



My thoughts are usually torn between nihilistic despair and childish happy-go-luckiness.
I think about how all our effort is meaningless, about how we are never in control of anything, about how no amount of choices you make will ever actually allow you to have the things you want to have.
And then I start thinking about how I'm going to continue my career, move out of my country, hopefully find someone I care about and be able to fool and distract myself with surface-level satisfaction.
It's a cursed circle of me trying to find reasons to continue living in spite of everything suggesting that it is a meaningless waste of effort.
I had 2 uppies, including you, QA, and you still went with a person who only had 1?
@HazelEyedMusician You are mistaken about how the MHO system works. It is dealer's choice, not a democracy of counted votes. I upvote quite liberally to say thank you for a contribution, but I don't care how others vote, I have my preferences, as does everyone. You sound incredibly bitter to be questioning this twice now. I don't even see you on this question. Kuraj is my pick. End of story.
Who the fuck bitches over not getting MHO?
I think about optimizing my day, getting shit done, my own comic insignificance, greek yogurt, how cats are cute, the nearly inevitable collapse of human civilization. Wanting to go to the gym then feeling stupid for not going to the gym because of social anxiety. My career and how it's stupid but how changing lanes is expensive and scary, because I'll have to actually live up to my potential LoL
This is what I think about when I'm alone.
If I am at peace I think about books I will write, paintings I'll make, dreams I've had, people I love.
If I am stressed I think about mistakes I've made, things I'm afraid of, things I hate about myself, people who irritate me.
These are the most common, although there are others. There are some random things as well, like refrigerators and parakeets.
We all have those kinds of thoughts.
What to eat. /Food to cook.
What to draw. /Pics to sell.
What to teach. /English to improve.
What mv to dance along. /Songs to sing.
What else I should do to travel around the world on my own.
How to forget my crush.
What about people who lie.
What to ask on G@g.
What to answer to the questions on G@g.
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This is something that started to happen after I became more involved in songwriting: my passive thoughts became about constantly replaying music or creating something new. It simultaneously drives me insane while also helping me write good content. Having songs stuck on one's mind is pretty normal, but as far as I can tell, it happens a bit more significantly to me.
I'll be trying to read a book, for instance, and suddenly my mind started thinking it was a good time to decipher the beginning of Kascade by Animals As Leaders. (It has a 5/8 drum pattern on top of a 4/4 beat at 0:12, making it very difficult.) This happened the other day-- it ruined my reading, since I was just staring at a blank page until I made the effort to figure the song out. Until I figure the song out, the part of it just plays on repeat like a broken record. It took me about 30 minutes of back-and-forth attention before I gave up and just decided to listen to the song. It didn't get rid of the replay though.
In the past, I remember the break down to Scream Aim Fire (2:29) by Bullet For My Valentine came to mind. I kept trying to remember it perfectly, and my mind wouldn't let me stop playing it until I got it right. I remember actually doing some weird tweak on my foot because I kept tapping it the entire day.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/XjN_p416_nMJust now, the chorus of the song The Sound of Glaciers Moving by Corelia (2:34) came to mind suddenly. I felt an urge to listen to it. It replays until I go listen to it and thoroughly get tired of it. Sometimes the urges are weaker, and replaying the song makes it go away (like this one), while sometimes the thought is stronger, and the replay will take days to reduce, regardless of listening to the song (like Kascade).
https://www.youtube.com/embed/fqOKYOhUYx0There isn't really a good pattern to what songs come up, since they'll be oftentimes songs I haven't listened to in months or years. The only common factor is that they have parts that I found really interesting. This happens if I'm walking around, whether I'm alone or with other people.
It's a blessing and curse ultimately. I'll never get too bored, since I have a mInd-Pod more-or-less, but it can be hard to push the thoughts out when I'm wanting to focus. I'll be taking a difficult exam and then suddenly my minds like "Hey, remember that great chorus to You Make My Dreams by Hall & Oates? Let's play it now and focus on that!" It's also how I got really good at snapping my fingers. After walking around and playing mental songs, I started snapping to them without really thinking about it. After awhile, I started being able to do double/triple snaps on both fingers.
