I do a monthly Q&A for students of my course. Here is a question from August 2026, and an edited version of my answer.

Is it even possible to think about something and be present in the environment you're in? I notice whenever I think about something, like some task from work, or what I should do in the evening, I get into this kind of fog and forget about everything around me to some extent.

The fog you're describing is a contraction of awareness. In this case, your awareness is mostly contracting around your own thinking to the exclusion of the other domains of awareness (this is a map I introduce in the course).

It is possible to think while being present in the world, but it's counter to a lot of people's habits and can feel unfamiliar. That unfamiliarity guides you back into contraction, particularly in a demanding context like work where thinking just needs to happen regardless of how you feel. (This is actually how these kinds of habits form: there is some urgency or pressure, and you do whatever works, even if it isn't the best way. If it works, it crystallises.)

At the same time, I don't want to imply that all thinking should happen while fully spacious and present to the world. There are modes of cognition that seem to require more resources and come with some contraction.

Contraction is not the same as forgetting yourself, though. You can have contracted awareness, perhaps to use cognitive systems that require it, while still knowing that you're there, able to notice what's happening and make new choices. You can't inhibit your habits if you're not 'there' to inhibit them.

Forgetting yourself might look like going from task to task on autopilot without awareness of the bigger picture. Is this the right task to be working on? Is this the best way to go about this task? Is this even worth doing? It's also what leads from thinking about your evening to scrolling recipes to watching YouTube videos, because you weren't there to catch yourself.

This isn't what you're describing, as you're talking about forgetting everything around you, but I've gone through it to clarify the difference. In this case, I think some amount of it is fine and natural, but there are two things you can experiment with.

First, the skill I teach is not to be spacious all the time, but to bring more conscious awareness and control to these dynamics of your experience. When you notice the world getting foggy, great! Good noticing. You could then choose to expand out again and come into a larger space, or you could choose to continue your work as you are.

I don't want you to notice the fog and judge that as bad. I want you to be able to notice the fog and ask—is this what I want? And then to be able to make a constructive change if it's not what you want. Really, this work is about avoiding getting stuck in any mode, like contracting into work and forgetting the world and, often, yourself.

Second, I would encourage you to consider that it is possible to think without forgetting the world, even if you're not sure yet whether it is. The reason for this is that your habit of contracting to think is likely a lot stronger than is necessary for whatever cognitive function that may require the contraction. Can you forget the world less while still thinking?

In my experience, something paradoxical happens when I think while spaciously aware of the world: the quality of my thinking improves, and thinking often happens by itself. Consider the possibility that you have two ways of thinking: a contracted way, which will probably feel familiar, and a spacious way, which will probably feel unfamiliar. What's it like to get to know the unfamiliar, spacious way of thinking?

For example, one student noticed this while reading:

"Practising this while reading a book. Definite change in cognition, understanding the text in front of me coming much quicker, much less need to re-read challenging concepts. Super powers? maybe." — @_le_big_mac

As you've been reading this, have you contracted? Is the world in a fog? Just let your awareness expand out again, let your attention move around, and remember that you could put the device away and do something else.

What's your experience like now?