Under what circumstances do your most profound thoughts occur?

3am. Little sleep. Much to do. Not enough coffee.

Productive happens in the shower. Almost always in flurries of good ideas.

Profound comes between 3 and 5AM. The witching hour. And they aren’t normally happy thoughts.

Happens every time.

10:13pm

Crazy answer, but when I’m answering nature’s call on the porcelain throne. That, or doing cooking tasks. Both sort of free the mind in a Zen kinda way, one with the Universe, etc.

You are presuming that I have profound thoughts.

Probably when I’m lying in bed trying to fall asleep. Of course, that’s not necessarily good because then it makes it harder to sleep, but I get so many good ideas and interesting ideas during that time.

Any time I am driving for long periods of time.

….. late, Fri/Sat nites, < or = 3 glasses of shiraz, quiet house, pen and pocket moleskine at-hand OR Evernote/Vitalist at fingertips…....

Bouncing ideas off my brilliant friends.

Or the boring way: sitting at my desk, pushing through, one step at a time. But I guess that’s more problem solving than profound thoughts. (Maybe I don’t have any of those? What are profound thoughts, anyway?)

When I listen to profound music. For example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Safk6SdY0T8

@doggywuv

Yes, I forgot. Music definitely causes profound thoughts in me and Arvo Part is an excellent example.

If I take a long nap during the day, then stay up late, I’m usually most productive after midnight.

They generally come when I’m daydreaming.

Unfortunately after smoking a spliff…not a practice I can indulge in much lately but it is something about being in this euphoric state that rises my conscience and makes me ponder things I don’t find the time for under normal circumstances…one reason why I think it should be legalized. Plus ironically I answer to a higher moral standard at these times that don’t allow me to lie to myself.

In the shower. (There’s no pen and paper to write them down!)

Usually when I’m walking outside, strolling along the streets of SoHo seems to be where almost all of my creative ideas come from.

Profound? In the twilight between sleep and wakefulness. When absently drying the dishes. When looking out the window on a bus.

- Usually when I visit the bathroom.
Today I actually had a great idea in there and I also thought to myself: “damn, I should hang a note-block and a pen on the inside of the door”.
– When I lie down in bed (somewhere between 2am and 5am) as I’m about to sleep, this is the time I let go of all that needs to be done and worries. And ideas begin to flow. I keep a notepad next to my bed.
– Riding the train for 2 hours gives you time to contemplate, no need there to think of worries or things that need to be done either.

It’s just that when you work on things for several hours. Just that little few minutes of brake time, walking to somewhere else can take your mind off things and free up some creativeness.
I hear a lot of people mix work with outdoor walks or recreational things in-between.

Balance between the things you have to do and the time you have no obligations can make a big difference.

(I think Google along with many other creative organisations run their company this way)

Random.

When driving alone, with no music on. Also, like others have said, before falling asleep.

when i saw that question i thought more about what is happening in my life that tends to provoke, or impel, profound realisations.
I have a good friend with MS, and i remember her saying that, much as she raged against the thought, she had to acknowledge that she never would have reached the state of…what to call it…insight? wisdom? if she had never contracted MS. Another guy I know with Parkinsons says the same thing. He also says that now he’s learn’t what he needs to learn, he wishes it would go away! I hope and trust that profundity can also come from joyful experiences though.
My last profound thought was in a Yoga class, at the end when meditating. But i have to agree with other comments that those early hours of the morning definitely are times when the rug feels like its been pulled out from under me – can expose powerful fears and/or realisations.

Under no circumstances.

Dreaming. I used to wake up and start writing or drawing. It’s been a long time though since I’ve felt anything profound, becoming a slouch.

I go for long walks at night a lot. I always manage to find a street that I’ve never been on that leads to some new block of streets or patch of woods that I never knew about. I think it’s something about navigating through a new space; when I’m walking I’m able to figure things out for myself and make decisions that other times I have a hard time with. Usually by the time I come to a street I know and have that “Ah, so that’s where I am” moment, I’ve already had a similar moment in regards to whatever decision I was trying to make.

I used to come up with cool/interesting/new ideas while I was high, but lately this hasn’t been happening, at least not with pot. Other substances I’ve been using do produce cool ideas, but I can’t always remember them.

As for profound thoughts: they come whenever I think. If I’m reading a book, and I stop to pursue an idea that came to me while reading, or if I’m on the bus and I just think, I usually end up with a few good ideas.

Almost always in the shower, no matter what time of day/night. Sometimes they’ll also occur very late at night when I lay down to sleep.