To think that everybody as a constant inner monologue running through their mind?!

[BeUpStanding]

I've just been told not everyone has a constant inner monologue running non-stop through their mind. Is that true?!

It's so fascinating to think how different our mental landscapes might be from other people's without realising. I've just remembered there was a thread on here ages ago (couple of years?) about whether you could see pictures in your mind... those of us that can were astonished to realise not everyone could, and vice versa. I think the OP was doing research for a psychology degree...

Anyway, do you constantly have a voice chattering away in your head, or is that another thing that people experience differently?

shelley yes I can do that and I have a very strong sense of smell which is not always a gift!

I argue with myself.....

I do, all the time.Glad it's not just me !!
Also I've always been pretty good at spelling, actually get a mental picture of the word.So if I think of a word I can actually see it
Weird or what !

Yes and it’s constant and fucking exhausting.

My mind never stops. I just want it to BE QUIET sometimes.

Millions of thoughts, conversations, arguments, oh remember this hideously embarrassing thing, who was that in that film, did I forget to turn all the plugs off, let's sing a horrible histories song, which Star Trek is better, let's spend an hour pretending to star in latest fav tv show and on and on and on.

I can't sleep because my brain won't stop. I have to put headphones on and listen to music as loud as possible to drown out my own thoughts so I can get to sleep.

I keep meaning to look into meditation.

Yes constant, often keeps me awake at night too. Very jealous of those that can switch it on and off! I tried a mindfulness course but I was rubbish at it, I just couldn’t shut my bloody head up!

Yes, sometimes it's 'busier' than others but pretty much always there?

Clarice, do you see whole paragraphs of text? I do. Is that unusual?

You know, I always thought that I did have a constant monologue, but I've realised that I don't.

I think a lot inside my head, but that's deliberate - I'm a writer, and I consciously 'tell myself stories' or try to find words for what I'm seeing/hearing/experiencing. If I'm not consciously thinking about something/trying to solve a problem, I fall into 'noticing' mode, where I'm just aware of what's going on around me and experience that (as @ConfusedLivingDoll said) as kind of a feeling - like I can see that the coffee jar is nearly empty, and without having any kind of interior monologue about it, my brain will somehow file that information away as a 'to-do' for later, so when I'm at the supermarket, I'll get a mental flashback image of the empty coffee jar, and will get some more coffee.

When I was younger, I remember internally telling stories about what I was doing all the time, as though I were a character in a book. I actually notice my daughter doing this now - she plays a lot of imaginative games, which she narrates out loud, but she talks about herself in the third person.

FreshStart I get that too! The worst was when I was reading a novel written in iambic pentametre... My Thoughts, Drove Me, Cra-Zy.

tothesea yep, I get the most mundane and utterly random flashes of memory pop up all the time, totally unconnected to anything. It really makes me boggle sometimes at what on earth must be happening in my brain.

I do get earworms, and another thing I've realised I can do is that I can mentally "turn a film on" in my mind, although it needs to be when I'm quiet and focussed on doing it, like before going to sleep.

I basically just decide I'm going to let my mind generate pictures, and mentally 'turn the lights out', and after a few moments I will start seeing a running film of images in my head - not necessarily connected ones, but very detailed - maybe a short 'clip' of walking through a forest, followed by few seconds of a scene in a hospital, followed by a still image of a beautiful meal, followed by fish swimming, etc. They're not memories - they're always totally unconnected to my life. I have no idea where they come from.

Certainly I can conjure up smells too as a pp described. My sense of smell is very sharp and powerful and even as I type in have that going on, the mention of toast set it off.

I calm my mind at night by settling down to enjoy and immerse myself in my 'other life'
Which will sound mad to some of you but I suspect more will understand just what I mean. Imaginary scenarios I guess.

Shamelessly, that sounds nice! Could be worse, could be horrible images!

I think we all have this. Even during the spells when we are “miles away” our minds are still churning out thoughts. It can be exhausting and stressful, especially at times when we are tired or have a lot going on.