"It has a 5/8 drum pattern on top of a 4/4 beat at 0:12, making it very difficult." Ok my brain just melted now. Remember those 'This is your brain on drugs' eggs in the frying pan commercials? Yeah.
Yes isn't it weird how we can read words in a book or wherever, yet simultaneously not be thinking about them, so ine one way you did read them, but it's like having a bunch of random objects, unrelated, next to each other. I do that often. Will re-read a sentence like 10x. It is annoying, but I am also fascinated that it works like that. Attention Economy now, right? Most valuable thing we have left.
"It didn't get rid of the replay though." That's interesting. If it was something trivial, like for me I forget the names of actors I clearly know really well by their filmography, or the name of a restaurant I may have been to more than once, sometimes I lie in bed and though I could look it up, I mess around with trying to remember it because I always wonder if our brains were slightly better before we were relying on all this technology to support us. (However I can't tell if it helps anything. So sometimes I suffer, and eventually remember, or I look it up and feel like, "Ahhhhh" much better.) You are then releasing it from its task. But I can think of another, different scenario, where, say, you spent many hours (or more) working on some project. So much so, that you dream about it, or fixate on it while you're trying to fall asleep. That's all part of the brain's way of filing it, processing it.
cont'd...
I really need a longer character limit...
Hmm. I've always wondered what's going on in a guy's mind when you see him sitting and his foot is almost violently shaking. Nervous energy? So maybe he's got a frantic song in his head?
Does the urge to listen and replay correlate with either the complexity of the song, or your strong like of it?
"Mind-Pod" heehehee.
During an exam? Whoa. That's weird. That pushes this into a whole other realm.
Remember that teenager on here who was asking 'Can you ever be too creative?' who had thoughts rushing in, associations with all sorts of objects, and finding it hard to slow them down.
Ah ha, found it! Ha, we are still two of only 5 people who answered it. Yep, still interesting.
Is too much creativity a bad thing? ↗
My left hand has never been able to snap. I feel like a lame duck. Ever seen Steve Martin try to snap in The Jerk? Omg so funny. He was learning rhythm (thought he was black, but "born a poor Black child from the South" he felt very deficient.) Clearly that is not you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeDgOUoDTsY
The notation if you're curious:
It's basically your left hand and feet going snare, 4 kicks, repeat without any rests. The right hand is going quarter notes.
I suppose it's kind of like the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon like you mentioned. For real complicated beats like Kascade though, it becomes less of remembering it and more so mentally playing it until I know it extremely solidly. Like I'll have the theoretical understanding of it notation-wise, but since I'm not perfect at it, it's not deemed 'good enough' and I'll keep thinking about it.
I think for a lot of guys the leg shaking is a bit of restlessness. I use it as a sort of practice now for leg independence. Like alternating left and right leg, doing paradiddles, etc.. (Lowkey-- I was raised Catholic. On long sermons, I'd be bouncing my legs because I'd be losing focus of the sermon and thinking of music to pass the time.) I suppose for me it's restlessness in the end as well, since it's usually a means when I'm bored lol (i.e. school, long drives-- using my left leg of course, waiting rooms, etc.).
You are challenging yourself to perfect something, so your mind won't let it go, which although annoying like an earworm, shows a lot of determination.
Speaking of complicated beats (and syncopation):
Another fabulous VOX video. I am in awe every time I watch this. I asked a q recently about watching competition shows (which I generally dislike) but as some others said, watching people trying to figure out an intellectual challenge, now that can be interesting, when the work is of a very high level.
www.youtube.com/watch
I mostly think about self-improvement. 18 credit hours leaves me little time to contemplate, alas. I do gratitude meditations, though. Coming from a 17 year old homeless cocaine/morphine addict falling asleep on frozen, icy concrete to an emaciated 24 year old at 5'10, 92 pounds, to a shredded hobbyist 155 pound bodybuilder living in a reasonably priced apartment overlooking a good amount of greenery and nature and animals and people. Also being the first one in my family to graduate with not one, but 2 separate degrees. My gratitude is great.
