How To Be Alone with Your Thoughts

“Thinking for pleasure can have many benefits such as helping us tolerate uncomfortable situations, and making us feel calm and peaceful

The benefits of solitude and thinking for pleasure

Solitude is not inherently good or bad, but “just one of the many normal experiences that we have in our life,” said Thuy-vy Nguyen, a social psychologist researching solitude at the University of Durham.

Nguyen and her colleagues, however, found that spending time alone for just 15 minutes has a deactivating effect on our mood. Participants had reduced arousal, and high-energy emotions, both positive and negative, such as anxiety, anger and excitement. Participants felt calmer and more peaceful.

Being able to think for pleasure could help us tolerate uncomfortable situations. When given the choice and done with intention, time spent alone with our thoughts, though difficult, can increase our engagement with life and its meaning.

How to make thinking easier, more enjoyable and meaningful

Think when it is easy to. We are most likely to engage in thinking for pleasure during downtime such as when we are in transit or engaged in personal care such as showering. These routine and automatic thoughts do not require our attention or additional brain power.

• Write down the topics and keep them on hand.

Writing lists of topics to think about in advance can offload some of the cognitive burden.

Westgate’s research shows that “thinking aids” such as screen notes or index cards make thinking for pleasure easier and, as a result, more pleasurable; she keeps a note in her phone about things to daydream about.

• Make the topics both meaningful and enjoyable.

Pleasurable thoughts are not inherently meaningful, and meaningful thoughts are not inherently enjoyable. Preselecting topics that are both can help improve the experience of those thoughts, which may make the task of being alone with your thoughts easier in the future.

“It can be this tool in the tool kit to increase engagement and increase meaning that is free,” Westgate said.”

Read the full article on the Washington Post

✨Takeaway: Spending time can allow for time for engaging in meaningful thinking. It also has shown to help people feel more calm and peaceful!

✨Reflection: Do you enjoy having alone-time?

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