Why do we get lost in thoughts!

I don't understand I've been trying to do this since many years, not to get lost in thoughts and sometimes I am successful, sometimes not. When I am doing an unimportant task also, I try to be mentally there in the present moment but somehow upon receiving a clue from the external environment, for example, listening to some song or noise, I would start thinking something and then the other and due to this continuous chain of thoughts, I will get lost in that territory without even realizing it...

While I do know it happens to many people but it really sometimes bugs me when I start thinking about things and people that I am trying to avoid...): then i get upset over it...And the irony is, the more I try to avoid thinking about someone or something, the more I start unconsciously thinking about it...
And these thoughts can even lead to imaginations or fantasizing about things..

Any 'thoughts'?

reply to post by Yeah-Alright


I would call it normal as I do it all the time.. I think everyone does... I personally don't try to rid myself of the thoughts.. I explore them and see where they lead.. Some of the best things in the world have come from the day dreaming thought train..

Take the theory of relativity... The result of a day dreaming patent clerk... These thoughts are not bad.. they are just brain work outs..

reply to post by DaMod


IT's good to know that it's normal and not a bad thing, but when we are drowned into thoughts about someone/something that we are emotional about too, then it has the potential to become problematic.. That's the thing that bothers me...

reply to post by Yeah-Alright


yeah this is a common thing. i have add and have this problem as well. i think the trick is not to think so much. your brain is already faster than the fastest supercomputers you can just let it do its thing and you'll be fine. of course thinking is necessary for some things, and entertaining sometimes as well, but rather than following your chain of thoughts into your inner world, create a chain of thoughts that lead into the world around you. or if you find that you simply have too many thoughts and you don't want to think about anything, i would suggest you practice meditation, it helps enormously. if you decide to take this route, the trick is the think of your mind as a flat stone, and when a thought wanders onto the stone, turn it over, then when another one comes, turn the stone over again.. strive for an empty mind. a lot of times this is hard because we, or society, have conditioned/been conditioned to keep our minds busy or distracted, so much that it has become our habit.. but if we try and try we can make an empty calm mind our habit. something you may find interesting is that is takes roughly 12 days to form a new habit for better or worse.

i'd like to leave you with the words of Heman Hesse: ‘Most men will not swim before they are able to.’ Is not that witty? Naturally, they won’t swim! They are born for the solid earth, not for the water. And naturally they won’t think. They are made for life, not for thought. Yes, and he who thinks, what’s more, he who makes thought his business, he may go far in it, but he has bartered the solid earth for the water all the same, and one day he will drown.”

ponder that one and maybe you will find your own answer ; )

hope this helped.

reply to post by Yeah-Alright

My mind wonders all the time, it's like you get this rush of thoughts in your head. It's what the mind does if you for example relax, it will generate thoughts, I found out that meditation works for me. To reduce some of the thoughts that I do not like. Sexual thoughts, obsesive ones or stress related ones are the worst kind. They just pop up in my head without my permission, I find my self looking at them, they are like dreams.

If you have a tendency to drift, this is thanks to your imagination and is equally important to you as being silent and be at peace.

At first, i used to wrestle with my thoughts, everytime the same thought looped i'd go STFU!
Only to learn that it's when you dont yell at it, just continue to let it bother you... untill it slips..


You are free.

ATS is probably filled with people who do nothing all day but think. It's why we're here! The only time it becomes frustrating is when I'm reading or listening to an audio book. I'll read/hear a sentence or paragraph that reminds me of something else, and off I go into space only to come back 5 or 10 minutes later, realizing I've just missed a couple of pages in the book I was trying to pay attention to. Sometimes it can take me a long time to get through material for this reason, but even though I find that annoying, I do enjoy drifting off toward memories or new ideas and realizations.

If your mind persists on exploring a topic, let it. If you suppress it, it will continue to try to fight it's way back to the forefront. It won't let up until the issue is solved. That's just how it works. If you suppress it during the day, it's possible you'll dream about it when you're sleeping instead. One way of getting rid of persistent thoughts is to write them down. Sometimes writing down your thoughts or feelings can be very therapeutic. It will clear you up.

reply to post by Yeah-Alright


You are correct, thoughts derive out of environmental stimuli and so there is no way to stop them, but there are ways to move beyond them. The ability to remain uneffected or unmoved by your thoughts is truly an art and must be practiced daily in order to work. Meditation is that practice.

However, you MUST understand that suppressing, avoiding and/or ignoring these thoughts is unsustainable and will always result in worse suffering. You cannot destroy or remove thoughts from your mind, you can only convince yourself you have done so, until it arises again with even more fury and strength.

The key is to see these thoughts for what they are by watching where they go and what they maniphest into. Watch as your thoughts of admiration and ambition turn into envy, jealousy, frustration and/or anger. Or watch as your thoughts of loneliness turn into self-hatred, lust and/or anger. Do not judge or like/dislike what you see, just see it for what it is and let it be. With enough practice these thoughts will begin to come and go without effecting you. Then thoughts of resentment and bitterness, or lust and jealousy, will enter your mind but you will have already seen where they will lead you so you will abandon them, move beyond them, with no need to suppress or avoid them.

Good luck!

reply to post by Yeah-Alright


You're more of a right-brained person...most people here probably are...you're bound to me more creative, spontaneous, don't like to follow instructions, allergic to rules ^^, understand the big picture instead of detail

So when you're telling yourself not to think about something you're kind of tricking your brain into thinking about it, since you're instructing yourself not to do something...

