Thoughts vs ideas

2025…

Sitting on the subway heading toward Manhattan.

Everyone in the car has their head down, staring at their phone.

Lately, I have to admit that my social media consumption has gone up a bit too much. I have no idea why… I think I just slowly stopped being interested in what’s around me. And it bothers me enough to make me wonder what I could do about it. Like, I honestly think it’s a problem.

Because it feels like it’s never enough, right? The phone… Entertainment is great, but do we really need to be entertained that much? Every fucking minute of our lives, do we really need to see something new? I seem to have nothing else to do.

Life suddenly feels less exciting. Everything is boring, and I feel useless…

I’ve had a few conversations with other people — artists — and it seems like they’re experiencing the same kind of inner dialogue. I absolutely understand the artists who rebel and rage against whatever he doesn’t want to comply with.

Because the artist are the creator/ maker of new realities. But now, it seems like, slowly, people are agreeing into something that is not reality. From an artist viewpoint this is total failure. He has failed to create something people get interested in.

We get the feeling we work harder than anyone else, and then at night, we go on YouTube and see WhistlinDiesel blowing up his fourth Ferrari while laughing — just for fun, for the masses. And hypocritically, it bothers us just enough that we have to convince ourselves it doesn’t.

Or we see the artistic “performances” of Dr. Kiyasu moaning into his snare drum while being applauded by hundreds on Instagram because they’re the only ones “intelligent” enough to understand and appreciate that this is “ART” — a noisy mess that looks more like someone having a mental breakdown, lost in their own ideas about originality.

So what’s the point of being a creator striving for a high level of aesthetic when the things that gain value around us are shocking, destructive, or just fucking weird?

It’s strange because it feels like a problem that’s everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It’s kind of invisible, but you feel it. Anyway, yeah… So how do you fight this feeling of being bored with life and thinking you’re useless?

I think if there’s a secret to discover here, it’s this: Widen your space. And I’m not talking about moving into a bigger apartment.

When our attention is fixed on a space that’s too small, I think what happens (at least for me) is that we turn inward.

And that’s when the fun starts to disappear. That’s when we start thinking too much. That’s when we throw ourselves on the pyre. When call ourselves impostors.

Being alone in my thoughts has never really helped me personally, and I spent most of my professional time alone writing music that has to come out of my imagination for a living. So it may look like a problem you see. But I came to understand that, thoughts and ideas are very different.

It’s my own thoughts that make me believe my ideas aren’t good.

It’s also my thoughts that make me feel like maybe I’m not “cool enough” to write to a band I’d really love to work with.

It’s in those moments that I start thinking maybe the reason I’m on revision 12 of cue 32 is because deep down, I don’t have what it takes. But at the same time… there’s me in the middle of all this turbulence who knows that’s not true.

That, I think, is the result of a space that’s too small. Ideas go quiet, but thoughts scream betrayal. And we decide the traitor is ourselves.

There’s a big difference between thoughts and ideas. Ideas make us go outside, make us build. Ideas are what keep things going — they’re why we get on the plane to reach a destination. Ideas go outward, and thoughts go inward. Ideas expand space. Thoughts shrink it.

And all of this leads to the realization that the damn phone has become one of the biggest thought-generating machines. And that’s not good for anyone.

It’s totally fine, after a 12-hour shift, to want to sit back and unwind by watching videos of cats falling into trash cans. I honestly don’t see anything wrong with that. But overall, it can become a slow and sneaky trap if we let ourselves get carried away by boredom. Because I think boredom is a symptom of a lack of space and action. That’s why I try to stay out of my head, and playing music makes that incredibly easier. Because to make good music I have to have ideas, not thoughts.

But it’s not just music that helps. Bringing yourself back into the present moment and simply doing something helps too: gardening, painting, jogging, cooking, reading a book or just simply actually looking at things in front of you like it’s the first time you see it. I mean at the moment I’m traveling underground at 30 miles an hours in a train while writing on a computer that is linked to satellite network wirelessly. Imagine having to explain this to someone who lived a 100 years ago.

Now, just think of all the wonderful ideas that will probably never see the light of day because our attention is glued to a 5-inch screen.

I’m not saying social media and phones should be banned forever or that they’re the devil. I mean there not phone there literally computers but anyway… I’m just saying, if you feel like you’re bored to death, maybe it’s because your attention is stuck on your thoughts.

And the best solution is just to have an idea — and do it. Make a plan, it doesn’t have to be an impossible one, just make one and chase it and the thinking might stop and more ideas will come.

Alright, my stop is coming up. Time to get off.