to ask if you have an inner life?

[crochetmonkey74]

Really interesting conversation at work this morning - I was saying that I often walk around a bit oblivious whilst in town/ walking somewhere etc as I am thinking of all of my inner life things- things like bits of films I've seen, ideas for stories, lots of 'imagine if' scenarios. Other colleagues were split half and half between being the same and not having a clue what we were talking about - so for fun: have you got an inner life and what is it?

This has BLOWN MY MIND because I truly had absolutely no idea that some people don’t have this?!

Yep. I've been building/evolving a fantasy world in my head since I was seven, though there's rather more sex involved these days 😆I have ADHD and it's my escape when things are a bit overwhelming.

Actually there are many links between this thread and spirituality. If you look at the importance of imagination in the works of day Paracelsus, Boehme and Blake to name the most obvious, Jerusalem was Blake’s imagination the connection between heaven and earth, Man and divinity. Blake called imagination the “Divine Art” Paracelsus declared “imagination is like the sun” in Peter Ackroyds biography of Blake he states “”The great truth of the universe lies within the imagination;it is the source, the Sun,and those who understand it’s powers are the lords of all created things”

@Verv
I find that fascinating, surely you are thinking of something as you walk down a street for example, not just when you see things that interest you?
I thought everyone’s brain is constantly working and that everyone has constant thoughts about something, is this not the case?
Do you get stressed, or are you the type of person that never gets stressed
Out of interest what kind of job / profession are you in

Yes! I am currently building detailed itineraries for trips I may or may not ever take. Having imaginary conversations with aging popstars, also thinking about what job I want to do next and about bathroom fittings, sofas and disused railway lines.

I can't imagine not having an inner voice. Sometimes, it's the only voice that makes any sense 🤣

I've always had this from as far back as I can remember. It's why I always get confused when people say they were 'bored' because can't they just think? I don't think I've ever been bored in my life, and that's not because I live such an exciting life (the opposite!) but the moment I'm, for example, in a training session that's not interesting me, or someone is monologuing about their house renovations/their child's toilet training, or I'm waiting for a delayed train I just switch off and think about something else whether that's making up stories, random philosophic questions, things I've read recently...

For those that say surely everyone has thoughts, well, yes, obviously, I don't think most people just sit there with nothing going on at all - but I've discussed this with others. I asked my sister what she thinks about, when commuting home from work for example, and she said, um, I don't know, maybe what I'm having for tea? When I said, yes, okay but what else (because surely that takes like 2 seconds), she couldn't really think of anything, eventually she said she might wonder if her DC had a good day in school or possibly what they were planning to do on the weekend or 'yay I love this song' - so basically practical stuff and one thing at a time. Not the complete imaginary randomness that's whizzing round in mine.

My sister is great and very fun btw so I'm not saying it's any sort of cleverness/thick or boring/interesting divide, just a different brain chemistry.

When the pleasant daydreamy side of my inner life gets overwhelmed by the sad stressful side as you describe, I listen to some of my favourite music with headphones when I go to bed...I find it really easy to make up music videos / picture myself as the singer or guitarist /soundtrack a 'film' if I'm listening to music in the dark. It shuts out the more negative thoughts.

No, it's just like a film of what I can see and hear around me unless I am deliberately thinking something over, which I can do, but its like bringing brain out of standby to focus on something, not something that takes me over without control, if that makes sense.

Things do come into my head to do, but it's very short and to the point "put laundry on" "ring garage" but theres no conversation or the inner voice that people describe, if anything its like iPhone reminders or calendar alerts.

I do get stressed but it's flash stress if ive got 101 things going on at work. The minute ive cleared my deck of things to do, it goes away. I dont think ive ever been in a constant state of stress or anxiety.

My partner has a brain that is constantly chatting and whirring things over, her description of how it feels would drive me absolutely mad.
She finds me calming and says it's like being with a pot plant, and that my responses always have a pause before being concise and considered.
The pause is me flicking on, mulling, delivering, and switching off again without the associated background and verbal noise that comes from someone who's got a constant stream of consciousness.

I do sometimes get an intrusive image when im about to fall asleep though, maybe once a fortnight.
It's a picture that flashes into my head of when I last saw my mum before she died. When that comes in, I go and watch Netflix or something to switch my brain down and take the picture away. That is not a deliberate thought.

I work in the luxury watch industry. Comms/reviews/and sales. Its very fast paced at times because my boss is 100mph and fires things at me but I find it quite easy to do because I have a flashcard type brain so I can go boom, boom, boom, done in order of things asked. I suppose having a clear head helps me in that sense because my brain is never like "yeah but what about that AIBU thread earlier though, and that woman, what's all that about then? what do we think to it? what's for tea later? I like that handbag and im gonna order some vests later from marks, black or white do we think?" That would really stress me out I think. I dont know how you lot who have the internal voice cope.