Is your brain ever quiet?

[InfiniteLoop]

There’s always something going on in my head. Mostly music - I’ve had the same earworm now for a couple of months - but when the musicians go for their break, the chat show takes over.
It’s quite tiring - like having workmen in your house all the time - and I’m wondering how normal it is, whether other people are enjoying moments of blissful silence while I have the Berlin Philharmonic in residence.

Does everyone have this going on or do I need to seek professional help?

No. My brain is never quiet. Except when I am asleep

I don't believe I need professional help.

I've heard that to get rid of earworms you can sing Happy Birthday to yourself.

But no, there's always chatter in my brain. But I've got into the habit of doing ten or 15 mins of yoga or chi gong first thing. YouTube on the TV, or in the sun in the garden now that I know what I'm doing. There are some great teachers out there and a short relaxation and some moves to concentrate on do stop the chatter for a while.
But no, I don't think you need to pay for professional help either. You can learn it yourself from YouTube.

It's always thinking, but there's no music or anything. I've never felt like there's someone else in there though so it's not like having builders in...I probably would seek help if I had constant music going on, but I don't know what anyone could actually do about it.

Have you tried mindfulness?

No, I've always assume I'd be dead if it was.

I like it, it keeps me alert.

No! It’s noisy! I think there’d be something wrong if it was quiet.

I can be like that but I practise meditation and mindfulness to keep it in check.

It's quiet a lot, yes. I do hear music, but rarely words. I don't have a lot of thoughts in that way. My home is also serene, I am told - it has a quiet nature remarked on by many visitors.

When I am by myself I am in a much more experiencing state than a thinking state. I'm generally just feeling the water and the sounds in the shower, or the texture and weight of the clothes when I'm doing laundry.

When I am very upset and anxious, then I get into this thinking state and rehearse conversations in my head and it really disturbs me. I'd hate to be thinking all the time. By thinking I mean telling myself a story about what I'm doing or what is happening in my life.

I have a job that involves a lot of maths, but I don't really think about it. What I do generally when I need to solve a novel problem is to tell myself about it in detail (sometimes out loud, sometimes by drawing myself schematics on a board) and then go off for a walk or have a kip. Later, the solution comes to me. So thinking clearly is happening somewhere, but I'm not much involved.

When I'm really on one and writing a lot of code it feels very meditative - I'm not telling myself a story about what I'm doing, I'm just doing it. I'm totally within the problem. I love this feeling. A lot of programmers and mathematicians talk about this experience: it's a strange high we get from the work.

Maybe have a relaxing lie down with some tinkly spa style music?

I’m sure there was another thread on this very subject just the other day.

Never never never. Ear worms, phrases, constant counting, talking out loud if it's not in my head. The cats are useful to talk at all day long. I can only go to sleep if I do certain mental lists or listen to sleep stories. Drives me loopy.

Mine is always going. Non stop. Chatter, scenarios, songs, worries. I watch/listen to asmr and that calms it, I found mindfulness really not useful for me and guided meditation helps somewhat but is dull. I think it’s normal for people that have an internal monologue? I know some people don’t have an internal monologue and whilst that is also normal, it absolutely BOGGLES me that their head is silent.

Yes, my head is quiet most of the time. It sort of boots up when i need to think or respond to something.

Never quiet but tbh I don't mind it that way except for when I'm trying to listen to someone talking, as then my brain noise makes it really hard to focus.

Mine is always noisy. I think it's part of my ADHD. I have friends who genuinely have quiet times in their brains. I can't imagine what that's like.

I can’t imagine how people who have chatter going on in their minds even think!
(yes I know that makes no sense!)
My mind is quiet, no internal monologue.

I need this silence to think, as I don’t generally think using words. I might use words if I’m remembering a conversation or planning what I want to say, and sometimes I talk to myself in my head in a parental sort of way if I am cross or need to calm down about something or when problem solving.

But otherwise, it’s all quiet. The best way I can explain the way I think is that I think in ‘notions’. Thoughts just exist to me and take shape without being put together with words. I suppose I’m quite visual and I experience thoughts as pictures, but also as feelings and… well, ‘notions’ is the best word I can find.

I’ve found that CBT doesn’t really make sense to me for me for this reason, as I can’t really pinpoint my thoughts in the way that is expected, and thoughts and feelings can get quite intertwined.

My sister has the problem that she can’t stop thinking. It sounds exhausting to me, as her kind of thinking is something I actively choose to do, it’s not the default. Not being able to stop thinking feels to me like not being able to stop running!

I’m sure this is why I always drop off to sleep instantly.

Lucky quiet-brained people! But you seem to be in the minority so far.

My brain is often quiet. I thought that was normal! But I do remember another thread about this and being amazed that other people hear music.
The only voice I hear in my head is my own, and I don't hear music unless I'm singing it to myself in my head.

Always have an ear worm. Plus lots of internal dialogue, usually imagining potential conversations with people about issues I’m thinking about.

It’s amazing how differently we all experience just being alive, isn’t it?

My sister gets quite cross with me when I advise her to just stop thinking about something, because she literally can’t seem to do it. For me, it’s quite easy.

I’m not sure that it’s always an advantage though, it can mean that thoughts are more amorphous and harder to articulate. I take longer to process things, and really struggle to talk things through with people in meetings. While there is talking going on, I can’t really think. I am ‘that’ frustrating person, who sits through a meeting silently and e-mails a day later with a load of questions or suggestions, and everyone wonders why I didn’t pipe up at the time.

I just can’t imagine having silence in my head , I’d feel like this 🤯 had actually happened, I think it would be terrifying, like my self had vanished from my body. I listen to the radio all the time so as not to annoy myself. I’d didn’t realise that some people don’t have an internal monologue until recently discovered that dh doesn’t - dcs and I were stunned!

Mine is empty most of the time - just tumbleweed. I don't have a good memory though, I wonder if its linked.

I’d love to know why some people are quiet-brained and others are permanently tuned in to Radio Wibble.

Well I have assumed it's ADHD related and that seems to be to do with chemicals in the brain, in part, specifically dopamine. At least in part.

I really dont think I have ADHD.
I am resisting the over medicalisation of everything.

No, but I never seem to get to the end of thinking about anything before something else takes over.