I ran the first test of ThoughtCounter with my partner Katie.
The setup: I asked her first to sit for 30 seconds, focus on her breath, calm her mind. Then I gave her the simple instructions: click the pen whenever a new thought arises. That’s it.
Results: She clicked 11 times in one minute.
Afterwards, I asked for feedback. Her first response, “I thought I was having lots more thoughts…”
So already, there’s an interesting gap in perception – she felt like she was thinking constantly, but only counted 11 distinct thoughts. What happened to the rest?
Another suggestion she had, “Don’t do the breathing exercise before. You’re not going to teach anybody anything if you’re asking them to go into a meditative state first. You’re already asking people to shift their natural thinking brain.”
She’s right. If people try and proactively calm their state of mind, it won’t be their actual daily thinking, judging, chattering mind.
I want people to see that mind, not the quieter version they can access after breathing exercises.
For the next tests, there will be no preparation. I’ll just brief them and we’ll start the timer.
What counts as a thought?
Interestingly, Katie’s experience was almost entirely visual, “Everything I was observing was coming out of my imagination, but it would be like a picture. Everything was a nature based picture, I was looking at a snake skin up close, in my brain. That’s just where it got to.”
But she described her “normal thoughts” – the ones dominating daily life – as being different, “Did I leave my keys? What’s for dinner? Does that person like me? What can I do to make them like me?”
I think that’s what most people would recognise as thoughts.
She flagged that everyone thinks differently. Some people are highly visual. Others are verbal. Some think in abstract concepts. There’s a real neurodivergence in how thought operates.
The instruction needs to be: “A thought can be verbal commentary, visuals, planning, worrying, imagining – all of it counts. Just bring your attention to whatever arises & note it.”
Why this installation makes sense
The gap between what she counted and what she felt is the revelation.
Most of what happens in our mind, happens without our awareness. Thoughts arise automatically whether we’re noticing them or not. They dominate our lives but are easily overlooked or questioned.
The installation makes this visible through direct experience. And in the failure to accurately count, something is revealed about how consciousness works.
The scientific measurement (vs. your count) will make the gap obvious – the numbers will prove it.
The work is the experience of confronting how little we actually witness moment to moment.
Next steps
I’m going to test it with a few more people and will ask them the following questions, and see what else comes up. I’m not going to prescribe too much – whether they need to keep eyes open or closed – I’m more interesting how people respond with less instructions.
Instructions before:
- You’ll sit for 1 minute and click whenever you notice a thought
- A thought is anything from verbal commentary, visuals, planning, worrying, imagining – all of it counts.
- Just bring your attention to whatever arises, note it & click
Questions after:
- How many times did you click?
- Did that feel like a lot or not many?
- Did you lose count at any point?
- Describe what kind of thoughts came up?
- Was anything interesting revealed or noticed?
- How did it feel doing this?
- Any other observations or suggestions?