The pattern
"I'm thinking of" plus an -ing verb shares a plan that is still an idea. "I'm thinking of moving" means you have not decided, you are testing the thought out loud. It sits one step before "I plan to" and two steps before "I've decided to". People use it to float an idea and see how the listener reacts.
That makes it useful socially. It invites an opinion without asking for one: "I'm thinking of cutting my hair short" is really "What do you think?" "Thinking about" works the same way and is equally common.
Say it out loud
Tap a sentence to hear it. Say it after the voice.
"Thinking about" and "thinking of" mean the same thing here.
The past form softens it even more: the idea was there, nothing happened yet.
Check yourself
Practice · 3 min
Float an idea. Prompt on the left, one natural sentence on the right.
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Say it today
Use it once in a real conversation before tomorrow. Out loud counts, even to yourself.