Why contemplating art is good for your mental health
The human mind might be thought of as a Bentley used only for going to the shops, a superb piece of biological engineering wasted on routine, prosaic thought processes. How much of one's inner life is wasted on to-do lists or responding to the endless chatter generated by a plethora of online social media platforms? A lot, is the answer in this increasingly cacophonous and invasive world.
Now a team at Cambridge University has come up with a way of banishing everyday head clutter and replacing it with more abstract thought. Their recommendation is to study a simple piece of art and ask: Why is it beautiful? This process, say the researchers, results in 'psychological distancing', a stepping back from the everyday to enjoy a
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