Got to let it flow yo

Thank u for the insightful replies. So, I should not try to suppress it and let the thoughts flow freely by just being a passive observer of the thoughts and not letting them affect me, right? Even though I think thoughts are fundamental to human development and I do not ignore them most of the time, but sometimes it becomes necessary to ignore them especially when they start getting to you. There are some instances like that, I'm sure it happens to everyone. Also, while thinking is good but getting lost in thoughts frequently, stops you from being 'present' in the present moment and having awareness.

I have been trying meditation since few years and I admit it is a good thing for mental peace. Getting the mind to go completely blank seems to be difficult at times, though sometimes it is possible to achieve that too.

Just curious to know, how do most of the people practice meditation?! Like paying attention to a particular sound and concentrating on just that, or becoming oblivious to the surroundings by thinking of something, or just achieving a blank state of mind without hearing, seeing or thinking anything else?

Originally posted by Yeah-Alright
Thank u for the insightful replies. So, I should not try to suppress it and let the thoughts flow freely by just being a passive observer of the thoughts and not letting them affect me, right?

I think that's the best way, yeah. And by doing that you don't become involved in the thoughts, which allows them to pass by a lot faster without you thinking further on them and getting annoyed, etc.

reply to post by Yeah-Alright


Better than being a non-thinking person eh

OP good question.

Let me think about it for a while and I'll get back with you.

What bothers me more than thinking when doing mundane things, is when I want to sleep and my brain just won't shut down... I still haven't found the stupid snooze button on my brain

reply to post by Yeah-Alright


The obvious:

You don't have to worry about thoughts not arising in your mind because as long as you have life in your body that movement will continue. Thought is forward movement. This is not to be seen as bad since as you stated it is essential for growth, but, as with any type of movement, it can easily lead to unstability. In our present day and age, most of our emotions, thought patterns and habit energy is increasingly growing more complex in relation to societal and technological factors and thus also growing more unstable.

The confusion:

"There can be no growth without decay. The middle is the way." This is not to be interpreted as, Growth = Bad, but rather, there is a median between growth and decay where suffering is less extreme.

So, there is an old saying that goes, "Go... Go... Go Beyond... and then Stop...", actually this was said in the Buddha's original teaching on meditation. There are two aspects to this meditation, Shamatha and Vipashyana (Vipassana). Often meditation teachers and meditators stress the importance of Vipashyana (Insight/Mindfulness meditation) because its insight can liberate us from suffering and afflictions. Vipashyana is, "Go... Go... Go Beyond...". But the practice of Shamatha or "stopping" ("... and then Stop...") is just as fundamental, for if we cannot stop, then we cannot have (balanced) insight. And vice versa, if we do not have insight, then we cannot stop.

The solution:

So in order to "stop", we must use insight/mindfulness (Vipashyana) to recognize and be present with our habit energies and unstable (unwanted) emotions/thoughts.This will allow us to see these for what they are and thus prevent them from "subconsciously" dominating or controlling us. Once this is achieved, we can then begin to gain more control over our mind and slow the freight train of habit energies and thoughts. With enough practice we can attain "No-Mind" and experience the cessation of thought, this is "Stopping". Now we have a center or balancing point to return to whenever our thought process (Insight/Vipashyana meditation) becomes unstable.

With enough practice of this "Go... Go.... Go Beyond... then Stop..." we can go deeper... and deeper... into our Vipashyana/insight and thus make our way towards achieving liberation from suffering. But again, if we do not understand how to "stop", then our "growth" will surely become unstable and thus turn into decay (ignorance/suffering).

"Go... Go.... Go Beyond... then Stop..."

Well if you get distracted with sounds and such, I have a few tricks that help me suggestion.
First, don´t concentrate, for concentration is a skill of the mind and will keep it tight instead of distended.
Secondly, don't block thoughts or anything else (like sounds) for that matter. Thoughts are what the mind exists for, so we should let them happen.
Third, just pay attention, but (very important) don't analyse. If a thought creeps in your clarity, let it manifest, but again, do´t analyse.
And finally, if a sounds gets hold of you, use it, just paying attention. If a shape comes up use it, just paying attention. If you feel uncomfortable use it, just paying attention.

All in all awareness is just paying attention.

Originally posted by Alchemist13
Well if you get distracted with sounds and such, I have a few tricks that help me suggestion.
First, don´t concentrate, for concentration is a skill of the mind and will keep it tight instead of distended.
Secondly, don't block thoughts or anything else (like sounds) for that matter. Thoughts are what the mind exists for, so we should let them happen.
Third, just pay attention, but (very important) don't analyse. If a thought creeps in your clarity, let it manifest, but again, do´t analyse.
And finally, if a sounds gets hold of you, use it, just paying attention. If a shape comes up use it, just paying attention. If you feel uncomfortable use it, just paying attention.

All in all awareness is just paying attention.

Thanks, I understand what you are saying. I have tried doing that too.. It is helpful.

This is common. But by what you've described, and how you've described it I'm assuming you're maybe a female? This can be more of a struggle for women than men. Us females (if you are a female), have 4 times as many neurons connecting the right and left hemispheres of our brain than men do - if that explains anything. Women especially are inevitably cursed/blessed (how ever you want to look at it) with an unquiet mind. It's also more difficult for women to practice empty mind meditation. Try meditating by coloring mandalas; this has helped me tremendously.