Mmm. Sometimes I will stop between my studies to lift the window and peer out into the creekbed below, looking down to the crested hill and manmade stone outcroppings surrounding this small pond. There, we've seen a beaver my girlfriend has dubbed boots: Boots The Beaver, we call him. Fishes and turtles and cranes go about their daily lives, in the middle of the big city, no less. I smell the crisp autumn air, thick with the clean smells of the nearby--but still pleasantly far--forest, and life feels better than I ever dreamed it could. All the more if it has rained, and a tor**** of pleasantly flowing water comes barreling and swirling to fill the deep pond. Bliss. In any case, my thoughts tend to drift towards those pleasant ones more often, as I attempt the Tony Robbins means of "working out" a positive mental state, like a muscle. Which is not to say the negative thoughts don't come; they certainly do. But, I try to ruminate on the good as much as I can. A monk I am fond of says it this way, "There is always something to be grateful for. If you can see; if you can smell; if you can think," and training that state of gratitude has helped me a lot with my natural pessimistic default thinking.
Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. ^_^
My wife.
When I travel alone, and I can tell you I've done more traveling since her death than in the years we were together (she didn't travel well... very prone to motion sickness, boats and airplanes scared her and she didn't even like traveling long distances by car), I think that I am trying to enjoy what I can without her.
Very often I find myself thinking "What is this xenolith? How did it get here? What are these deposits? What tale do they tell? What is that cloud? What does it tell me? Why is this plant like this? What does it tell me? What is that Messier object? How far is it? What does it tell me?" (etc). And sometimes when I think of these things, I remember Apollo 8's Christmas Eve address to the world, where the astronauts read movingly from the book of Genesis. I think how they concluded the broadcast "God bless all of you, all of you on the good earth." I think how can I convey this wonder and beauty to my students. But invariably I find myself somewhere between sighing and sobbing longing to talk to her about what I saw (she was very curious and appreciative when I did). I often find myself talking to her, and for the record I believe in neither an eternal soul nor an afterlife, and saying what I would say to her if I could. At times I find myself very sad she's no longer there, eagerly listening and asking questions, and i try to remind myself at least I got to know her at all (which is more than can be said for some people I know).
I have plenty to think about
Different states of mind creates different thought-patterns.
Negative:
When in a steep downward-spiral my thoughts are of selfpity, bitter sweetness and fighting the inner demons of anxiety.
Messy thoughts about death, suicide, old heartbreakes, my faults, the future "me" looking back in regret. It's mostly turmoil.
I try to keep out from being there at any cost.
Neutral mindset:
Neutral is when I don't even notice I actually have a mood. I am not so selfconcious as to observe my own thought-process and judge it.
I could be thinking about a podcast, a game, school, friends, future events and workouts. It's the mediocre, fleeting everyday life.
I like those days in a way but I also know they build up guilt for being to lazy.
Active mindset:
Days when I get things done. I work, study, workout, clean and cook.
I feel good about myself, I feel worthy of my present life because you get what you work for and that day I worked so I felt deserving.
I feel a bit grand and visionary. Think and fantasize about the future and I reassure myself that I am aligned with my motives and find my struggles importand and I feel like a student under pressure. Strong and capable thoughts. Like being okay with where I am even if I can see room for impeovement.
Positive states:
I don't have all that many of these in all honesty. It's rather smaller moments that last an hour at a maximum. Im usually just romantisizing about the things I am positive about at that time and being silly to myself, dancing around. I value these times a lot in a way becuse they show me I could be happier with just slight improvement. But they also provides stark contrast to the lower dips in mood and they are rarely based in reality but more about the potential outcomes ahead. Dreamlike conditions.