I learned Transcandental Meditation and you learn how to turn off your mind chatter if only during the period of being still..

I practice Mndfulness too, but this is a different type of meditation when you practice to be in the moment and aware, not necessarily stopping the constant chatter - well it is for me any how.

Calming the chatter takes a little time and practice but once learned you can be quiet unwardly for even short periods and it is beneficial. In fact once you master keeping your mind still at the end of the practice and the thoughts come back do you realise just how noisy and relentless they are.

My friends say “oh I don’t have the time to meditate”. Well yes you do. Anyone can find a spare 20 minutes for themselves if they want to. I sometimes think the ones who say they “don’t have the time”are the ones who need it the most.

Give it a try and see.

Never, never read Hiawatha OP

beupstanding YES! I’m so glad someone else gets it too. It’s not a memory triggered by anything..it’s just something that’s happened in the past. How or why does the brain dredge it up like that. I can’t make it happen. It is just does it!

I also do the book thing..once I’ve closed the book my mind continues to the think in the author’s style of writing. Arghh brain..take a break!!

This is an interesting thread!

I get the book style inner monologue based on the style of what I'm reading, also the fleeting feelings that rat described. I find it quite hard to conjure up mental images, I can't quite remember a face I know very well for instance, it's always quite fuzzy.

I nearly ALWAYS have music running through my head, the same song on repeat for days until another one takes over. Not always music I actually like, and usually accompanied by my internal voice singing along, and I'm a bloody awful singer. It drives me crazy!

Yes a constant monologue. How can you not think?!

Also can picture perfect faces of people in distance memories and smell things if I imagine them.

I think my thoughts are linked with depression as I tend to overanalyse. I have tried to numb my thinking using unhealthy techniques but they don't work.

I do
I also have a sort of serial story that I tell myself before I sleep. I have done this since I was a child. I used to look forward to going to bed so I could tell myself the next bit 🙂

I calm my mind at night by settling down to enjoy and immerse myself in my 'other life'
Which will sound mad to some of you but I suspect more will understand just what I mean. Imaginary scenarios I guess.

This is how I shut my mind up when I need to sleep too.

All the time! It’s fucking exhausting.

I thought it was just me. Constant thinking. Or constant music. Or both.

I find it hard to sleep as brain won’t STFU!

DH says he doesn’t have constant thoughts. Or music. He falls asleep in about ten seconds (no exaggeration).

Yea I have this! Constantly!
I agree with other pp that it’s exhausting. I’m constantly thinking over situations or past events or something I’ve heard etc etc....it’s frustrating. I even argue with myself over things, I’d love some quiet. Think that’s why I love my sleep, it’s the only time I get peace! I am a worrier and an introvert so maybe I only like to talk to myself about things?

I used to have a very active inquiring mind, constantly seeing images, hearing people’s voices as they were in real life and having an internal monologue in my head.

They almost all disappeared when I had a head injury nearly 3 years ago, and I ended up with aphantasia - not able to ‘see’ images in my mind’s eye any more. Only last night, I had a very fleeting image for about 2 seconds of a girl that was so realistic that I gasped at it - and felt utterly depressed as it has been such a long time since I ‘saw’ anything like it. I can’t quite explain it but I genuinely enjoyed having such a vivid active imagination, and for that to be taken away through an injury has been devastating for me. I can’t picture things or remember memories properly any more, and seeing my DD’s face in my mind’s eye now is quite literally a distant memory.

I can still dream ok which is odd, and still think with a monologue going on but when I had a breakdown after my head injury, I was so sleep deprived at one point that the inner voice nearly disappeared completely. This totally made my GP look at me in absolute confusion - as though I was nuts - when I told her my ‘inner voice’ was disappearing through a type of sleep deprived dementia.

I found it very upsetting and wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy.

Yes I have it. Also get very clear pictures. I can hear imagined sounds (rather than just remembering them) and do get a lot of earworms but that is completely different to what I mean.

I can conjure up imagined sense of touch too. So I can feel like I'm holding something in my hand when I'm not.