Hacker News Reader

I've actually found that forced "tangential" thinking makes me fall asleep really fast. Basically, free association but you have to move onto the next thing instantly (eg. Think of a feather and then it's like a comb and maybe the comb is green then green grass, etc). I just seamlessly transition into dreaming. The key is not dwelling but moving on right away so you don't get stuck on things like "where are my car keys" or whatever.

View on HN

That sounds really similar to what I often do. I often start picturing a tree, then I force one transition and feel like I let the brain switch images without my involvement.

It's really hard to describe it but here is a simplified example.

Tree -> zoom into the leaves which are actually a field of grass -> there is a small pond -> pond is now growing -> I see a sky now -> random colors and shapes are showing up... And it keeps on going and I don't even notice when I fall asleep.

Hmm, sometimes I wake up in few minutes after falling asleep and realize that my mind did exactly what you described, but without my intent. Just quickly changing thoughts with no focus, as if gc started its mark phase.

That's why I consider this behaviour as more like a symptom of falling asleep. When things get fast and weird it's the sign that the slow consciousness has almost disconnected.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com