Most of the times I think about human behaviours, about questions like why people do what they do? Why I am doing things that bothers me but still I am doing those? What are the activities I can do regularly which will benefit me in future? How can I control my thoughts? Why I don’t like everyone even if I try to? How can I travel around the globe? When will I get started with something i want to do? Why i distract myself from the things I must do? What can I do to focus and cut that distraction? How can I improve my conversation skills? What are the ways to know whether someone mean what they say? Is it their nature which attracts me towards them or the looks or both? Is it really important to think what I am thinking writing right now? What more can we do with our ability of thoughts? Are these limitless? What If my mind can control the thoughts of others?
These are the few of my random thoughts. As our brain is mistery and is very powerful, If it is used at right time and in right direction one can do miracles.
Other than this I listen to music.
Things that I think about when I'm alone:
Debating should I still be alive or not.
Evaluating my value in the world.
Missing my carefree days before I was a legal adult.
Is life worth it or not.
What's the point in dating
Self Hatred
My lack of ability to forgive myself for my weaknesses/flaws
Death and life
How stoicism is the only thing I can resort to if I want to keep this life of mine going
Suicide
How money is causing the majority of my problems and it's crazy how these problems would go away if I had the money of a celebrity. Really makes you wonder wtf is your worth in the world.
What exactly should I live for
When will I die
About how is there actually some- I'm going to stop here.
I don't want to go into talking about things that are too sensitive.
That's generally what I think about, but what I think about really has a lot more detail.
What I think about can changes overtime.
All I've named here is about 65% of what I have been thinking about lately.
The remaining 35 percent are things I don't want to share at this time.
I think about many things when I’m alone:
- My grandpa. I always wonder what he’s doing up their and if we’re going to reunite one day. We used to be best buddies and I owe a lot to him God bless his soul.
- My friends. Who’s real, and who’s not. Who’s just using me, and who truly cares about my and have my best interest at heart.
- Life in general. I always think about what I did in any given day. What I got right. What I did wrong. How I can improve tomorrow. Sounds cliche but I do that almost everyday.
- Soccer. I think a lot about soccer, my favorite players. The games that are coming up, etc.
That’s pretty much it. Can’t think of anything specific that I normally think of regularly.
It all depends on the mood I'm in. If I'm happy then my imagination goes wild and everything is great and funny and life is good with endless possibilities. But if I'm depressed or having anxiety it's like a dark well and I keep sinking towards the bottom which is endless. I then dwell on my so called failures and mistakes and how I wish things were different. But I am a major introvert and after learning about myself and personalities (i am a INFJ personality type on the meters Briggs) I understood myself more and how to pull myself back up and stay happy.
Bingo. That's the key. When you learn about yourself (and the Myers-Briggs is a fantastic venue to do that), you feel less random, like there is more structure behind, or within you. You and I are at the veeery bottom of that list of 16. 1.5% of the population. I am not surprised you have felt listless. Comes with our type, the rarity. It can feel lonely, separate, at times. But not always, and not forever.
It depends on how I happen to be that day. Sometimes it'll just be whatever song's stuck in my head (It comes automatically, usually matching the rhythm of my footsteps, can be frustrating).
If I'm alone and wandering but not lost and I feel safe, I'll start to daydream, for lack of a better word. My mind will wander far and wide and I find it useful for figuring out all that has happened to me since my I last walked. It's wonderful, though I've been told I get a really unhappy expression when I'm lost in thought.
I think about the person I care most about. I've moved on from existential questions, those haven't concerned me since my early teens.
Usually I either think about finances in different circumstances or how I would explain modern technology to settlers prior to the American revolution. It's a good way to test how much you know about how things work.
Hard to quantify - I would classify as an internal dialogue - Obviously if things are on my mind, I would mull over them but the less cluttered my head is, I tend to go off on a philosophical/spiritual self awareness/exploration about myself and my place in the world/ maybe what that world is like?
Plenty of things:
-My past
-What it'd have been like living during a certain times in history (including what it'd be like to living with dinosaurs)
-human behavior
-what form of life is out in the universe
-the broken legal system
Etc, etc, etc.
Songs in my head, what should I cook for dinner, hey who's that pretty girl standing over there. Nice I don't see a ring on her finger. Is it going to rain? It's raining... again. Oh my gosh Young the Giant are coming back in January! Finally a concert I want to see!
