This chapter explores the relationships between attention, affect, and creativity, including a discussion of creativity in the context of mindfulness and mind-wandering. First, we discuss the effects of different forms of attention on different types of creativity, such as divergent and convergent thinking, and real-world creative achievements. We then follow with a discussion of the relationship between creativity, emotional functioning, and the power of positivity on fostering creative ideas. The chapter concludes with a review on how mindfulness meditation and mind-wandering, both separately and jointly, impact creative thinking. This includes a discussion of the effects of different types of mindfulness meditation on creativity, as well as the core facets thought to constitute mindfulness. Overall, this chapter provides an engaging overview of the various attentional and emotional states thought to be implicated in creativity, as well as an intriguing look at how mindfulness and mind-wandering work independently and in tandem to influence creative thinking.

In education and society, resilience and mindfulness are valued more for their instrumental benefits, than for their moral value. They both assist specifically with the evasion of what are seen as negative and harmful emotions, and with the related development of positive emotions and behaviours, for functioning in schools and in society. Yet while resilience and mindfulness are regarded as educational assets today, there are also problematic aspects of their promotion and cultivation in schools and society. Additionally, these qualities can be cultivated for good or ill use, as with other emotional virtues explored here. This chapter examines each of these traits in turn, tracing from philosophical, psychological, and political perspectives how they are framed in relation to emotional virtues, and approached within education and society. As with the emotional virtues explored here thus far, resilience and mindfulness may be useful for the emotional development of young people, but there are also limitations to promoting them, particularly in relation to education for social justice.