipped over this because it was scientific and technical.
The Organized Mind by Daniel J. Levitin
I am a musician, and he has a big music background, and written books about music, but have missed this about him.
This book is huge. But if you Google it, he does interviews which are simpler to follow. He communicates well. .
He says there are two modes:
1. the task-positive mode, stay-on-task mode, central executive, time-monitoring mode, externally focused,
2. the tasks-negative mode, daydreaming mode, the default mode, the natural state of the brain, the mind-wandering mode, nonlinear, time-stopping mode,
The insula switches between these modes.
He applies this through his book. He has a chapter on Organizing Our Time,and another on Organizing the Business World.
Aware by Daniel Siegel
Do Nothing by Celeste Headlee
this one is more general, and lightly touches on mind-wandering mode.
The Organized Mind by Daniel J. Levitin
I am a musician, and he has a big music background, and written books about music, but have missed this about him.
This book is huge. But if you Google it, he does interviews which are simpler to follow. He communicates well. .
He says there are two modes:
1. the task-positive mode, stay-on-task mode, central executive, time-monitoring mode, externally focused,
2. the tasks-negative mode, daydreaming mode, the default mode, the natural state of the brain, the mind-wandering mode, nonlinear, time-stopping mode,
The insula switches between these modes.
He applies this through his book. He has a chapter on Organizing Our Time,and another on Organizing the Business World.
Aware by Daniel Siegel
Do Nothing by Celeste Headlee
this one is more general, and lightly touches on mind-wandering mode.
March 29, 2022 at 17:51 |
Mark H.
Mark H.
<< He says there are two modes >>
Those two modes seem very similar to the Execution and Exploration modes that I have been exploring in my latest variant of AF4R. Those two modes seem to be fundamental to the Change Matrix. This seems to be more evidence that it is fundamental to brain structure -- one mode dealing with the known and ordered, the other dealing with the unknown and chaotic.
Those two modes seem very similar to the Execution and Exploration modes that I have been exploring in my latest variant of AF4R. Those two modes seem to be fundamental to the Change Matrix. This seems to be more evidence that it is fundamental to brain structure -- one mode dealing with the known and ordered, the other dealing with the unknown and chaotic.
March 31, 2022 at 2:53 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
The modes sound similar to Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow" and (my personal favorite of yore) Guy Claxton's "Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind". Claxton uses a phrase he calls "the undermind" to talk about a thinking process that happens in the background when we're not quite aware of it.
Mark's systems (as he has said) rely very much on the subconscious, slower sifting processes of the mind when it comes to sorting and standing out.
Mark's systems (as he has said) rely very much on the subconscious, slower sifting processes of the mind when it comes to sorting and standing out.
March 31, 2022 at 15:05 |
Mike Brown
Mike Brown
Mike Brown -
<< Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow" and (my personal favorite of yore) Guy Claxton's "Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind" >>
Yes I think you are onto something. I should read those more thoroughly. I've never read Claxton at all.
For me, Serial No-List tended to break things down rather naturally into these different categories. The current day's list was more focused on "execute" / fast thinking, and anything that rolled onto the older pages would be more exploratory / slow thinking. I wonder if there is some way to take advantage of that. Did you have a similar experience with your use of Serial No-List.
<< Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow" and (my personal favorite of yore) Guy Claxton's "Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind" >>
Yes I think you are onto something. I should read those more thoroughly. I've never read Claxton at all.
For me, Serial No-List tended to break things down rather naturally into these different categories. The current day's list was more focused on "execute" / fast thinking, and anything that rolled onto the older pages would be more exploratory / slow thinking. I wonder if there is some way to take advantage of that. Did you have a similar experience with your use of Serial No-List.
March 31, 2022 at 21:15 |
Seraphim
Seraphim
Seraphim:
<<For me, Serial No-List tended to break things down rather naturally into these different categories. The current day's list was more focused on "execute" / fast thinking, and anything that rolled onto the older pages would be more exploratory / slow thinking. I wonder if there is some way to take advantage of that. Did you have a similar experience with your use of Serial No-List. >>
One of my blind spots in regards to Mark's systems and SNL is reviewing dismissed pages and tasks, and then gleaning something meaningful from them. I would put "review dismissed pages" on my task list, review them, and usually do nothing about them.
I tended to let the everyday accumulation of tasks on my SNL pages let me know when something was ripe enough to fall from the tree. When "draft newsletter" appears for 5 days in a row with no actions from me, I took it as a sign that that project's tanks were filling up and ready to be tapped. (Reminds me of Mark's old sentence completion exercises, where you would everyday write new endings to a specific sentence stem until the answers began to jell and become consistent.)
For some complicated or long-term projects, I usually create an Evernote notebook and diary note to track my thoughts and progress, capture URLs, etc. I like having the to do list be actions-only, albeit with the occasional "think about" task.
As you can tell from this rambling answer, I'm still not methodical about how I do all this. I just thrash around and things seem to happen anyway :)
<<For me, Serial No-List tended to break things down rather naturally into these different categories. The current day's list was more focused on "execute" / fast thinking, and anything that rolled onto the older pages would be more exploratory / slow thinking. I wonder if there is some way to take advantage of that. Did you have a similar experience with your use of Serial No-List. >>
One of my blind spots in regards to Mark's systems and SNL is reviewing dismissed pages and tasks, and then gleaning something meaningful from them. I would put "review dismissed pages" on my task list, review them, and usually do nothing about them.
I tended to let the everyday accumulation of tasks on my SNL pages let me know when something was ripe enough to fall from the tree. When "draft newsletter" appears for 5 days in a row with no actions from me, I took it as a sign that that project's tanks were filling up and ready to be tapped. (Reminds me of Mark's old sentence completion exercises, where you would everyday write new endings to a specific sentence stem until the answers began to jell and become consistent.)
For some complicated or long-term projects, I usually create an Evernote notebook and diary note to track my thoughts and progress, capture URLs, etc. I like having the to do list be actions-only, albeit with the occasional "think about" task.
As you can tell from this rambling answer, I'm still not methodical about how I do all this. I just thrash around and things seem to happen anyway :)
April 1, 2022 at 15:38 |
Mike Brown
Mike Brown
They refer to scientific studies. They all cite Jonathan Smallwood.
http://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00441/full
He has a Twitter account @the_mindwanders
Bored and Brilliant
http://www.google.com/books/edition/Bored_and_Brilliant/E1EeDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
The book seems to relate boredom with mind-wandering
pages 20-27 subheading Mind-Wandering or the Default Mode
page 20 mind-wandering is the brain's default mode
page 22 - the claim is made that mind-wandering takes up to 50% of our waking time
Much of the book is about ways to restrict screen use, and positive ways to allow for mind-wandering. Practical tips.
Rest
Why You Get More Done When You Work Less
http://www.google.com/books/edition/Rest/byjXCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
pages 39-49 mind wandering is "task-unrelated thinking"
The Art of Rest
How to Find Respite in the Modern Age
http://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Art_of_Rest/XZebDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
there is a whole chapter devoted to "Daydreaming" which the author equates to mind-wandering.
The discussions get quite technical.