Where do you go to think?

[Kythereia]

If you need to really think, ponder over something important...

For me, it's a long walk outside--especially when it's a cool, cloudy, gray, windy day, and especially in autumn and early winter. It's also a quiet bus ride, looking out the window.


How about you?

[Savannah]

Outside is good.

If you're my husband, however--the bathroom.

Oh, well. At least I know he won't die of thirst, and has access to shower and toilet facilities. Eventually he comes out when the problem is solved/resolved or he gets hungry enough.

[Antigen]

I like being outside too, on a park bench or something. And you're right, it has to be an overcast windy day. Maybe it's because wind feels like change?

When I need to think about something, like a big decision to make, I have a coffee shop I like to go to, with big windows looking out onto a busy street. I sit there with my coffee, barely even drinking it, and stare out the window at the people rushing by. Absolute silence doesn't work for me. Silence is where my mind starts drifting all over the place and I can't get any actual thinking done.

What I really need, though, is a cliff overlooking the sea. If I had a cliff overlooking the sea, I think I'd be able to make much more sense of things.

[Hal Briston]

My job is an hour away from home. That's two hours of driving time per day that I've allotted to thinking.

[smartini]

Driving for me too. I don't have a long commute so I relish a longish drive alone to just think.

Second to that is outside on my deck. We live in a little neighborhood very close in the city and it is a interesting mix of birds and squirrels as well as city noise and visuals. And if you are lucky and time it just right you can hear the whistles of the trains coming into the Amtrak station. A sensory mix that just puts you in your own little world. Alone with your thoughts.

[silenus]

Depends...serious matters get a night-time drive through Southern California. Life-changing decisions get a camping trip in the desert.

Run of the mill problems get the morning dump.

[Alice The Goon]

A few years ago I went to this therapist that practiced this rapid-eye movement thing, where you would talk about something and the whole time you were looking at her finger going back and forth. It seems to allow you to process thoughts and feelings in a very efficient way. Since then, whenever I have heavy thinking to do, I do a jigsaw puzzle or go on a long drive. With both activities my eyes are constantly darting here and there and I'm allowed to really focus on my thoughts. Now that's good thinking time right there, especially jigsaw puzzles.
With lighter thinking, the shower or washing dishes is good.