when I am playing alone, my time varies a lot, and I just don't care. Most of the time in that situation, there is no reason to emphasize keeping good time.  When playing with other musicians, I don't seem to have any trouble keeping time.    Usually, what is running through my head at that point is either  "wow, I wish this was being recorded..." or "wow, I hope they change the music soon, this sucks!"  

I think about sounds. I think about the sounds from the rest of the band and the sounds I want to make from the drums to fit with them. Normally, I'm only half counting, since most situations I can just feel the beats and measures. For extended syncopated rhythms, I count them more directly.

I don't see anything wrong with not worrying about time when playing alone. Since it is usually the primary focus on drums, a break from it now and then is fun. I usually practice with a metronome to emphasize time, but when I want to have a good time (pardon the pun), I turn off the metronome. I can relax a little more, and the creativity flows much better because I naturally gravitate to whatever tempo is necessary to whatever idea comes across my mind. Then, after finding some good ideas, I go back and work them with the metronome.

I try not to focus too much (if at all) on my guitarists, especially if they don't keep good time.
I try to stay in my own world and play what I'm supposed to play and let them follow me instead.

I don't explicitly think about time-keeping much when I'm playing, unless it's something very slow so I need to count/tap the subdivisions, or a complicated or syncopated thing which I'm not terribly comfortable with yet.

There is one song my band plays however, where I do tend to get a bit of a rocking motion going with my body, not really intentionally, it just feels good and in my opinion makes the song groove a bit more.

my body is literally itching to dance...

if i dont feel like dancing, neither will my audience.

i've noticed that anytime i really feel grooving, there is nothing going on except grooving. i sort of feel you have to be a sponge and soak up everything else going on and be a part of the whole. my drumming approach is to stay relaxed, even while putting out lots of energy, and stay open for playing what i feel in the moment - just let it happen.

i also think that if you aren't keeping good time, you aren't grooving... the time should just "be there".

drumguru, that's a cool suggestion that might help some people out. i think part of the key is to have solid time in the body, but allow the playing to flow.

Well it has to be with a great groovin bass player for it to work for me. I hook up with his line and he hooks into my bass drum. Then we work over the top of that. There is only one guy that I can really get that deep pocket with.

I think about the ONE and play the pulse around it...which takes care of the time. Usually I shut my eyes unless we come to a part that may need some visual communicaiton. My shoulders and head sway a little, yep the body has to go with it.  I look for the spell or the zen of a deep groove when things kinda go on auto-pilot.

Then we have some fun. If you are in a deep groove it is fun to play around the bass player and have him play off it. Therea are thousands of small adjustments we both make to keep it tasty. But like I said, without a grooving bass player you can't really explore the pocket.

ox

Hopefully, while I'm grooving, everyone else is too!

But the answer is Nothing.  I try to allow my brain to be as uncluttered as possible while playing, too much stuff floating around in there tends to get in the way of the music.  I meditate for a period before playing and strive to empty my mind of distractions, worries, problems etc.  If my mind is cluttered, so is my music.

Keeping good time is fun.  In fact, it's so fun that other musicians will want to have fun with you.  And as your timekeeping gets better, better musicians will want to jam with you.  Whether you realize it or not, when you are just playing alone and not practicing. . . you're practicing.  Every good habit you have formed and every bad habit that goes uncorrected will become more ingrained in your playing.

To answer the original question, in performance I try not to analyze it too much.  Usually I am "in the music" and having fun.  If the alarm goes off in the internal clock then I do a quick analysis to see why things aren't feeling good and try to correct it.  Here's an anecdote:

In college, when the conductor of the Wind Ensemble heard something "sour" he would stop the rehearsal and begin to tune the offending chord starting with the low brass and go all the way up.  One day my percussion instructor who is also a composer, brought in a piece that he was working on in to the Wind Ensemble rehearsal.  When the group would play a chord out of tune,  he would simply say "Okay, this time when we get to bar 37 play it in tune".  I was amazed to discover that often times, just being aware of the problem is enough.  
Likewise, when I'm playing a groove the only question in my mind is "is it feeling good?"  Good luck!