A metacognitive loop is a maintaining cycle of recursive self-analysis in which the mind begins observing its own operations: a thought is noted, then the observation is analyzed, then the analysis itself is analyzed. The system tries to describe its own functioning indefinitely, like a process that has begun logging its own log. The loop amplifies cognitive noise and replaces living with a report about living. The way out usually comes not through ‘even subtler’ analysis, but through stopping the recursion: ceasing commentary and returning to direct experience of what is happening.