Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Thoughts on Thinking

Sometimes, I'll ask a person what they're thinking about. Sometimes they tell me, but other times I've been told (in a non-sarcastic manner) "nothing".

I don't get this -- how can a person not be thinking of something, even if it's something trivial? Depending on who it is, I'll sometimes press them further and say, "Nothing? Your mind is totally blank right now? Would I hear static (krrrkkkkzhhhhh) if I could listen inside your head right now?"

I've always got some thought running through my head, even if it's just mundane bullshit. I can't just turn it all off to blank static or dead air. About the only time I come close to emptying my mind is during sex and especially at the moment of orgasm, when I give myself over to my raw animal instincts.

I've got an active, vivid imagination and it's through my thought life that I'm able to patiently bear boring jobs, waiting in lines, and so on. But it's a double edged sword, and sometimes I have too many thoughts racing through my head when all I want to do is wind down and go to sleep.

Of course, having sex at bedtime can head off thought-related insomnia, and I will sometimes "take matters in hand" if I happen to be sleeping alone that night. I've also got some mind games that I've described in previous entries that help to reduce the "racing thoughts" problem.

How about you? Do you always have at least some thought going on in your mind or are you able to completely empty your mind of thought?

2 comments:

Intentional Fallacy said...

Try this experiment:

Relax, close your eyes, and mentally ask yourself what your next thought will be. Say to yourself, "what will be my next thought." And then try to think about what your next thought will be.

You might be surprised to find out that absolutely no thought entered your mind, in which case you weren't thinking about anything.

That's because you were focused on the Now.

Whenever we focus our attention on the Now, we don't use our minds (think). And that happens a lot more than you think (no pun intended).

Anonymous said...

I'm always thinking about something. Not always about something important, but always thinking. Even in my sleep, my brain is going.