Do people enjoy thinking? Previous work suggests that many people do not enjoy intentional thinking and may prefer even negative external stimulation (e.g., an electric shock) to being alone with their thoughts. One reason is that thinking may require considerable mental control and be harder to do deliberately. In an experience sampling study (N = 171), people enjoyed desirable thoughts more when they occurred spontaneously than when they occurred intentionally. In a second study (N=221), we manipulated how easy it was for people to control their thought contents. Participants generated 8 topics, which they thought about for 6 minutes. People enjoyed thinking more when the computer prompted them with each topic than when they received no prompting. Enjoyment was mediated by decreased mind-wandering and greater ease of concentration. These studies suggest that people enjoy thinking more when cognitive demands are reduced and that enjoyable intentional thought requires mental control.