Wait how did I get here, I don't remember walking this way...
I took a long break from this site precisely because I didn’t want to discuss what I was thinking. It has pained me deeply to watch America descend into an abyss. I no longer could bear to argue with those who dragged her down.
Wanting to be close with a woman but knowing at this point in my life no woman would want someone in my finanical position. Also thinking about my faith and how that relates to what I feel. It's hard to know where to take my life... I'm not quite sure what the next step will look like but I have hopes that I'm not too late for life and love at this stage of life
Last thing I want is to be left alone with my philosophical thoughts. Ngl, they tend to be really cynical and full of selfishness. I sometimes get there but I generally tend to divert my mind doing some physics and mathematics stuff and think about matter related to the subjects.
I'm alone, and there's no one to talk to. Sure I can try some apps but they never say more than hi. My heart is giving out from the alcohol, but I keep putting off calling the doctor. I should really really call that therapist.
I usually think about business opportunities I've been approaching, people I have any deep relationship, conflicts I've been dealing with people, music (most of my time alone I'm with my earphones by the way), and insecurities I have about myself.
I either stress excessively or I think about my blessings (my daughter). I like to study and learn more about things I'm interested in.
I like to study educational standards as well. (LOL)
I like to daydream a bit as well. Sometimes I'm entirely unfocused.
Ideas. Its hard to say, debates and arguments of various topics, political, historical, all the way to the scientific. Story ideas, science fiction etc. Its all over the place honestly.
A fountain but one that is constantly overflowing, makes it hard to dedicate my mind to one particular task at any given time so perhaps useful but not efficient.
My research, my scary uncertain future, and reminding myself of all my past failures and what could have been if I wasn't such a colossal failure at life because why not torture myself like that daily.
One of the main problems in modern society is information overload. Peace of mind and clarity of thought I've become more appreciative of as I get older.
I think about finding more therapeutic actives and pursuing them. There is nothing better than being clear of thought. I think about my goals and how I can best achieve them with the least time wasted.
I think, "Where did I go wrong? What can I do to better myself?" Then I think about the boy I still love who never loved me. After that, my mind wanders to science.
I think about this too.
Memories-- good and bad. I think about the future a lot, goals and such. Right now I'm thinking of what I want to give to people for Christmas.
Seems like people have had a sudden inclination to invite to old question. Well as you wish.
I think of everything and anything all the time really, I have what you'd call a "wandering mind", and so a thousand subjects are always coursing through my head.
Is this an error? I just got an invite to this 11-month-old question
Ahhh. That's a good thing to promise, and an intense one as well. Perhaps we should name you the curator, because of the questions and answers you have cultivated.
To answer your question, I am alone a lot. Most of the time in fact. So my thoughts alone are just my normal thoughts. I'd say I'm often thinking about the different areas of my life I'd like to improve on. Particularly work ethic, faith life, career options, working out, and a few more. I think about the books I'm reading, or the good podcasts that I've listened to.
And in the last few days I've been thinking about the election when I have the mental energy
Daydream
contemplate life, thinking about what i fear the most
Think about things that happen that day
Oh man. It's like a tornado of thoughts.
I get bored and my mind just races.
It's actually exhausting sometimes.
But mostly just think about fun things to do.
Me too.
When I'm alone I think about my girlfriend mostly. and how lucky I am. I think about past relationships. The good , bad and mind blowing erotic times. I think about specific great plays I made playing football, basketball, and baseball.
when im truly at peace i dont think about anything... i think thats the point
I think about a variety of things. From things that I would like to do "realistically" and "fantasy".
Many things. The most common one is escaping to a beach or forest.
I think about particle physics and also astronomy and quantum mechanics
Heh heh. Good. I’m glad.
There was a restaurant my mum used to take me to when I was little - Smitty’s. They specialize in pancakes. I always got the Smartypants - crepes with strawberries and whipped cream (something I’ve eaten, on and off, ever since.) She used to lov ordering it for me in this certain way, always with a smirk. So I have good associations with the phrase.
