Originally Posted by
MyNameIsTerry
Thoughts are always popping into our heads, we tend not to notice how busy the mind is until we become anxious.
Thoughts that pop in from the subconscious and are scary are intrusive thoughts. They typically clash with our deep morals & schemas so they evoke a fear reaction, which only reinforces the believe that the thought should be scary. That's why stopping yourself reacting that way is so important to beating them.
But we can also have more casual unscary thoughts too, called Mind Pops. These are a later discovery where the mind is just busy making subtle links to things we see, hear, read, smell, etc. Similiar to how an intrusive thought can be triggered except we don't react with fear to them. Although people who worry about whether random thoughts popping in are a sign of a mre complex mental health issue (typically schizophrenia) tend to latch on them and worry themselves when the reality is that this is exactly how the brain is built to work and everyone experiences it - but being anxious means more focus and noticing of things that we didn't realise were always there.
Why is that phrase scary to you? Do you worry about self harm by any chance? Or losing control?
There was likely a very subtle trigger to the thought but it's no more important than walking around the supermarket and suddenly having a thought you need milk (as a subtle trigger may have prompted that from what you see or hear when walking around).