Boring Burdens
Have you ever been sitting on the toilet and, all of a sudden, you crap out a thought nugget? Or watched an a-ha-shower-moment get washed away along with your dirt, sweat, and tears?
The brain has a funny way of responding to an idle state - it begins to wander.
Mind-wandering is when you’re less aware of external information and more focused on internal thoughts.
Your body is busy doing something that requires very little attention, so your mind begins to wander.
Illustration by Charlie Taylor @c.e.b.t. (http://www.mylittleplaceofcalm.com/the-wonderings-of-a-wandering-mind/)
Your wandering mind is the product of an insanely interconnected part of your brain called the Default Mode Network (DMN). The Default Mode Network (DMN) kicks in when you are not focused on a task. Since you’re not busy doing something, your brain relaxes, and you start day-dreaming or spacing out.
It’s like your brain gets up from the desk, leaves the office, and takes a walk to feed the ducks.
Mind-wandering is an extremely useful tool when you’re working out creative ideas and looking for unique connections.
Or when you’re weighing your options and playing with possible outcomes.
It’s great for introspection and reflection to find out who you are or who you want to be.
It’s an “I”-focused, self-aware process that helps you gather an understanding of yourself and your existence.
Once you focus on a new task (crunching numbers, talking to someone, reading) your brain returns from the walk and gets back to work.
The switch from mind-wandering (Default Mode Network) to getting back on task happens through the Salience Network (SN). The Salience Network (SN) does a bunch of stuff. Right now, let its only job be switching between mind-wandering and on-task focusing.
The Salience Network (SN) switches from mind-wandering (DMN) to the Central Executive Network (CEN).
The Central Executive Network (CEN) is what drives action. It uses what you’re trying to get done (internal drive) and how you prefer to do it (personal preference) in order to find the right action.
Imagine you’re standing on one side of a river. This side is the DMN and your mind is wandering. You’re making cool connections and thinking about why you believe something is true.
But then you realize you need to write an email for work. This realization activates your SN bridge to come down.
You take the bridge, leaving mind-wandering behind, and cross to the CEN to write the email for work.
The bridge goes back up and waits for when you want to cross back over to mind-wandering.
Your mind can’t be wandering when you’re giving a presentation or balancing your company’s budget . In that moment your CEN is fully engaged and working on a task. You need to pay full attention.
But it can wander when you’re taking a crap or showering.
When you take a walk or do some gardening.
It even wanders when you drive, like when 3 hours of travel blurs together and you don’t remember a thing.
My favorite time to wander is during physically repetitive tasks.
A 2015 study found that when your mind is wandering your ability to complete a repetitive task goes up.
The wandering mind (DMN) complements the task completing part of the brain (CEN).
The Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) is a major area of CEN activity.
Fun Fact
Injury to the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) can result in the patient suffering from repetitive compulsory behaviors and tics (study). This is an important part of the brain when it comes to repetitive action.
In the study, the DLPFC was externally stimulated three different ways:
fully
partially (tickled)
not at all
The test subjects were given a repetitive task to complete — watch a screen and hit the space bar for every number except the number three (3).
Participants receiving stimulation to the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) experienced more mind-wandering AND improved task-completion rates.
The wandering brain, through the mingling networks, focused more efficiently on completing the task.
These seemingly mutually exclusive networks (DMN vs CEN) come together and provide a practical synergy.
It’s like you were meant to get some thinking done while doing boring, repetitive things.
This means your mind-wandering doesn’t have to be limited to toilet time —
As if! Everyone is on their phones whilst pushing out that large.
Which is gross because your use-it-all-day-device is entering the room designated for your waste.
You’re also flushing the opportunity to get some mind wandering done.
Sidenote
Close the lid when you flush. The pressure from the flush throws bacteria, viruses, etc. into the air. It’s called a toilet plume. Those little particles settle on your toothbrush, hair dryer, whatever you’ve got in there, and some of those things go in your mouth later that evening… it’s pretty gnarly.