Well, well, this topic has certainly taken a sudden turn. I suppose I walked right into that one, didn't I? And it's always the smart ones you should expect veering into that direction. Got to balance out all the 'hard' thinking. Yes, I suppose. But one must be thorough. I don't like any greasy residue. I like to be clean, on the outside.
Right. That's a perfect example.
Max, I would never think that. This is social media. If a bunch of strangers, tens or hundreds of thousands of them just all wrote one line, on one question, and never crossed paths again, SM would be one mighty boring place. I've seen a couple people here mention, "I don't pay attention to the names." Meaning, they just make comments and don't really care about who's asking, or who's who. I am not like that. Like meeting at the 'water cooler', or going to restaurant-bar and seeing the same bartenders or patrons, I like familiarity. Though also, part of the surprise of life is not knowing who you're going to bump into (in this case, who will choose/see/be around to answer what questions.) I don't believe in online 'stalking.' I think it's perfectly normal and acceptable to look into someone's profile and read, or comment, or 'like' their older posts. The root of that is clearly about rejection/appearing too eager or interested. But what is life, if not just that. When it comes to people and relationships, I guess I don't believe in passivity. It's boring. Life is richer when it goes deeper.
If you would like a new piece of physics to put into your head... Einstein's primarily known equation e equals MC square Thanksgiving... Is much deeper equation than most anybody knows about... It's a direct description of the nature of space-time... You have seen when people use a rubber sheet stretched across an opening... To represent space time then they put a mass usually all of some type of ball... What they should be doing instead if they want to keep it real...
Is pucker up a part of that rubber sheet and that represents Mass... for we are not independent of space-time and anyway we are actually made of that material puckered up into different shapes bends and twists... We are each made of the same stuff each person each object you can point to. As well as all the forces that we know is made of the same stuff been to twisted space-time... You're made of the same stuff as a star.
Religion, politics, all sorts of problems that people are facing today and their possible solutions. My career. And of course sex!
often just nothing. like literally. i may occasionally ponder something existential like if yellow looks the same to other people. if dogs have dreams with visuals or smells. pretty meaningless
I imagine myself in the forest followed by animals of different species
Work, guys, things I have to do and things I haven’t done yet lol
Usually I think of not being alone. A girl is usually in this series of thoughts.
I need something new to do or new people to spend time with and maybe a few short term goals to stop being bored
How bored i am, and i think about food, how fat i am, chewing ice, cleaning the house, food, and people, if they like me or not.
Conquest, cures for diseases, and what the hell is going on in her head... among other things
My crush
Travel
Sex
Sex and travel with my crush
Everything. It depends on what happens around me or what type of day I've had. What conversations I've had. Do I have an idea for something? Do I have a task or project to work on?
Honestly, I don't know. My mind just runs wild. It's like my brain is a machine that can't stop crunching thoughts and all.
Usually spiritual and sexual things. Sometimes math and sports.
Anywhere from random Star wars lore and fan theories all the way to the nature of the universe. It could literally go anywhere
When I am alone I mostly tend to daydream... And that can be related to anything, my studies, the future in general things I'd like to do etc...
Most of my life is devoted to feeling presence - whether its God's presence or human presence or potential dating presence
I usually think that I could've been using this time in a better way. Studying about something to improve my career, or working out.
When I am not talking to the voices, I think about the choice that I am making and the experience that I have had.
I don't know sometime i think of why im in this hell hole and sometimes i be thinking about my crush
You name it. I have long conversations with myself on a wide variety of subjects.
Music. I have an internal ost all the time.
Original Soundtrack
Different things, depending on what I'm doing but, most of the time, it's about my life, and how it's going
"well this is how it's gonna end, alone and cold. I'm already dying, should I slow down the process or speed it up?" hmm
New outfit/ensemble ideas for the future, and the fastest possibilities to becoming a millionaire 🎩👔💶💶💶💶💶💶
Life goals/dierction
Sex
Video games
Sex
Video games
Food
Political stuff
Lots of stuff but mostly what’s gonna happen to me in the future
Why am I so bored?
What can I do next?
Work
Sex
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