The Task Positive Network (TPN) and the Default Mode Network (DMN).

Generally we’re in the TPN when we’re concentrating on something specific in the present moment, like concentrating on some handiwork or some other activity that requires concentrated attention.

(It doesn’t have to be a difficult task: if you’ve ever seen some incredible natural sight that took your breath away, that was the TPN kicking in, too. It’s any time you’re brought into the present moment and your superfluous thoughts subside for any amount of time.)

We’re generally in the DMN the rest of the time—which is most of our life.

They can’t both be active at the same time—we switch from one to the other.

If you’ve ever sat staring at a blank screen or piece of paper getting distracted and not knowing what to write, and then once you start find yourself in a total flow state with the words virtually writing themselves, then you’ve experienced the switch from TPN to DMN first hand.

But here’s the kicker: every study shows that we’re happier the more time we spend in the TPN and not the DMN.

The DMN is where we go to think about past, and future, and self, and ego. These are where psychological fear, and depression, and anxiety, and discontent are created.

So we’re naturally spending most of our time in the brain state that is known to lead to increased rates of depression, anxiety, discontent.

With that being the case, the natural question becomes: is it possible to spend more of our time in the TPN?

And it turns out the answer is yes. And that getting out of the DMN and into the TPN is really, really simple.

All you have to do is realise that you were in the DMN.

As soon as you realise that your mind was somewhere else, you bring yourself back to the present moment for a short time. The TPN has kicked in.

But while it’s simple, it’s not necessarily easy.

As soon as our concentration lapses just a little, thoughts about past and future rush back in, and we’re back in the DMN. It’s really difficult to maintain that level of awareness of the here and now.

But like most things, it can be trained.

And it turns out that that training has a name: meditation.

Meditation often gets a bad rap, especially from left-brained (analytical) people. It’s associated with airy-fairy spiritual non-science that not everyone feels comfortable with. Who wants to just sit in silence?

But in reality meditation is little more than training in being more aware of what your brain is doing.

Bill Gates on meditation: “I thought of meditation as a woo-woo thing tied somehow to reincarnation, and I didn’t buy into it … I now see that meditation is simply exercise for the mind, similar to the way we exercise our muscles when we play sports. For me, it has nothing to do with faith or mysticism. It’s about taking a few minutes out of my day, learning how to pay attention to the thoughts in my head, and gaining a little bit of distance from them.”

You don’t try and stop your thoughts: you just practice being aware of them. Inevitably your mind will wander (you’ll switch to the DMN). But before long you’ll realise, and bring yourself back to the TPN.

In other words, the real power of meditation isn’t when you can sit thoughtlessly, but rather when your mind wanders and you can train it one more time in coming back again.

Every time you do, you’re learning to be a little bit better at doing it.

After a few months you’ll naturally be spending more time in the TPN, and you’ll be significantly more content as a result.