How often does your mind wander?

[towi178]

Dear fellow-practitioners,

when I am practicing mindfulness, I have the feeling my mind wanders really a lot, probably more than the average.

For example, it can happen that I meditate for 30 min and will only consciously perceive about 20 to 30 inhalations. So the mind wanders every 5 seconds or so, without me noticing it quickly. I wonder (without any fear) if this may be related to an undiagnosed attention deficit disorder.

This is the reason that I am looking for the experiences of other practitioners. Can you let me and the others know here, how often does your mind approximately wander when you meditate?

Thank you very much

[JonW]

Hi towi178,
Welcome to the forum.
It would be useful to know how long you've been meditating and also what kind of practice you have - do you only do sitting/breathing meditations? How often do you do body scans? Walking meditation? Mindful movement? Have you ever done an 8-week course. Mindful eating?
I suspect that, in answer to your question about how often other people's minds wander, the answer will be that it varies a lot. Some days my mind is very still, some days it is all over the place. That's not a problem. Relative stillness of mind is often a welcome by-product of meditation but it is not the aim. And it is always relative. The aim is not to stop thinking.
Cheers,
Jon

[Matt Y]

It wanders often!

Sometimes it's still for a moment or two here and there.

I estimate that most people are focused for half the time and wandering for the other half of any meditation, whether it's twenty seconds or twenty minutes long. Of course, sometimes you'll be better focused than that, and sometimes you'll find it almost impossible to stay focused at all.

All in all, I don't think it really matters much whether you're focused or not. There are more important things in meditation — like how you judge your practice, like whether you can tolerate your thoughts and emotions, like how kindly and compassionately you treat yourself, and like whether you have some awareness of what's happening in your mind.

[JonW]

"All in all, I don't think it really matters much whether you're focused or not. There are more important things in meditation — like how you judge your practice, like whether you can tolerate your thoughts and emotions, like how kindly and compassionately you treat yourself, and like whether you have some awareness of what's happening in your mind."

Beautifully put. A comment that gets to the very heart of what meditation is all about.
Jon

[Happyogababe]

"All in all, I don't think it really matters much whether you're focused or not. There are more important things in meditation — like how you judge your practice, like whether you can tolerate your thoughts and emotions, like how kindly and compassionately you treat yourself, and like whether you have some awareness of what's happening in your mind."

Beautifully put. A comment that gets to the very heart of what meditation is all about.
Jon

I absolutely agree, spot on.

[Gareth]

I estimate that most people are focused for half the time and wandering for the other half of any meditation, whether it's twenty seconds or twenty minutes long. Of course, sometimes you'll be better focused than that, and sometimes you'll find it almost impossible to stay focused at all.

Exactly!