Contrary to the name, shower thoughts aren't exclusive to showers. From long walks to mowing the lawn, many everyday activities seem to have the right circumstances to allow the brain to have these little aha moments.
But they also happen to be situations where it's difficult to take notes — turns out that mechanical engagement is perfect for free association, but getting a pen and paper can take you out of the experience.
One TikTok user, however, seems to have beaten the system. He goes by the nickname Shower Thoughts Guy and constantly produces videos that allow him to keep this title. Continue scrolling and check out his best one-liners.
More info: TikTok
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There haven't been a lot of experiments on why we get random insights, but psychology does have one theory that describes a mental state that seems to foment these kinds of thoughts. It's called the default mode network.
"You become less aware of your environment and more aware of your internal thoughts," John Kounios, a psychologist who studies creativity and distraction at Drexel University in Philadelphia, told WIRED.
At the same time, you might make a decision that will take your life... and one day you will.
The common thing in these activities is they are physically or mentally active, but only mildly — they're also familiar or comfortable enough that we stay engaged but not bored, and last long enough to have an uninterrupted stream of thought.
Kounios explained that our brains typically catalog things by their context: Windows are parts of buildings, and the stars belong in the night sky. Ideas will always mingle to some degree, but when we’re focused on a specific task our thinking tends to be linear.
That Satan punishes sinners is an idea conflating Satan and Hades, as is Satan living in hell. If you're coming from a Christian perspective then...no he doesn't on either count, that isn't in the Bible. Satan is evil because he tempts people into doing wicked acts with loaded promises and lies, thus sending their soul to the eternal fire of hell. He doesn't live in hell, he doesn't sit on a throne and punish the wicked. Satan lies and manipulates to send the souls of others there in place of him.
Kounios likes to explain it with a stack of bricks in your backyard. You walk by them every day with hardly a second thought, and if asked you'd describe them as a building material (maybe for that pizza oven you keep meaning to put together). But one day in the shower, you start thinking about your neighbor's walnut tree.
"Those nuts sure look tasty, and they’ve been falling in your yard."
You suddenly realize that you can smash those nuts open using the bricks in your backyard!
As far as Eureka moments go, using a brick as a nutcracker is pretty lame, but as an illustration of how the default mode network frees the things in your brain from external associations, it works wonderfully. As ideas become untethered, they are free to bump up against other ideas they've never had the chance to encounter, increasing the likelihood of a useful connection. And this guy seems to be aware of that!
Oh, thanks for ruining my day. Before now I never had to think about that. :'(
By now my brain is questioning my existence and currently im only on the 15th one
Oh yeah. If i never searched up im bored during school, I never would have come across bored panda :)
that would beat the pants off of any fireworks show you could imagine, though
Yep. That's the issue I have with Gremlins. "Never feed them after midnight", but there's no feeding window of time given....since, technically ever minute from 12:01 AM until it turns 12:00 AM again is after midnight.
Note: this post originally had 45 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
!["Karen Complains To HR About My Body, I Uno-Reverse Her Complaint, [And Now] Everyone Hates Her"](https://www.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/coworker-complains-to-hr-about-womans-body-revenge-latest.jpg "\"Karen Complains To HR About My Body, I Uno-Reverse Her Complaint, [And Now] Everyone Hates Her\"")
If you’re a parent to a young child, you won’t know when the day will happen, but there will be one day which is the last day you will ever pick your child up and hold them in your arms.
As a non-parent, this one freaks me out. When was the last time I was picked up? Why was I picked up? Why wasn't I picked up after that?
As someone in the grandparent generation, it's because at a certain point you get too heavy!
That IS a weird thought. It's usually because we get too big to pick up. I was last picked up a few years ago. I sprained my ankle, and my husband got impatient helping me in from the car, so he just picked me up and carried me in. I thought I would like to be carried; but, honestly, it was terrifying. What if he had dropped me!
Aaand... my 18 year old now wonders why i just picked her up and she's looking at me like I'm the weirdest mom ever.
Worth it!
100% (just grateful she's a tiny woman loll)
I was JUST thinking along these lines! I recently visited my brother and his wife, and we got along to the subject of how we used to play 'sword fight' with pool noodles. It got me thinking...one day, we played 'sword fight', and never did it again...
This makes me want to cry :(
This is just sad. I'm thinking of all the things I did for the last time. Played at the park, played with my favourite toys, played dress up, but I don't remember that last time.
It's never too late. Go get some pool noodles and play sword fight again! That actually sounds like fun.
This comment has been deleted.
My oldest picks me up now, he's grown so much I feel tiny
My dad picked me up on my wedding day. My mom however, put me down when I was small and never picked me up again.
Absolutely true, and it sucks.
When you're reading you're really just staring at a dead tree and vividly hallucinating. Also the dead tree is tattooed.
If ur reading on a device ur just staring at a bunch of pixels with different colors
These are great! They remind me of the old SNL sketch "Deep Thoughts" By Jack Handey
my favorite: When I was a kid my favorite relative was Uncle Caveman. After school we'd all go and play in his cave, and every once in a while he would eat one of us. It wasn't until later that I found out Uncle Caveman was a bear. -Jack Handy
if you ever drop your keys in a river of molten lava, forget 'em, man, because they are GONE
It's so sad that entire families can be torn apart by something as simple as wild dogs
If you’re a parent to a young child, you won’t know when the day will happen, but there will be one day which is the last day you will ever pick your child up and hold them in your arms.
As a non-parent, this one freaks me out. When was the last time I was picked up? Why was I picked up? Why wasn't I picked up after that?
As someone in the grandparent generation, it's because at a certain point you get too heavy!
That IS a weird thought. It's usually because we get too big to pick up. I was last picked up a few years ago. I sprained my ankle, and my husband got impatient helping me in from the car, so he just picked me up and carried me in. I thought I would like to be carried; but, honestly, it was terrifying. What if he had dropped me!
Aaand... my 18 year old now wonders why i just picked her up and she's looking at me like I'm the weirdest mom ever.
Worth it!
100% (just grateful she's a tiny woman loll)
I was JUST thinking along these lines! I recently visited my brother and his wife, and we got along to the subject of how we used to play 'sword fight' with pool noodles. It got me thinking...one day, we played 'sword fight', and never did it again...
This makes me want to cry :(
This is just sad. I'm thinking of all the things I did for the last time. Played at the park, played with my favourite toys, played dress up, but I don't remember that last time.
It's never too late. Go get some pool noodles and play sword fight again! That actually sounds like fun.
This comment has been deleted.
My oldest picks me up now, he's grown so much I feel tiny
My dad picked me up on my wedding day. My mom however, put me down when I was small and never picked me up again.
Absolutely true, and it sucks.
When you're reading you're really just staring at a dead tree and vividly hallucinating. Also the dead tree is tattooed.
If ur reading on a device ur just staring at a bunch of pixels with different colors
These are great! They remind me of the old SNL sketch "Deep Thoughts" By Jack Handey
my favorite: When I was a kid my favorite relative was Uncle Caveman. After school we'd all go and play in his cave, and every once in a while he would eat one of us. It wasn't until later that I found out Uncle Caveman was a bear. -Jack Handy
if you ever drop your keys in a river of molten lava, forget 'em, man, because they are GONE
It's so sad that entire families can be torn apart by something as simple as wild dogs