We all have our own shower routine some of us like jamming out and busting out our karaoke skills while others like to take the time to reflect - and judging by the subreddit thread shower thoughts, there is some profound thinking that goes on between suds.
According to the group, a shower idea is "a miniature epiphany that makes the mundane more interesting. Maybe it's all the head scrubbing that knocks out these interesting thoughts, but if you are searching for life's meaning, the answer may be underneath your shower head." Scroll down below to check out more of these soapy epiphanies, and don't forget to upvote these genius ideas!
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While a lot of good and weird thoughts do come to us in the shower a 'shower thought' doesn't have to occur in the shower. The term has come to mean any idea you get while perform a mundane activity. Studies have shown that these epiphany moments usually occur in one of the 3 Bs - bathtub, bed or bus. Washington University psychologist R. Keith Sawyer, author of the new book Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation explains: "When we take time off from working on a problem, we change what we're doing and our context, and that can activate different areas of our brain. If the answer wasn't in the part of the brain we were using, it might be in another. If we're lucky, in the next context we may hear or see something that relates—distantly—to the problem that we had temporarily put aside.
A lot of funny shower thoughts are silly more than profound, but some famous discoveries have come between scrubs. In 1990 NASA scientists were trying to fix the lenses of the Hubble telescope while it was already in orbit. The engineer on the project Jim Crocker was taking a shower in a German hotel and noticed that the European-style shower was mounted on adjustable rods. That's when it hit him - Hubble's small mirrors could be extended into the telescope if they were mounted in a similar way on folding arms. You never know when clever ideas will hit!
What is it about the shower that makes it the perfect environment to think? Our brain releases its best ideas when dopamine is triggered, which can occur during a warm shower. At the same time we are in a relaxed state and thus more likely to reflect inward. Lastly we are distracted. Activities like washing the dishes or washing ourselves are so automatic that it give our brain a break and allows our subconscious time to play in a more creative way.
Omg this has really got me thinking now...has there been anytime where I've almost died but just had no idea?
That's a really interesting thought! :O I'm pretty sure one of mine would be when we were driving with my mum through the night both very tired. We were very very close to falling asleep behind the wheel and killing ourselves and others. I'm forever grateful that nothing happened and have been very strict since. It was by far the stupidest thing I've ever done.
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Number 3 was when you decided not go out that night.
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I punctured a gas line in my house about a month ago with and electric drill. So that's #1.
I would die a second time. My little ghost heart could not handle it.
Uhhh, no thanks. I really don't need to see the motorcycle accident from a third-person angle! 😬
St. Peter: "Well you've lost the Showcase Showdown, but here's how you could have died!"
Hmm. I already have that one time when I was in kindergarten and almost got hit by a car because I chased a butterfly across the street.
1. Car jacks plugged into wrong things, car almost exploded 2. Choked on chicken bone as an infant (Don't ask me how I got one) 3. Extreme dehydration after being sick 4. Deer jumped in front of car 5. Ran over by bicycle
But if you were going to heck, it would be presented like an annoying YouTube video: narrator with an annoying voice and laugh that keeps pointing out the obvious, loooong transitions, and bad quality videos.
One time I almost drowned. I was a kid and I wouldn't of died, someone would of saved me by then, but I was drowning. lol
When I was a baby I nearly died twice by stopping breathing in my cot. My uncle who is a Catholic Priest came around after the second time and gave me a special blessing with Holy Water and told my mother that it would never happen again. It never did.
For me, two instances would have been following each other quite closely. Crashed my motorcycle (the crash looked worse than it was), but the bike narrowly avoided my head and when I wanted to light a cigarette after a stranger saved me because I was covered in gasoline... would have played torch^^
At the times I have almost died, I knew that I just had a "life/death experience" (and lived) . . . more then 5, but wondering if this is similar to a cat-with-9-lives prophesy in play?
Reminds me of the Final Destination series - you escape one death and run right into another one.
i had about 3 of these. 2 of which involved trucks with excellent breaks.
This was an SNL skit in the 1980s. At the gates of heaven, the guy wanted to know the worst thing he's ever eaten. They refuse to tell him. They told him like the 33rd worst thing he'd ever eaten.
This makes me think a lot now. The time when I go down the car and turn around to cross the street then see from my peripheral vision that a car was coming but I stops immediately. The time that an attempted robbery was made that I didn't know the guy that want me to change sit with him has a gun.
Happened to me twice on one trip... fell out of the whitewater raft just before 100+ yards of gnarly rapids in Colorado then our bus went off the road and almost rolled on the way home
Sounds like one rafting tour company to avoid >.>
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Most people probably would just see themselves dying the actual death. No near misses from before.
