You're alone with your thoughts ... what are you thinking about?

[Merc]

When you catch yourself with little or nothing to do, what do you tend to think about? It's so easy to be distracted by everything these days, what do you think about?

I actually like spending car rides by myself speaking out roles in stories I'm writing. So I spend a lot of time thinking of characters, places, and new ideas for stories. It's usually on my mind before I sleep and when I have nothing else to do.

How about you? What thoughts fill the gaps in your day?

 

[dDave]

What thoughts fill the gaps in my day?

Two things...

1.) Story stuff. I am similar to you Merc. I'll speak out roles in my book and sort of run scenes through. This helps me a lot with dialogue because I can tell really easily what sounds natural/in character and what doesn't. It really helps me put the story into perspective.

2.) Logistical stuff. I don't think out loud for this but I do spend a fair amount of time thinking about when I'm hanging out with friends, my schedule, etc. Other times I'm thinking of logistical stuff for my book :lol: which ties this point back to point #1.

 

[Major]

This is a tough question to answer because my mind fills with a little bit of everything at various times. It also depends on what I'm doing. It's hard for me to focus on two things at once. But if I'm doing nothing but thinking, I tend to think about philosophical things. The meaning of life and all that.

 

[Hilander]

I could be thinking about anything when I'm working around the house. Sometimes this is how I find a solution to a problem. I have time to consider all the angles without someone in my face wanting a answer.

 

[Sim]

Depends very much on the situation ... last night when I was about falling asleep, I had all the news reports about the jet that crashed in Ukraine in mind. Like, getting all the information in an order and speculating what might happen next, and how the Ukraine situation might develop because of it.

Other times, I have different things in mind ... like after the World Cup finale last sunday, I was trying to remember all the previous winners and how often which team has won. And I went through all the statistics and match results I could remember. Maybe looking for patterns or so. One thing I found: Did you notice that several teams had to wait 24 years before they won again, after a first victory? Brazil had won the last time in 1970 and didn't win again until 1994. And Italy won in 1982, but had to wait until 2006 to their next victory. And now Germany -- last time 1990, now again in 2014. Totally useless random facts, but that's what I sometimes think about when lying in bed eyes closed.

Sometimes it's political stuff. For example, I try to remember the faces and party affiliations of all the prime ministers of German states. I go state by state then, from north to south... a political nerd way to count sheeps, eh?

 

[Smelnick]

Generally I spend my time thinking about future events coming up, like a party or a gathering, and imagining how it'll play out. Imagining possible conversations between myself and people who might be there. That's in the first 5 minutes, then my mind shifts to other things. Maybe about something in the past, or how I might go about making something i've thought of making or etc etc etc. My mind whizzes around super fast and is always filled with shit tons of things. Its why I can sometimes come off as distracted lol

 

[Mickiel]

God is the dominant thought on my mind; every day, much of the day. How I would like to know him. How much I wish I knew about him. What does he think of me; or does he even think of me? How much I have failed to understand him. What is he really like? Why has he birthed the world of humanity into confusion?


I think much about the unseen deception that has gripped this world, its stunning blindness. I think about my children some, my son the most, how I wish I had done more and could do more. God is weaved into those thoughts as well. I think a lot about the prison I am in, longing to be free. I think much about my woman, my job and my past. God is mixed into those as well.


Even though I walk among people, in my thoughts, I know I walk alone.


And God is hounding me. Weakness is hounding me, and its relentless!

 

[Alph0x]

Generally I spend my time thinking about future events coming up, like a party or a gathering, and imagining how it'll play out. Imagining possible conversations between myself and people who might be there. That's in the first 5 minutes, then my mind shifts to other things. Maybe about something in the past, or how I might go about making something i've thought of making or etc etc etc. My mind whizzes around super fast and is always filled with shit tons of things. Its why I can sometimes come off as distracted lol

This is almost word-for-word what my answer could have been, except sometimes my anxiety takes over and I will fixate on worst-case-scenario planning. That's probably my least favorite because I will think about the worst case scenario for almost everything and just stress myself out. Anxiety is great.

Or I will think about trying to plan things out. Think about what bills need paid and when. Think about crafts I could do, or should finish.

And sometimes, I just pretend to have conversations with my animals. Cats especially because they "talk" back. About comic book characters or black holes or old presidents. Yep, I'm an oddball.

 

[The_Chameleon]

I think about how to improve my strategies for clean energy production and efficient power transmission, waste management, ecological restoration, space exploration & colonization and asteroid mining. I still have a lot of work to do on my colonial space station design. I also think about how I'd like to start dabbling in stuff like robotics, small scale wood working, sculpting, 3D printing, etc. and how to improve my investing strategies so I can get enough cash flow to start doing stuff like that.


I like to tweak my android design and refine the AI, and sometimes I think about my unified theory of everything to see how it might explain certain mysteries of the universe. I'm too lazy to do some of the math involved to really nail down the structure of Black Holes for example, I just have a general conceptual model which I mentally experiment with from time to time to try and refine. I also daydream about hanging out on the blimp I would have built for me if I were to become rich (It's more like a floating eco-friendly bungalow with a large front deck/terrace).


I'm an idea guy and I like to think big, so that's most of what occupies my thoughts when I am doing a whole lotta not much.



- Cham