My theory? We think while we sleep. It's not a "normal" kind of thinking, more free association as your brain wanders around various connections it's made, test

My theory? We think while we sleep. It's not a "normal" kind of thinking, more free association as your brain wanders around various connections it's made, testing them out. But I also believe we string together larger concepts. We just don't remember it. When you awaken, your mind has all of those new tentative associations and is ready to try them out by writing them down. As you go through the day, it gets "cluttered" again, going back to using almost extensively older, tried-and-true connections.