To think it's impossible to have no thoughts or internal dialogue?

[IAteAllTheTomatoes]

Is it true that some people have nothing going on in their head? No thoughts, ideas, or internal dialogue?

I'm not being bitchy or talking about intelligence but I just always assumed your brain is thinking or you are silently talking to yourself? Like, will my parcel arrive today? What will I make for dinner later? Something anything? Future plans? Pondering on something in the news etc?

Someone told me yesterday there is nothing in their thoughts, except maybe music, until they are asked a question?

I would love to have no thoughts? It is possible?

I'm explaining this poorly but I suppose what I'm wondering is can people shut down their thinking and if so, how?

I believe that can happen to some individuals, but I have yet to meet anyone that has that. In my case I usually have about twenty discussions going on at a time! Or thats what it feels like. Wonder if those without internal dialogue dream?? To me they would be a connected process.

I have an internal monologue but I can slow it right down in meditation to not much and it's pretty peaceful

Wim Hof meditation is pretty good for that

I have thoughts, but some people apparently monologue/narrate constantly, which seems exhausting

My internal monologue lately is all about things that I mustn’t forget or what I really should be doing but am not doing. No more or less than that! Maybe it’s peri/menopause.

How can that be the case? Even if it's just " Oh, I fancy a cuppa now" there must be some thoughts to be able to function.

I have very little thought. I am intelligent (ish!)!
I think about basic things very quickly like 'shall I go to the loo before I go out?' But other than that all my thinking is done verbally with others.

Well at least I'm not going mad. I have tried yoga and pilates in the past but genuinely couldn't get to grips with it at all.

I had no issue with the movement and found it enjoyable but I felt like a weirdo. Everyone around me was at this level of zen, calmness that I was so removed from. I don't understand it.

The person who told me yesterday, they only think when asked to do so was deadly serious. I don't know then we'll enough to really discuss it more with them.

@Peachypips78 what happens in your brain the rest of the time then? Do you just talk non-stop so there’s no room for an internal monologue?

I have such a lot going on in my head it drives me insane! I’m so envious of people who have quiet. Even during meditation my head doesn’t shut up enough to take it in and do it effectively, although I try everyday.

I narrate constantly. It IS exhausting!!

Do you mind me asking how? When do you consider things? Plan etc?

Is it something you consciously worked on or has it always been that way?

My brain never switches off! I have thoughts, tunes, daydreams, ideas, memories, etc., all day - right up until I fall asleep

I find this so hard to believe (or perhaps relate to), as my internal monologue is relentless! I'm constantly narrating my way through life and talking to myself in my own head. I am intelligent, professional at work and have the traditional 2.4 family set up.
I just assumed that everyone's internal monologue was like mine.
When my dad died, for a while it even switched to having him narrate for me.

I have no mental pictures though, just a constant internal dialogue.

I do know someone who says her brain is usually empty. She’s very intelligent.

My brain is, unfortunately, always "on"

If there are people out there who have "quiet" minds, I genuinely envy them

It’s the chattering monkeys.

But what about if you were on your own for the day? Would you just spend it online?

I occasionally get the nothing thing ( I would refer to it as zoning out) when I’m running and it’s lovely. The rest of the time I have a constant internal monologue or thoughts churning around.

I've seen people say they do it in pictures instead. So a cuppa would pop into their head, reminds me of Homer Simpson.

I'd love to have little internal monologue. My brain is a very noisy place with various monologues/worrying/random thoughts flitting through.

In one of the matrix films, there's a scene where there are hundreds of Neos on TV screens all talking at once. That's what it's like in my head. It's totally exhausting and means I find it hard to focus because my brain will not shut up.

@Peachypips78 Does this mean you talk out loud to yourself when no one's there to speak to?

I'd think this was unusual and I'm not sure you can not think.. But you're completely wrong to conflate no thoughts with no interval dialogue they're different things.

When I read it's an inner monologue (reason I can't do speed reading).
I do occasionally have an inner monologue going on, particularly if I'm planning a conversation I intend having with someone, but it's all controllable. I can stop it.

I think it's the reason meditation doesn't appeal. I only recently realised other people have to put in effort to clear their thoughts. For me it's a case of 5 seconds in thinking now what. It's boring.

I don't have an inner monologue. I have a fuckload of thoughts but they're not narrated as such - there is no inner voice that I 'hear'; I understand that for others it's more like hearing the actual words internally. For me, it's more conceptual rather than words.

It blew my mind when I realised that in books, where people's thoughts are written as dialogue, that is actually how some people hear their thoughts rather than a literary technique.

I don't talk to myself. I don't think 'shall I have a cup of tea' in words; the concept/idea of having a cup of tea comes into my head.

Interestingly, I'm in a profession that relies on excellent writing and public speaking skills, and I do a lot of creative writing, so the lack of an internal monologue hasn't been an impediment!

I don’t have constant ‘verbal’ thoughts (although I do have them most of the time) but even when I don’t, I have something else going on in my head all the time - music, images, processing senses etc. I’ve never been able to blank my mind in meditation.