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My day was completely ruined yesterday when I stumbled upon a fun fact that absolutely obliterated my mind. I saw this tweet yesterday that said that not everyone has an internal monologue in their head. All my life, I could hear my voice in my head and speak in full sentences as if I was talking out loud. I thought everyone experienced this, so I did not believe that it could be true at that time.
Literally the first person I asked was a classmate of mine who said that she can not “hear” her voice in her mind. I asked her if she could have a conversation with herself in her head and she looked at me funny like I was the weird one in this situation. So I began to become more intrigued. Most people I asked said that they have this internal monologue that is running rampant throughout the day. However, every once in a while, someone would say that they don’t experience this.
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My life began to slowly spiral out of control with millions of questions. How do they get through the day? How do they read? How do they make decisions between choice A and choice B? My friend described it as “concept maps” that she sees in her brain. Another friend says that she literally sees the words in her head if she is trying to think about something. I was taking ibuprofen at this point in the day because my brain was literally unable to comprehend this revelation. How have I made it 25 years in life without realizing that people don’t think like me?
I posted a poll on instagram to get a more accurate assessment of the situation. Currently 91 people have responded that they have an internal monologue and 18 people reported that they do not have this. I began asking those people questions about the things that they experience and it is quite different from the majority.
I would tell them that I could look at myself in the mirror and have a full blown telepathic conversation with myself without opening my mouth and they responded as if I had schizophrenia. One person even mentioned that when they do voice overs in movies of people’s thoughts, they “wished that it was real.”
And to their surprise, they did not know that the majority of people do in fact experience that echoey voice in their head that is portrayed in TV and film. Another person said that if they tried to have a conversation with themselves in the mirror, they would have to speak out loud because they can’t physically do it inside of their mind.
I started posting screenshots of these conversations on my instagram and my inbox started
to flood with people responding to my “investigation.” Many people were reassuring me that I was not crazy for having an internal monologue, while others were as absolutely mind blown as I was. People were telling me that I ruined their day and that they now do not understand anything about life. Maybe you are all just a figment of my imagination, but regardless, yesterday made reality seem even more skewed.
How do they think? How does this affect their relationships, jobs, experiences, education? How has this not been mentioned to me before? All of these questions started flooding my mind. Can those people without the internal monologue even formulate these questions in their mind? If they can, how does it happen if they don’t “hear” their voice? I mentioned earlier that I was spiraling out of control. Well, as I write this and as I hear my own voice in my head, I am continuing to fall down the rabbit hole.
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Whether people just have different definitions of their thoughts, or if people literally don’t have an internal monologue, there is one thing that we do know… you will definitely get a headache if you keep thinking about this. Just trying to wrap my head around it is causing irreversible brain damage. I suggest asking people around you what they experience. If you are one of the few that do not have this internal monologue, please enlighten me, because I still do not understand life anymore. Send help.
@RyanLangdon_
This is extremely interesting. I have multiple ways of conversing with myself. I have internal dialogue at times but other times the words don’t come to me and I need to talk aloud to myself. Sometimes it’s a series of visual pictures or scenes that I need to play out, but I never just see a word. I think it has to do with having a more scattered brain, it doesn’t think in 1 way. Interesting to read everyone’s comments!
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I am like this as well. I’ll drive my husband bonkers because I’ll say something out loud making him think I’m speaking to him when I’m actually just thinking out loud. And I as well am a bit scattered brain.
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interestingly this topic came up in an acting class many years ago..and since then I think that pictures are still there its just that words or reassuring sound of the words overlays. The tutor called it a ‘running commentary’ and also asked the girl who brought it up if they grew up in alot of fear…she said yes. I did too. Now I’m not saying it applies to everyone…how would I even know, but i am just wondering. I also think one can look for the pictures behind the words and learn to think more in pictures. They are there. Interesting that some people have a bit of both. Visualizing things is quicker, more healthy even? I’d like to think we all have this ability. Maybe just something we need to focus on, to improve a bit? I believe it has helped me be more creative and get more things done too.
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About this whole “internal monologue” thing: no-one seems to be looking at the aspect of groundedness, or presence. When you’re totally present, no thought can arise. You just react as you will, without any internal dialogue or monologue coming into it at all.
Let’s say something smashes the window right next to you. In instant of the sudden shock, you don’t immediately start an internal monologue. That may happen a few seconds later, but at first there is only your full and present sensory attention. In the same way, a beautiful scene in nature, a magnificent sunset, may bring us for a few seconds into a state of total presence. There are no thoughts, no monologue for that brief interval.
A thought is always connected with the past or future. In the immediate present, thought cannot find a foothold. If we’re able to practice presence, able to become more aware of the constant immediacy of the present moment experience, we may be able to move beyond the constant internal monologue situation, and into “flow” – that is, into just doing what we do as it unfolds, without the need to stand outside of it and think about it.
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Wouldn’t standing outside of oneself and thinking about it actually be more present then just reacting to everything like a machine?
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How does someone pray if they don’t have an internal monologue? Without mouthing the words outloud? Or practice a speech in your mind?;
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Perhaps (western style) prayer is the sort of intentional internal monologue that differentiates between some of these ways of thinking. You are “talking”… silently… to someone/something not physically present… Sort of like Bob Newhart’s one-sided telephone conversations… but anyway, you’ve “externalized” a silent partner to “speak” to. I dunno. Confusing.
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I do have a constant inner narrative, but can’t talk directly with myself in my head, so my mind has to make up someone to talk with 😀 Most of the time it’s an actual person that I know in real life, or someone I don’t but anyway I can imagine the way they would answer. For discussing problematic things I prefer to “turn to” someone who would be likely to have a wise word for me (a well-known scientist, or the Dalai Lama or similar) and quite often this thought process brings very surprising and satisfying results :O
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I didn’t read all 2000+ comments, but has anyone yet asked and responded to this question: How does one without the internal voice pray? For me the inner-monologue type, at my very best, I am speaking to God in my mind while simultaneously envisioning myself in His Presence. At my worst, I am praying a repetitive prayer like the Rosary – repeating 50 Hail Mary’s either out loud or IN MY HEAD WHILE thinking about what I should cook for dinner (or worse). I wonder if there is something to be learned here in praying “from the heart” and not with just words.
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