Mindfulness researcher finds 30-year practitioners still experience mind wandering every seven seconds

What was said

"I asked a colleague who'd been practicing mindfulness for 30 years. He said 7 seconds. At first I'm like oh great what am I even bothering. But what he said next really helped. He said you know what has happened is that my mind now sees the ripples at the distance of the placid lake."

Dr. Amisha Jha's colleague with three decades of meditation practice revealed his mind still wanders every 7 seconds, but the quality of awareness has transformed. Rather than getting lost in fantasy or catastrophe, he detects the subtle early signs of distraction, demonstrating that mastery is about awareness quality, not eliminating wandering.