Floating Thoughts
The train of thought and the journey towards to self-awareness
Have you ever thought about your thoughts? About what you think while you’re thinking? The train of thoughts that occurs in your mind.
A train of thought is literally a train of thoughts. A continuous chain of thoughts, just like a train that has carriages. Each thought a carriage, linked to the next carriage. During this train of thought we remain unconscious within our subconscious mind. Unconscious from one thought to the next.
What happens between these thought carriages, and how do we become conscious?
How many thoughts do you remember on a daily basis?
According to neuroscience research in 2020 conducted by Dr. Jordan Poppenk and Julie Tseng at Queen’s University in Canada, the average person has around 6000 thoughts per day. That equates to approximately 6.5 thoughts per minute over a typical 16-hour waking period.
Most of these 6000 thoughts dissolve into the abyss, a silent procession of carriages passing through without notice. Some of these thoughts we remember during our daily activities. A thought lingers. The train slows down as we link the thoughts to previous experiences, beliefs, baseline data within our subconscious mind using our survival, emotional or higher intelligence towards the intended pursuit of inherent desires.
Typically, our mind unconsciously jumps from thought carriage to carriage along multiple tracks with different stations due to our past experiences. These past experiences can cause the train of thoughts to run loosely to undesired train stations.
Without reflection of these thoughts, the train continues its journey down the track either dissolving into inaction or causing emotions that lead to our actions in an unconscious manner. These unconscious actions are what we have always continued to do, acting in a subconscious manner. Habits we have formed during our life in our subconscious mind.
Consider a normal morning, waking up with our first thought of the day—perhaps a memory, a to-do, or a fleeting worry. Unconsciously before we realize it, we are already at thought seventeen. Somewhere between thought carriages seventeen and eighteen, we may become self-aware for a moment. But due to the force of the train of thought we again fall back to unconscious thinking. This continues at our day at work. We jump from one activity to the next, responding to emails, phone calls, tasks, interruptions etc. The train of thoughts jumps tracks. The direction changes in seconds.
When the train is running, speeding along the tracks, we remain unconscious. Thoughts blur past, and their pace is set by our internal state of consciousness. The faster train, the more turbulent the mind.
The speed depends on the nature of thoughts and the level of consciousness we’re operating in that moment. A restless mind generates restless motion. A still mind invites the train to slow.
Eventually, the train of thought comes to a stop. This stop in thought is where we become consciously aware of our thoughts.
This is the consciousness train stop.
A moment to pause. To have a break. To have a cup of tea. To breathe. And become aware of the thoughts and look at them from a distance with gentle detachment.
It is conscious thought that sets us apart from every other living organism and creature. We possess the rare ability to think about our thinking using our intelligence to become self-aware. Through this awareness, humans have been able to evolve to the top of the food chain using consciousness. Guided not just by instinct, but by the power to reflect. Using this ability, we can reflect on our inner world. Consciously witnessing the thought of thinking, has been an instrument for intelligence to evolve by using both unconscious and conscious thoughts to where we have arrived today.
“We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.” — Swami Vivekananda
Observing these thoughts consciously by arriving at a train stop is self-awareness. The station of self-awareness.
All that exists between thoughts is self-awareness. On a daily basis we jump on and off the train of thought where self-awareness exists.
Between these individual thoughts, thought carriage 1 and carriage 2 is where we consciously or unconsciously make a decision.
A full conscious decision is only made when we stop at a station. The station of self-awareness. Unlinking these thought carriages is where self-awareness exists. Just watching these thoughts float by is self-awareness. Just like observing the clouds pass by in the sky, we can observe our thoughts in self-awareness. Self-awareness increases the ability to watch these fleeting thoughts pass. Informed unbiased decision making only occurs when the time between these thoughts is increased. Consciously making decisions with intent and purpose, in self-awareness mode.
Self-awareness mode is the state in which we consistently observe our own thinking. It’s a mode where we don’t just have thoughts, we are watching and observing each one.
And in watching, we ask: Are these the thoughts I want to be having?
This act of watching the thoughts is voluntary. That’s what makes it so elusive.
The mind prefers a train rolling down an endless track with momentum.
Self-awareness requires a pause. It asks us to step back from thought and simply notice. To allow a gap.
Just observing this gap, something profound begins to unfold. We begin to sense a deeper awareness of the higher Self.
The purpose of the Self.
We start to find our Self.
The past and future dissipate. Only this moment exists.
The Self that exists, here and now.
The Self is the observer of the train of thought. The Self is the conductor of train of thought. The conductor is always consciously aware of the self, watching the thought carriages from a distance and remaining completely detached.
So the next time a thought arises, don’t chase it. Just pause. Watch the space between. In that stillness, you may notice: You are not the train. You are the one who watches from the platform—silent, whole, and already home.