Unlocking The Power Of Mind Wandering With Wander120

As New Zealand embraces Mental Health Awareness Week, Wander120, a leading selfcare app, is encouraging New Zealanders to learn about, and begin the practice of intentional mind wandering, recognising it as a powerful tool for enhancing mental well-being. Intentional Mind wandering, the act of choosing to let the mind wander freely without a specific focus, has been shown to have numerous benefits for mental wellness, problem solving and creative thinking. Wander120 aims to raise awareness about the broad range of positive effects of intentional mind wandering and inspire all to incorporate it into their daily routines.

In today's fast-paced world, it's essential to find effective and personal ways to build a self-help toolkit that helps us help ourselves. Actively choosing to mind wander is a practice that can be simply added to our day through short regular breaks of unfocus and will provide us with numerous cognitive and emotional advantages

Mind-wandering can be described as that state where ‘our attention shifts away from the task at hand toward task-unrelated thoughts.’ It is associative thinking – the thoughts running in all sorts of directions in a unique way, personal and very accessible! . They can be memories from the past, plans or dreams for the future, or fantastical, and whimsical thoughts. Research suggests that allowing the mind to wander freely can enhance creativity, problem-solving skills, and overall psychological well-being. With mind wandering – you are not trying to do, to be, to get anything. The joy for intentional mind wandering breaks is that they take you away from stress, anxiety, problem-solving and high-intensity focus – allowing for a brain reset..

"With the Wander120 app, we're empowering individuals to incorporate mind wandering into their daily lives, wherever they may be," said Anne Barrowclough, Founder of Wander120. "Wander120 offers a simple and effective way to invest in yourself, and access an endless supply of mind-wandering prompts, wrapped in a 120 second micro-break. microbreaks. This small but powerful act of positive mind wandering will help to recharge the brain, and unlock the power of creative thinking.”

She also mentions “We often don’t give ourselves the mental breaks we need to properly nourish our well-being. ‘Running on empty’ will resonate with many, whether from work, care, household or sports. We know we need to take breaks - we have holidays to get away from it all, but the breaks we take during the day to refresh are arguably the most important. Mind wandering is a great way to help people proactively engage the brain while taking a break. It encourages daydreaming through short bursts to restimulate, refocus and rejuvenate the brain.”

Mind wandering has been identified by formal international research and academic commentary as a mood enhancer, reducing stress and anxiety, and is recognised as stimulating creative thinking, improving productivity, and supporting the ability of the brain to recharge.

The findings have positive implications across the workplace, health, and education sectors.

During Mental Health Awareness Week, Wander120 calls upon New Zealanders to explore the practice of mind wandering and incorporate it into your daily life.

About Wander120

Wander120 is an app, developed in New Zealand by Anne Barrowclough. It offers a simple but powerful brain refresh using a 2 minute microbreak, promoting unfocus and encouraging mind-wandering. A power nap for the brain. 

Mind wandering has been identified by formal international research and academic commentary as;

Creative thinking: Coming up with new ideas and solutions, helping you put information together in novel ways.

Mood enhancer: If your brain is engaged in interesting off-task musings it can help to elevate your mood.

Effectiveness: Taking a mind wandering microbreak enables you to see data or issues with fresh eyes.

Energy strategy: To allow the executive function part of the brain to take a break.

Goal Setting: There is evidence that the more mind wandering is used, the more delayed gratification is employed.

To find out more, visit wander120.com or download the app from the Apple or Google Play App Store.

© Scoop Media