Although I enjoy the scent of patchouli once in awhile, I am not an earth-mother-y type at all. I look really bad in tie-dye. Clove cigarettes make me wheeze.

But there is one thing I do believe in: The Workings of the Subconscious Mind.

I think your brain is smarter than you are. I think, if you give it a problem, it will work it out in a reasonable way you might not have thought of on your own. Enter the unconscious.

For example, I am persistently and continuously tired. Not sure why, all the time, but the fact remains that, given ten minutes and soft place to lie down, I will pass out.

BUT sometimes I court that moment because it’s during those unconscious periods I solve a problem. Say, a plot problem. This happened at the laundromat the other day. I was waiting for the towels to dry (pesky things, they still weren’t dry at the end of the cycle. I showed them, I hung them up in the bathroom to air out). And, as is my wont, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I had solved a plot problem. And this has happened many times before, too many times for me to chalk it up to anything but my mind working while I’m sleeping.

I am fascinated by the brain and how it works. How come I can remember the birthday of my best friend growing up, a guy I hadn’t spoken to in over 30 years (I just googled and found him and confirmed the date), but I can’t remember why I went in the kitchen? Why does my brain bother doing anagrams–ALL THE TIME–when there are things like bills to pay and books to be written?

And yes, this has a been a particularly intense stream-of-consciousness post. So sue me, I’m tired, and the MIL has just left Brooklyn.

So–what are you thinking about today? What spurs your brain to solve problems? What oddball things do you remember that there is no reason for you to do so?