With nothing much else to capture our attention, our mind wanders, very often to what’s troubling us—a root cause of everyday angst. For this reason, when Harvard researchers asked thousands of people to report their mental focus and mood at random points through the day, their conclusion was that “a wandering mind is an unhappy mind.” This self-system mulls over our life—especially the problems we face, the difficulties in our relationships, our worries and anxieties. Because the self ruminates on what’s bothering us, we feel relieved when we can turn it off. One of the great appeals of
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