That's the most stupid thing I have read in quite a while. That person must never have been in a horrible almost-died situation or watched a loved one in it.
when being a parent you don't realize that watching your kid grow up, you are also growing up with them.
not for their entertainment. They are just picking the court fool for the queen
I have literally never heard that phrase before in my life. Is it common?
I remember catching my reflection in my daughters eye when she was little and thinking I looked awful, then realizing she thought I hung the moon, anyway. ;)
The one about language really struck me, as I was chatting with my cashier at Wal Mart last week -- she was lamenting her English, although really it was quite good -- but as we were chatting she told me she was an accountant in her native country and has a degree in business management, but here (US) she is working at Wal Mart while she tries to improve her English. She was obviously intelligent and driven, she was definitely warm and friendly, and I can't help but wonder how many redneck idiots in my area treat her badly for her English when they go through her line. As much as I enjoyed talking to her, I really hope next time I'm in there I won't see her -- because I hope by then she'll be on to something where she gets the respect she deserves.
Must be truly frustrating to be highly educated in one country and finding yourself somewhere you initially struggle with the language.
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No they've cut these down! There's only 30 now. *shakes fist* damn you, bored panda gods!
My shower thought today: I am 100% more motivated to wake up when there is leftover pizza in the fridge. It's better than an alarm clock.
why does bored panda always delte a huge part of the list after they upload it. Like there were 120+ before now it's only 30
A copy paste of Minerva15's comment- For all of you wondering why the list was cut is because BP may have taken some of the submissions without the original posters consent, then they learned of this article and asked BP to remove their submission.
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If your eyes are shut in flash photos, you are literally faster than the speed of light.
The title said '154 Shower Thought...' but I only see #103. I feel like there's 51 shower-thoughts that are missing or lost...
It's down to 30 now, although they did change the tittle. A shame, but you can go to the actual sub reddit to read more of the responses if you like.
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I always found it kind of gross that when swimming in a pool with other people you are likely to accidentally drink some of the pool water. This water has touched every body part of everyone in that pool. Even if you don't drink it, it still gets in your eyes, ears etc.
That's right. Because dangerously overweight people have no idea that they are overweight without your commentary. And they don't deserve to feel beautiful by people who find overweight people attractive.
I heard that showering makes you creative because it ionizes the air. Don't know if there's real science behind it.
Where'd the rest (#31-#102) go? i was in the middle of reading em!
They're originally from Reddit, the original posters may not have felt comfortable of their comments being used for other purposes. I know this for a fact because Reddit often gets annoyed at Bored Panda for doing this.
Load More Replies... The one about language really struck me, as I was chatting with my cashier at Wal Mart last week -- she was lamenting her English, although really it was quite good -- but as we were chatting she told me she was an accountant in her native country and has a degree in business management, but here (US) she is working at Wal Mart while she tries to improve her English. She was obviously intelligent and driven, she was definitely warm and friendly, and I can't help but wonder how many redneck idiots in my area treat her badly for her English when they go through her line. As much as I enjoyed talking to her, I really hope next time I'm in there I won't see her -- because I hope by then she'll be on to something where she gets the respect she deserves.
Must be truly frustrating to be highly educated in one country and finding yourself somewhere you initially struggle with the language.
Load More Replies... No they've cut these down! There's only 30 now. *shakes fist* damn you, bored panda gods!
My shower thought today: I am 100% more motivated to wake up when there is leftover pizza in the fridge. It's better than an alarm clock.
why does bored panda always delte a huge part of the list after they upload it. Like there were 120+ before now it's only 30
A copy paste of Minerva15's comment- For all of you wondering why the list was cut is because BP may have taken some of the submissions without the original posters consent, then they learned of this article and asked BP to remove their submission.
Load More Replies... If your eyes are shut in flash photos, you are literally faster than the speed of light.
The title said '154 Shower Thought...' but I only see #103. I feel like there's 51 shower-thoughts that are missing or lost...
It's down to 30 now, although they did change the tittle. A shame, but you can go to the actual sub reddit to read more of the responses if you like.
Load More Replies... I always found it kind of gross that when swimming in a pool with other people you are likely to accidentally drink some of the pool water. This water has touched every body part of everyone in that pool. Even if you don't drink it, it still gets in your eyes, ears etc.
That's right. Because dangerously overweight people have no idea that they are overweight without your commentary. And they don't deserve to feel beautiful by people who find overweight people attractive.
I heard that showering makes you creative because it ionizes the air. Don't know if there's real science behind it.
Where'd the rest (#31-#102) go? i was in the middle of reading em!
They're originally from Reddit, the original posters may not have felt comfortable of their comments being used for other purposes. I know this for a fact because Reddit often gets annoyed at Bored Panda for doing this.
Load More Replies... 