Hygiene aside — if you’re busy with your phone on the toilet, how will your mind have time to wander?
Maybe you’re not willing to stop watching cat videos in the loo.
Try mind-wandering during physically repetitive tasks.
The tasks we frequently demonize as tedious.
The routine and monotony of cleaning, cooking, organizing, or whatever else you find tedious, can be discouraging. It’s not something to look forward to. It’s dreaded.
The reason behind doing the task is simple: because I have to.
But, just like the phone in the bathroom, there is a lost opportunity here.
Taking the time to settle into the task will relax your mind and let it wander.
Consider something physically repetitive that you may actually enjoy doing.
Exercise
Hiking, walking, running, cycling
Labor Intensive
Digging a hole in the ground, moving a pile of dirt, painting, sanding, grouting
Personal exploration
Gardening, caring for animals, sculpting
All of these have one thing in common: repetitive movement.
You’re doing the same shit over and over and over again.
Maybe you feel zen’d out. Blissed out. Zoned in.
Whatever you like to call it.
Part of the reason it brings you such pleasure is probably the fact that you’re getting something done (physical action / CEN) and your mind gets the opportunity to wander (DMN).
I can imagine the reactions.
Yeah, but running gives me endorphins. Vacuuming just sucks.
When I hike I see beautiful things. I don’t see cool shit when I’m washing dishes.
I garden to relax. Prepping meals for my picky kids does not relax me.
This is all true.
What is also true is that you have choice over the stories you tell yourself.
Telling yourself I always need to be entertained is making sure you never wander again. Without wandering you risk missing out on the self-aware, reflective state that may inform who you want to be or how you want to act.
Where else will your vision of yourself come from if not from inside you?
(Answer coming soon)
Simply put, spending time with yourself is good for better understanding yourself.
Cleaning your space is spending time with yourself.
It’s also a simple expression of care to yourself and those who cohabitate with you.
Think of the tedious task as an opportunity to wander around your thoughts. You get something done more efficiently thanks to the DMN-CEN synergy, and possibly come out the other end with a new realization or connection.
At the very least you’ll have finished something without contesting it the entire time.
Path of least resistance, right?
Maybe eventually you’ll begin to look forward to those tedious tasks.
Rewriting your approach to tedious tasks will help you focus on what you want to get out of it instead of maintaining a story based on why you don’t want to do it.
How many times have you heard someone saying they need to relax?
The story I need to relax is a tedious statement.
Our ideas of relaxation are compared to a fully stressed state.
Relaxation is the opposite of the always-grinding, headless-chicken state of being.
It’s the margarita on the beach away from all of life’s noises.
I disagree.
Relaxation is a choice.
Look in unexpected places.
Monastic rituals such as cleaning toilets, washing dishes, folding laundry, can give you the calm you’re looking for throughout your day.
It’s the time you need to slow down and focus on yourself because your body is going through familiar motions. The task has become a way to relax.
Let your brain step away from the office to take a walk and feed the ducks.
Make relaxation the latest reflex.
Article Citations
Shofty, B., Gonen, T., Bergmann, E. et al. (2022). The default network is causally linked to creative thinking. Mol Psychiatry 27, 1848–1854 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01403-8
Axelrod, V., Rees, G., Lavidor, M., and Bar, M. (2015). Increasing propensity to mind-wander with transcranial direct current stimulation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 112, 3314–3319. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1421435112
Fremont R, Dworkin J, Manoochehri M, et al. (2022). Damage to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is associated with repetitive compulsive behaviors in patients with penetrating brain injury. BMJ Neurology Open;4:e000229. https://neurologyopen.bmj.com/content/4/1/e000229#ref-25
Image Citations
Desk Worker https-//www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.19.344101v1.full
Brain Scans https-//www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00171/full
Skull https://www.diytdcs.com/2014/11/insight-a-growth-project-driven-by-tdcs-
cognitive-enhancement-montage-location-l-a-dlpfc-r-c-supra-orbital/
