A new study by researchers Killingsworth and Gilbert at Harvard suggests what many human beings have known for thousands of years–mindfulness is the key to happiness!

It turns out that it isn’t what you’re doing that determines your state of happiness–it’s whether your mind is wandering or not. This makes a lot of sense. Happiness is not based on your external environment and what you’re doing. It is based on your internal state, and a focused mind is a happy mind.

The study by Killingsworth and Gilbert followed 2,250 volunteers at random intervals to look for correlations between what they were doing in the moment and how happy they were feeling. They found that people were happiest when having sex, exercising, or talking with others. All of these activities focus the mind on the present moment and keep it from wandering.

They also found that people spend almost half of their waking hours (between 30 and 46.9% of the time) having thoughts that have nothing to do with what is happening in the present moment. Mind wandering during this time was found to be correlated with unhappiness.

The tradition of tantric sexuality is about using sexual experiences as a way to attain bliss and enlightenment, almost as a meditation. This is interesting considering that sex was the only activity where volunteers reported mind wandering below 30% (mind wandering occurred during sex 10% of the time).

Mind wandering appears to be the default condition of the human mind. I love Killingsworth’s quote that,”The ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional cost.”

Although mind wandering occurs duing most activities, it seemed to occur the most during resting, working, or using a home computer–activities where participants reported feeling the least happy.

So basically, you can predict how happy you or someone else is by how much the mind wanders and NOT by the activities done, although there is a correlation since some activities allow for more mind wandering than others.

Participants ranged in age from 18 to 88, from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds and occupations. Americans made up 74% of the sample. This study was published in the November 12, 2010 issue of Science.

So how do you increase mindfulness?

1) Meditation: There are so many different techniques you can use to meditate. Some help your mind to focus more easily than others. Techniques where you simply try to clear your mind and focus on your breathing or just sitting and staring (Buddhist style), can take practice to bring a true state of mindfulness.
Here are some that I find the most useful bringing the quickest mental focus:

* Rapid exhalation (Exhaling quickly making a snorting sound over and over again–although
this should not be done with certain heart conditions)

* Inhale for 4 seconds, hold the breath for 7 seconds, exhale for 9 seconds

* Progressive muscle relaxation (starting with you feet, tense and relax each part of your
body and move up to your head through all body parts. You can also visualize a
light moving up your body)

* Visualizing a series of shapes or landscapes in different colors (ex. red square, blue circle,
etc.)

2) Flow: Flow is the experience of bliss that comes from doing an activity that requires concentration and brings enjoyment. Many people experience flow when engaging in artistic activities. I experience flow most when painting, sculpting, knitting, or engaging in visual activities (like using Google maps or playing video games). Others may find flow in playing music, for example.

3) Sex: As referenced above, sex was rated as an experience that brought the most mindfulness (least mind wandering). Use of tantric sex, which makes sex a focused, meditative activity can further increase this state.

4) Extroversion: The study above also indicated that people experience more mindfulness and less mind wandering when talking with others. Indeed, many studies have shown that extroverts are happier because they are not lost in their minds, thinking about events that are not related to the present. Extroverts are more engaged in their environment, and therefore more present in the moment. If you’re not naturally an extrovert–don’t worry. Being an introvert is not the inherent problem. Studies have shown that introverts that simply pretend to be extroverts (by actively engaging in their environment rather than being lost in solitary thoughts) experience the same benefits.

4) Connecting to Source: When I feel truly connected to Source energy or God, I am able to more easily maintain a state of mindfulness throughout ALL activity. It does require some work, but it is much easier in this state. So how do you attain this state? A regular practice of meditation and visualization helps, along with positive thinking, and an effort to cultivate spontaneity rather than rigidity. No matter what you have to do during your day, approaching each task slowly and really sinking into it rather than just going through the motions, mixing things up, being flexible, and expecting surprises really helps. This also activates the law of attraction to bring more abundance and unexpected synchronicities into your life.