What sort of activity goes on in the brain, when we are thinking?

- Ideas come to us because we sort of connect dots on things we already have knowledge of?

In essence, yes. The brain is made up of neurons which are like little electrical cables,and those light up with activity when we think.

- But what triggers them?

Anything really, it can be external or internal. A memory is triggered by a smell or a sight.
Though smell is the strongest sense tied to memory. You smell something and your brain lights up like a Christmas tree. So, the more connections there are to a memory the stronger it will be when its triggered

If you have an idea it will start of as a serious of random signals and if your brain likes how things are connecting then those connections get stronger, eventually you become 'consciously aware' of the idea or thought and start to pay attention to it. Lots of stuff happen in our subconscious that we are not aware of.

It just kind of happens.

When you get a half thought up idea its an idea that was building in your subconscious but did not have time to fully form before you became aware of it. So it just kind of dies off half way through.

We come up with ideas depending on our knowledge, experience, background, or even based on what we have been doing that same day. We all connect the dots in different ways, and we all think differently that is what make us unique as human beings.

The person next to you, relates to the enviroment and experiences in a complete different way than you do.