The science of a wandering mind

our minds are wired to wander. Wandering is their default. Whenever our thoughts are suspended between specific, discrete, goal-directed activities, the brain reverts to a so-called baseline, “resting” state—but don’t let the word fool you, because the brain isn’t at rest at all. Instead, it experiences tonic activity in what’s now known as the DMN

There is a reason for this. Mind-wandering can easily descend into rumination. Most of us have had that feeling at some point or another—if you stop focusing and let your mind drift, you become jammed up with stressful thoughts.

Third, during mind-wandering, your mind will—Nathan said—engage in “mental time-travel,” where it roams over the past and tries to predict the future. Freed from the pressures of thinking narrowly about what’s right in front of you, your mind will start to think about what might come next—and so it will help to prepare you for it.

Envisioning or planning one’s future, projecting oneself into a situation (especially a social situation), feeling empathy, invoking autobiographical memories also involve this daydreaming or mind-wandering network. If you’ve ever stopped what you were doing to picture the consequence of some future action or to imagine yourself in a particular fut

science of mind-wandering, asking: What happens when our thoughts float freely, without any immediate focus to anchor them?

during mind-wandering, your mind will—Nathan said—engage in “mental time-travel,” where it roams over the past and tries to predict the future.

In situations of low stress and safety, mind-wandering will be a gift, a pleasure, a creative force. In situations of high stress or danger, mind-wandering will be a torment.