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There is no baby, it's bathwater all the way down.

Bath water has a specific purpose and society would be pretty poorly off if everyone stopped using it.

Haha, funny :)

You know the experience where you're reading something, only to discover that your eyes are just scanning the page while your mind wanders? During that time, you're thinking about something without knowing that you're thinking about it. This mode occurs all day long, and not only while you're reading.

The "baby" is the ability to recognize the tens of thousands of thoughts you are thinking every day without knowing that you are. This can offer tremendous insight into your mood and personality (and how to change them if you wish).

It's exhausting just keeping up with the thoughts that I do know about. I'm perfectly happy to let my autonomous systems keep doing their autonomous things and only demanding my attention when something requires higher-level intervention, just as they've evolved to do.

I find mind-wandering exhausting whether or not I'm aware of it. The difference is that I can now choose not to fall into the same old cycles for the n-thousandth time, because I'm aware that I'm doing it.

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