> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.gilespcroft.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Modes of thinking - URL: https://www.gilespcroft.com/modes-of-thinking/ - Published: 2024-06-18T07:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-02-17T12:56:49.000Z - Description: Neither is “right” or “wrong;” “better” or ”worse,” but it's good to be aware of what's on offer. 🌳 - Author: Giles P Croft - Tags: Presence, Cycling, Thought realisation, Moods, Quick insight, TRUE NATURE, Attention, Consciousness, Identity, Meditation, Nature & Outdoors, Real stories I went out for a really hilly bike ride on roads I’d never tried before. It was quite spectacular and I discovered a secret little wild camping spot that I shall be taking the family back to this summer. I love cycling for all the reasons you can google for yourself and what’s more I get to observe my thinking while I’m at it. (Hiking’s the same.) Something about the mind-body unit being mostly on autopilot during these activities, seems to free up capacity. **I noticed two different modes of thinking.** The first I’ll call ‘active’ or ‘analytical’ thinking. This was all intellectual: the mind having a chat with itself, judging what was happening, and dragging my feelings with it, wherever it went. It fell into two camps: 🗣 **Positive/self-congratulatory** (things going the way ego wants), e.g. what a good route I chose; isn’t the weather great; I’m glad I’ve got my gilet with me; good grief this scenery is *phenomenal!* 🗣 **Negative/self-critical** (things *not* going the way ego wants), e.g. oh no, not *another* f\*\*\*ing hill, this was a bad choice; it’s not quite as warm as I’d hoped; now what’s that annoying sound from the bike? Back and forth, back and forth, arguing with itself, mostly (e.g. “*Blimey it’s chilly up here… ah, but remember, you were going to put on a thin vest as a base layer but instead you chose a merino t-shirt, it could be so much worse…”)* It’s enough to drive a man insane!!! 🤪 (Incidentally, another two flavours of this kind of thinking are [daydreaming & worrying](https://www.gilespcroft.com/daydreaming-vs-worrying/), but that’s another story for another time.) --- But then… There was presence. The witnessing. Not just of what was happening, but of EVERYTHING. Let’s call this ‘passive’ or ‘perceptual’ thinking, with its main characteristic being the *lack* of mental activity & analysis. At one point, I was cycling up a ludicrously steep hill in a beautiful woodland that took me right back to the Belgian Ardennes. Initially there was the usual background noise of positive & negative active thinking, and then, something in the alchemy of the moment made it all fall away. ✨ The hairs stood up on the back of my neck, a silence descended (in my head) and I could feel the space I was inhabiting, in relation to all around me. The sounds of the forest seemed to get turned up and the colours were just mind-blowing. I could smell the soil. There was no real judgement of any of it… just an all-encompassing awe. Now, there were loads of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ things happening concurrently in that moment (e.g. the memory of my Belgian tour, the blissful remoteness of my location; the pain in my legs, my laboured breathing, the damned clicking when I was out of the saddle) but they all just went into the mix as pure perception, without any analysis. There was no Giles, no commentary, just ***this.*** 🔑 ****Key Message**: Who you really are is BEFORE thought. And here’s the thing. That’s what I remember most clearly about that 5 hour bike ride. Not all the celebrating & griping of the dualistic mind, but that 30 seconds or so of non-duality. Just experiencing it all. Being it all. It’s powerful stuff, reality, and it’s always there, waiting for us to fall back into. We don’t need forests to experience it - it can happen in really extreme, or really mundane moments. And I think it’s all just about attention. Is our attention on that exquisite, expansive sensation of life itself? Or is it being drawn by the mind? Both are options! 💟 Giles ### Related [Daydreaming vs. worrying“Is it ok to daydream?” is a question I have been asked many a time 💭![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/icon/DR_Lockup-Black-3-399.png)The Daily RemindersGiles P Croft![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/thumbnail/9F0E9F9D-A05E-49F4-B085-F0064752BFC9_1_105_c-1.jpeg)](https://www.gilespcroft.com/daydreaming-vs-worrying/) Two special types of 1: ‘Active/Analytical’ thinking, explored