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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

#2

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Pearl
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"The Edge" Sounds like a cool attraction. There would be a lot of hotels with the view near it too.

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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.

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Mohsie Supposie
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At the same time, you might make a decision that will take your life... and one day you will.

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WilvanderHeijden
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You may already have made that decision but it takes some time before you have to face the consequences.

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Loty
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What's even worse one day you might make a decision that will kill you and you won't even know it.

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Gina Babe
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think about this and the reversal an uncomfortable amount of times. Like so so much

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Loretta
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ok, to be very pragmatic: you do that literally every day. For instance: you make the decision to look left and right before you walk through a crosswalk.

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Poultry Geist
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I did this once! 20 years ago! I went home with a bartender instead of getting in the car with a bunch of my drunk friends. I would have been the one sitting on someone’s lap because I was the smallest ( at the time). They weren’t going far but got hit by a car everyone was pretty banged up but they were ok it was a convertible and I know I would have died or been seriously injured if it weren’t for the hot bartender! 😂

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K R
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've thought of this, like missing a traffic light, or getting someplace late.

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Pinder Google
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I tried to go for 2nd but I didn't and decided to do homework instead right after my Mom entering my room

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Craig Reynolds
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, if you are still alive, that means you didn't make a decision that would have ended it.

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Kusotare
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Maybe decide to raise the lid before you start turtling.

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Ginger Rodgers
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

All decisions (no matter how small) have real world consequences

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Miyumi Hockenhull
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I make decisions like this all the time! Using a turn signal, waiting for a red light instead of just walking into oncoming traffic, not back-talking my mama. Things like that

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Miyumi Hockenhull
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh I make those decisions ALL the time. Using a turn signal, waiting for a red light to cross the street, not back-talking my mama. Stuff like that.

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EchoTheEnby
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've almost fallen off of the same cliff on two completely separate occasions, and because of that I ponder this a lot

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Auntriarch
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I thought you were agreeing, the post says a decision that saves your life. Have an upvote in that case

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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.

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Kira Okah
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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.

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Monday
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You may also be the last person who saw someone before they went missing and you'd never know it.

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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!

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Couch potato
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh, thanks for ruining my day. Before now I never had to think about that. :'(

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Pearl
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And the light coming to us is eight minutes old already, it take some time for it to reach the earth.

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Couch potato
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

By now my brain is questioning my existence and currently im only on the 15th one

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Gabriel
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If you see the moon every night it is visible you look at 50% of the surface, no surprise in that

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Couch potato
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh yeah. If i never searched up im bored during school, I never would have come across bored panda :)

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Kate
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What do we want? TIME TRAVEL! When do we want it? Doesn't matter.

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#18

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Rick
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Everyone reply to this and post your time until two people post at the same time. 09:54

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Monday
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Same with Violet (ultraviolet light is invisible to the human eye) and JackJack (Jack of all trades).

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Rick
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No, they go to sleep one day and wake up and think “what a nice sleep that was…WHAAAAAAAT the hell, I’m flying?”

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Dodo
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What if there's a giant tortoise or a Greenland shark, one of those animals that lives for 300 years, and they're like 'man, I haven't seen that little bird for a while, he used to be everywhere'.

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Dodo
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've seen a guy online saying his wife gets annoyed when he refers to her as his ex-girlfriend

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Monday
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My deaf cat doesn't seem to mind, we didn't even realize she'd gone totally deaf for about 5 or 6 months, we just thought she was being annoyingly loud on purpose so we'd give her what she wants more quickly.

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Kay blue
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This actually happened near me, it was a candle factory and the carpark was covered in multi-coloured wax. Once the fire was out and the acrid burning smell had dissipated there was a really nice smell of wax in the air.

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#28

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Sage Gusano
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

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.

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