Research published in the American journal Science shows that a serious source of unhappiness is a wandering mind.

Most people spend nearly half their waking lives thinking about something other than their current activity. Researchers at Harvard University found that mind wandering occurred around 47% of the time.

Participants in the study reported that they were distracted at least 30% of the time, except when making love, which seemed to concentrate minds wonderfully.

Many spiritual techniques, such as meditation, train the mind to focus on one specific thing or activity, especially breathing. These techniques are said to improve well-being.

Now there is concrete evidence that “being present” does indeed increase happiness and general performance.