How does your inner voice or voices talk to you?

[Ignoramusgiganticus]

I call myself a bloody idiot if I do something stupid but generally my inner voice is fairly quiet. I might replay conversations or scenarios over a few times late at night but generally I'm busy and I don't hear a lot going on in my head.

Tonight it transpires a friend has constant dialogues going on in her mind between a "good" voice and a "bad" voice and she has to adjudicate over who "wins". It sounds tiring and hard work.

How does your inner voice or voices talk to you?

I guess mine just says things which I would like to say if I could get away with it. My inner voice would get me in trouble.

Mine is there all the time. I could go days without a positive thought rattling around my head.

If your voice is generally negative, can you ever feel happy?

My inner voice used to be very self-loathing, and put me down a lot. I used to suffer from depression and anxiety, which was perpetuated by the negative inner voice.

When I met DH he noticed that my sense of humour was very self-deprecating, and whilst most people found it funny he didn't. He taught me to say kind things about myself, which in turn helped me not think so negatively about myself. It's taken years, but my inner voice is generally quite kind to me now.

When I'm feeling anxious, my inner voice sometimes soothes me and I picture it as an external person stroking my hair and telling me everything will be ok.

I've trained the inner voice not to spiral into despair - I'm now able to stop catastrophising early on.

I've never discussed my inner voice with anyone before. I feel it makes me sound insane when I try and describe it, although I'm sure it's normal!!

It’s always negative stuff. I feel like I lost my sense of humour years ago. I feel in a bad mood all the time. I know I need to have control and try and turn it all around.

I’m dreaming of ways to turn it around. More reading of books for pleasure. Some dancing for exercise. Eating better food. Engaging in favourite hobby. Walking for exercise.

My inner voice is a running commentary on how shit the world is, other people, politicians, Donald Trump, Brexit... Oooh, a butterfly! How lovely! And it has the attention span of a sparrow and is easily distracted by pretty and/or shiny things.

Mine talks like Trump:

"I'm gonna pick the best apples...the best...believe me..."

I have conversations.

Two voices, both mine, seeing two points of view.

Nuts.

I will replay scenarios, conversations, and do everything all at one. The only time it calms down is when I'm staring out a window on a train/car. Only time I never think. It's really odd.

Also, it's all one volume. You can't yell or whisper to yourself because it's all the same.

My voice tends to be sarcastic and way more vocal than I am personally.

A running chat in my head! It usually just observes and talks as my outer self would

Sometimes able to rebut itself but it's mainly just one voice/perspective.

It can be quite negative and a bit rude. Also I know it's my opinion but very funny as well, haha

This is so interesting! My inner voice used to be quite anxious and spiraling. Luckily, it is more peaceful now.

At the moment mine is singing baby shark on loop. She’s very annoying and won’t let me sleep.

@parpulous an point well made. 🌈💐

at last! ive found my people!

i honestly thought it was just me. on my own with an inner voice of negativity - always pulling me down saying negative things in my head. again, like PP the only time it really stops is when im travelling and staring out of the window watching the world go by. thats the time when i can press pause and just think.

I consciously seek to do good deeds every day to counter balance the nagativity.

i need to travel more .

thank you OP for this thread, Im beginning to realise that I have been depressed and probably still am in part.

on the strength of this post I am going to actively change thibgs around... walk more get more fresh air and teach my inner voice to love me.

oh the irony! i physically type in [ FLOWERS ] and get a gin bottle. how funny

flowers!

I thought everyone had an inner voice?
Mine is constant, re-running things I should have said differently and done differently. Remembering things I need to do.
Worrying about things my kids have to do. Blaming myself when things go wrong. Logically I know these things are not my fault but I am responsible for teaching my kids and my voice says I should have taught them better.

I realise it's very negative most of the time and I try and consciously think nice things about myself but the unconscious wins.

I do wonder if I'm depressed but then it will perk up. I think as someone said above, it's hormone related.
Sorry for the long post.

My inner voice never, ever shuts up. Arguing with itself constantly: weighing things up, considering how to do things differently, chastising me, then comforting me... it’s exhausting being me.

I swear dh doesn’t have anything like as much as I do going on in his head!

I think everyone does have an inner voice. It just surprised me when my friend said she can separate hers into two distinct voices.

It seems that not everyone's inner voice is kind to them. Mine forgives me if I cock up frequently It's interesting how some people say they've trained their voice to be less negative. I wonder if this is something that can be done consciously, or whether it happens naturally as we grow older and wiser. How much is innate in our personalities and how much has our voice been shaped by experiences? How much is it set in stone from our childhood or changed with adult experiences?

to those who've realised that their voice is negative.

I had counselling and retrained mine to be kind. It has made immeasurable difference to my happiness.

Mine is like a busy pub with several conversatioms/thought tracks going on at once. It rarely talks to me directly although I might use it to coach myself through something hard. Usually I would do this out loud if I can, though. It's neither positive nor negative and there aren't really arguments but I do find it hard to keep track of what's going on sometimes.

I have ADHD and apparently it's a common trait to have these multiple thought tracks. I've heard on medication it tends to simmer down to one or two. That would make things easier.

Mine just nags me a lot. I need it too as I’m a terrible procrastinator.