To ask if your brain ever gets quiet

[thatsalad]

As in, you literally are not thinking any thoughts?

YABU - yes
YANBU - no

SSRI Medication helped calm my very loud brain, weird dreams and nightmares..

The more I cycle the quieter my mind becomes

nit only that, it makes stuff ok and sometimes I solve a problem

30 miles its balanced 50 is peaceful and 80 and you can hear a pin drop

No. I don't know how it's possible to have a quiet brain and not be thinking of something.

I’m baffled by the people who think you can’t quiet your brain. I can definitely choose not to think about anything. If I’m stressed or worried it’s a bit harder, but I can still choose not to think about those things. Then it’s just a peace and calm feeling, but no actual thoughts or anything that I can articulate. Sometimes a thought drifts in and then back out if I don’t focus on it.

Mine is never quiet, there’s many thoughts racing at the same time, conversations that have and haven’t happened, planning what to say, different scenarios and how they are likely to play out, replaying events like a video. It’s difficult to concentrate on anything else. I do have diagnosed ADHD and ASD.

Surely your brain is like a machine that is meant to be turned on all of the time to keep your body functioning; and if it’s turned off you are dead?
I have learned to calm mine for sleep bu concentrating on nice things. Currently it’s the flowers I am growing for my garden.

I have a quiet brain. My DD has adhd and she has the opposite of a loud brain.

I can “talk to myself” inside my brain but it takes effort. I do sometimes have songs going round in there but that’s quite unusual.

my DD says that she finds it difficult to focus because she has too much going on in there.

i don’t. I decide to do something (read a book, cook a meal, whatever) and my brain mostly (exceptions are if I’m ill or very stressed) just concentrates on that. I forget everything else.

i only really have one tab open at once. Sometimes two or three but no more.

can’t imagine what your minds must be like.

I have gone through periods of being very quiet and calm and not thinking of anything. When I have a lot of energy or am anxious though the thoughts are constant. I do have ADHD

No. I am autistic though!

The only time I think no thoughts is when I’m reading - unless thinking the words I’m reading counts as thinking thoughts?

Oh my god. I tried this, and suddenly entered a world of peace and quiet!

Wtf!?

Are you some kind of brain whisperer? Thank you so much!

I have a quiet brain for the first time I can remember!

Reading keeps my internal monologue occupied which is restful.
Hence frequently picking up MN through the day because MN is calmer than my own brain chuntering on

Meditation helps (also it gives you the chance to lie down for half an hour in the day).

My brain is never quite, the thing I find most restful is physical activity that needs complete concentration like playing badminton or zumba the more completed the better. Meditation is not for me.

I suppose what I mean is that I don't have many of the sorts of thoughts that involve much analysis. My brain is constantly on the go but for 90% of the time it's kind of recounting things rather than being "thoughtful" and trying to solve climate change or considering the pros and cons of the two state solution.

Only when I dance.

Not naturally, no. But I can quieten it consciously, either by doing something that requires concentration on a physical action, especially a repetitive one (e.g. knitting or running), or by meditation, by focusing on my breath or just by deliberately stopping my thoughts.

I've been called a number of names and had nasty things said to me on MN but that is the most abhorrent.

I didn't deserve that. I'm not the only one whose mind is quiet, why single me out for your horrible comment

The brain never really gets 'quiet'. The moment you think 'Oh, I'm not thinking any thoughts' you are by definition thinking thoughts, because you're conscious of what you are/aren't thinking. People who meditate aren't emptying their minds - they're just focusing.

The brain keeps working even when you're asleep, which is why we dream (even if you don't remember your dreams in the morning, you do still dream).

Some people's conscious thoughts race a lot more than others, I'm sure. I've been told I'm someone who has a lot more consciously going on in my head than most people do. It's not a good thing.

If it helps, I think it sounds wonderful and I envy you hugely.

Yes, when I'm in the flow of a good run or when I'm in a remote part of the countryside usually tucked in a steep sided valley so I can't even hear the wind and its pure silence. I just sit for 10 minutes with my eyes closed bathing in the sun not thinking about anything at all. Luckily I know just the place.

I think my DH's brain is like an empty room with a marble that rolls about a bit every 20 mins.

Mine is like a fairground on acid, but the rides are washing baskets and the things I said at a work do 20 years ago which I now overanalyse FOR NO REASON.

Isn't it amazing? I can't remember where I read it (probably on FB somewhere), but it was certainly within the last couple of months.

Mine's a lot quieter now I'm older, or perhaps because I have less stress to deal with and so less to ruminate over. I can calm it down by just watching the clouds go by, the trees moving in the wind, birds flying.

Sometimes I imagine I'm a cat and am sitting observing everything, not analysing it, being in the moment. Relaxed but alert.

I used to think this was impossible. Then I had cancer and when I was very ill/fatigued/on lots of drugs, I would often just lie in bed thinking nothing at all. I found it really disconcerting. But now that I know it's possible, I can do it occasionally at will. As long as no one else is around and I have nothing in particular to worry about, I can sit quietly and go into a sort of quiet state where I'm not asleep, but not thinking about anything - just kind of dozing.