The stream of consciousness refers to ideas, images, and memories that meander across the mind when we are otherwise unoccupied. The standard view is that these thoughts arise from "automatic" subpersonal processes, and we are for the most part passive observers of them. Drawing on a series of laboratory studies we have conducted, I argue this view is importantly incorrect. On the alternative view I put forward, the stream of consciousness arises from “basic decisions”, a ubiquitous and underappreciated feature of our mental life. Basic decisions lie in a grey zone: They are both manifestations of agency as well as obstacles to it.