Everyday Canvas

Focused Thought or Wandering Mind

Prompt: Which one aids you the best: Focused thought or wandering mind? In which instances do you use both?

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I have to say both of them are valuable for me, depending on the time, place, and situation. If I am driving in heavy traffic, for example, my wandering mind can get me into an accident, but if I am trying to find ideas for poetry and writing, a wandering mind is a priceless asset. In fact, I let it wander, on purpose.

Focused thought is mostly used while doing a chore or working on a serious enough difficulty and is essential especially when we are assessing a critical situation. Imagine a couple discussing a problem at hand. If they don’t focus on the real issue and bring up past complaints, related or unrelated, their relationship will be in jeopardy.

It is said that focused thought makes people happier than when their minds wander. This is probably true for workhorses and if we are leading artless lives. When it comes to the arts, any art usually benefits from a wandering mind in the onset of its creation, but after the ideas are decided upon, their execution needs focused thought.

Wandering minds usually engage in pleasant and sometimes unpleasant topics when the negative moods take over. Negative moods don't do much for personal happiness, but they do wonders when writing a tragic story. From a positive angle, the wandering of the mind may also be called daydreaming. Then, ultimately, doesn’t the progress of humanity depend on daydreamers in some way?

In short, both types of mind work are constructive in their own way, provided we give each one its due. Focused thought has to do with the here and now. On the other hand, wandering mind travels inside a much broader universe, bringing back gifts we wouldn’t be able to come up with any other way.