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Hmmm, have you observed me being lost in thought?

I have always had a tendency to get lost in my thoughts. I assumed it was a quirk in my brain that made me a daydreamer. I am quirky by nature which you will have observed if you know me. But it seems this trait is more common than I imagined.

Scientific studies have concluded that a wandering mind is a function of the brain’s default mode network – an interconnected system of brain regions that activates when a person is in a state of wakeful rest and not focused on the outside world.

The default mode network is responsible for internally-focused tasks such as daydreaming, self-reflection, recalling memories and envisioning the future. For those of us who are prone to this state, it can happen up to half of our waking hours. There are two types of wandering:

Spontaneous: Unintentional drifting often leading to distraction or being stuck in a loop of past events.

Deliberate: Intentional roaming which can be an excellent tool for brainstorming, problem-solving and sparking creativity.

I choose to believe that I fall mostly into the latter group. But I will admit to occasionally slipping into the spontaneous category. How often? Well, you probably do not want to know the answer to that question.

Mind wandering often occurs when driving. Driving under optimal conditions becomes an almost automatic activity that can require minimal use of the parts of the brain that engage in attention-demanding activity. This is known as decoupling.

Confession: This happened to me once in particular many years ago when I lived in Brampton. I was driving home from Hamilton early one evening. My mind went into wandering mode. At a certain point, I realized that I had gone miles past the cutoff to Highway 410. I had to refocus, figure out where I was and take an alternate route the rest of the way home.

An aside: I believe that Donald Trump suffers from a severe case of mind wandering in the spontaneous category. His brain is stuck in perpetual wandering mode seldom if ever finding its way back to focused thought. He lives in a daydream world of his own creation. This is the one and only thing I have in common with the unstable man.

Think of mind wandering as a flight to the clouds – leaving the grounding weight of reality to drift through limitless skies. It opens up a new world of imagination and creativity that empowers people like myself to be artists in their chosen field of expression.

And so, if the next time you see me I appear to be miles away lost in thought, do not be concerned. It is just the daydreamer in me tapping into the quirky, creative well that makes me who I am for better or for worse.

~  Now Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel (now out of print) which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .

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Tags:   daydreaming · default mode network · metaphor · Michael Robert Dyet · wind wanderingNo Comments