Just think

The mind is its own place, and in it self/

Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.

– John Milton, Paradise Lost

A headline recently caught my eye:

“Many people prefer any activity to simply sitting quietly – even an electric shock.”

Such is a conclusion of a study led by Professor Timothy Wilson at the University of Virginia and published in the journal Science, (Wilson et al., "Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind." Science JULY 2014 • VOL 345 ISSUE 6192) with article pdf here.

The study findings:

·         49.3% of the 413 college student participants reported enjoyment that was at or below the midpoint of the scale when asked to “spend their time entertaining themselves with their thoughts” in an unadorned room for 6 to 15 minutes and then rate how much they liked the activity on a scale from 1 to 9.

·         32% of the 200 college-aged subjects admitted to "cheating" by listening to music or using their phone when asked to do the task at home (online instructions were to sit quietly for twelve minutes entertaining themselves only with their thoughts); on average, participants rated their enjoyment lower than in the laboratory setting.

·         54% cheated of the 61 community participants (average age 49, recruited at a local church and farmer's market) doing the same at-home entertain-yourself-with-your-thoughts task; their enjoyment ratings were only slightly higher.

·         67% of the male and 25% of the female college-aged participants choose electric shock over the quiet task (of the 42 participants {total of 55 in this study} who had previously said they would pay $5 to not experience the shock). Subjects were expressly told to entertain themselves with their thoughts and nothing else for 15 minutes. But they also were told that they could shock themselves by pressing a button, if they wanted. (Intriguingly, one outlier shocked himself 190 times; he was excluded from the results.)

The study’s author concludes:

“Research has shown that minds are difficult to control, and it may be particularly hard to steer our thoughts in pleasant directions and keep them there. This may be why many people seek to gain better control of their thoughts with meditation and other techniques, with clear benefits (see references in article pdf). Without such training, people prefer doing to thinking, even if what they are doing is so unpleasant that they would normally avoid it.”

 83% of Americans recently reported to the Bureau of Labor Statistics that they spent no time "relaxing or thinking" in the previous 24 hours.

Don’t just do something, sit there.

Why disengage from doing?
The mind is the tool that changes neurobiology: for example, think of the placebo effect, or think of choosing to dwell on the positive and how that affects your emotions. Consider: possibly giving attention to our thinking might help us feel or live well; and the alternate, of NOT examining our thoughts, might bring us to un-well.

All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” – Blaise Pascal, 17^th-century French philosopher

One benefit of quiet thinking (for me):
Being alone with my thoughts brings me back to the important rather than the urgent: quiet gives opportunity to remind myself of what I value, what gives meaning, how I want to live and love (attending a conference recently on habits of happy people was a needed reminder to me to purpose again to—be grateful, live out my virtues, savor the moment, smile, be vulnerable, choose forgiveness, offer myself compassion).

Benefits of quiet (in general)
Googling this brings up much information and I'm sorry, but this time, distilling it down is more than I have energy for at the moment [I’m thinking I need time rather to merely sit with my own thoughts :)] Maybe you’ll be intrigued and want to do your own investigation on benefits of quiet?

Better yet, I invite you to just sit, for a few minutes, with your thoughts --
Observe them.
Avoid judging what comes to mind: merely notice it, and then let it go, like a cloud drifting away.
Please be kind to yourself.
Maybe the thoughts will bring an internal noticing of what’s truly important or meaningful to you.
Or just breathe: you don’t have to think much.
Give yourself a break: simply enjoy noticing each inhalation and exhalation, be grateful that you're still breathing.
Rest.
Appreciate the pause.

Especially during this month of Thanksgiving holiday, when you sit with your thoughts, I hope that the many good things in your life will come to mind. May we all realize our blessings.

I wish for you love and light, wellness, and all good things.

“For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,

“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” 

– Isaiah 30:15

Today
Today I’m flying low and I’m
not saying a word.
I’m letting all the voodoos of ambition sleep.
The world goes on as it must,
the bees in the garden rumbling a little,
the fish leaping, the gnats getting eaten.
And so forth.
But I’m taking the day off.
Quiet as a feather.
I hardly move though really I’m traveling
a terrific distance.
Stillness. One of the doors
into the temple.

by Mary Oliver from A Thousand Mornings. © The Penguin Press, 2012.