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.
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.
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_
Inside My Mind 
When I read, I do so in the perceived author’s voice. I do not consistently hear my own voice thinking inside my head. I CAN do so if I try to, but it would take effort. Most thoughts come as ‘knowings’ rather than as instructions. I do not see vivid pictures of scenarios. I get an intuitive awareness of those scenarios without an actual visual. I can specifically try to think of an image and successfully ‘imagine it’, however, I don’t usually get a picture of it in my mind. When writing, I do repeat the words in a voice in my head as they are being written but it isn’t the same voice as the one that comes out of my mouth when I speak. This is all so very interesting.
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I do the same thing with the writing! When I’m writing the voice I hear is similar to my real voice, but not the same. I’ve always wondered about that.
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I specifically trained myself NOT to have an internal monolog. Its a terrible habit that has you waiting to finish a “sentence” before you process the next thought but you aren’t speaking to anyone.
Its fucking useless.
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I would love to figure out how to turn my inner dialogue off. It can be exhausting sometimes.
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There are also people who cannot see images in their mind, who do not have the ability to visualize. They’ll be able to have the thought or concept in their mind but not see it. For example, if you ask them to imagine a horse and describe what they see in their mind, they have to actively remember a horse that they have seen before and think about each aspect to describe individually because their mind is just black, no picture of the horse.
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I can hear my own voice in my head without any problem. Like most people I didn’t know this was a thing. I saw whole this comment written in my head before I wrote it I’m just not able to type as fast as I think and I can type pretty well. Not only can I hear my own voice in my head but I can switch who’s voice I hear. For example I can make my internal monologue sound like Batman or Obama in split of a second. I can make them say anything I please even if Id never heard them say those words in real life, Kinda Like a deep fake. I can also play and pause music at will as if I had a mp3 in my head. When I was younger I wanted to get better at spelling so as I said sentences in my head imagined each letter one by one manifesting themselves onto a piece of paper at the same rate of which I think.
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The internal monologue is the chattering of. A dominant ego,conceptual self, notion,.. self awarness being aware and interacting in a. Thoughtform way with whatever is occuring.
But awarness is non personal and non conceptual, it is Nat u real intelegence not knowledge and interacts only w what is actually occuring now. Thinking is just an ability of the brain switched on by awarness. But thinking munipulated a conceptual reality. A thought formed and incorporated noting of a self, ones personal self, becomes a personal hidden program. A conceptual simulation that is inhabited and identified with indistinguiably, an avatar! That avatar begins to develop and run its own programs as standard ways of I nteracting. There needs to be constant info feed back, on how it’s doing w the interaction. That is the constant inner monologue.
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I do have internal discussions with myself all the time but also have out loud conversations with my self about conversations I’m planning on having with someone, I guess I need to hear how it will sound but only when I’m alone.
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I do this too. I also get very involved in the emotion of the perceived moment ahead of time and sometimes work through my emotions way before the conversation happens if it happens.
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As I am reading all these comments I hear them in my head just as I am reading it out loud. And at the same time imagining what others are doing while reading this. So much so that I might miss what I just read / said in my head about what I just read, and need to reread it.
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I highly recommend reading Michael Singer’s The Untethered Soul. It truly helps with understanding and dealing with that internal monologue
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I have thought about this for years because I’m in special education. Many of my students have told me that they cannot visualize things for example. I always assumed that everyone can see pictures in their head like a movie. I also always assumed that everyone can verbalize in their head with that movie. The reality is there are many children out there who cannot visualize things. Others cannot verbalize them. When we teach them these skills we have to teach them how to see the movie in their head so that they can verbalize things. We call it visualizing and verbalizing. Now think about this one… If you are born both deaf and blind how do you think? If you have never seen anything and if you have never heard words… How do you see a movie in your head? How do you verbalize things in your mind? The answer is… They think through their senses… Touch, smell, dark and light, shapes. Whenever I think about this my mind spirals! I’m fascinated! Mind blown!
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I can do “self talk” but it’s usually a conscious effort.. I have a hard time turning my thoughts into words because I suddenly be hit with a whole concept or part of a concept that is already in my mind
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I never heard a clear internal dialogue until 1 year ago when I started taking the herbal supplements Ashwaganda. It was an immediate effect. Hard to describe but my thoughts are now in sentences. It has been a very positive change. I look on it as increased ability for self reflection. Now I know why I do what I do.
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My internal voice is super loud, but I also have this thing where it turns off and then instead of words I see pictures. Like I no longer hear my internal voice and I just watch it like a movie in my brain. I even kinda shut the rest of the world out, like if someone was talking to you, but then you zoned out looking at the TV, it kinda drowns the rest out. 👍
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I always thought people had different layers of thought. If you pay close attention to things, at least in my head, there’s the main thing I’m thinking about, there’s music playing in the background, I can have a side conversation about something else, thoughts about anticipating what’s to come next, observations about what’s going on around me, and sometimes counting. Even though all of this is going on in my head there’s also something that’s front and center and other things are the next layer down in my thoughts. I can read a book with all the different characters’ voices in my head while watching t.v. Or listening to a conversation that someone in the room is having. Sometimes I have an initial quick reaction to something as a thought and then the more PC thought blares over it and drowns out the negative thoughts. But there’s always that thought that’s front and center that needs to be what I’m mainly concentrating on. Anyone else experience something like that?
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Yes. That’s me. And there’s an added factor for me: I’m bilingual and my thoughts and internal conversations happen in their original language.
If I’m thinking of something in English, I can also have a Dutch critic that is thinking about what the English thought says, and vice versa.
When I am alone, I tend to switch to Dutch thoughts, just like I physically speak Dutch to my cat when I am alone… And when non-Dutch people are around, I speak English to my cat and think in English again.
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I’m a therapist that specializes in dissociation and complex trauma. What you’re describing is common. It is also true that people can hear other people’s voices in their head without being psychotic at all. Like the thought is in their mom’s voice or a past perpetrator or someone that they don’t even know. This is usually the result of past trauma. Possibilities are kind of limitless.
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When I read a fiction book or even a true story, I don’t see the words I’m reading but just see the story unfold like a movie in my head. Unless I stumble upon a word I don’t know. If that happens it disrupts my story until I figure it out or skip it an more on. It’s like I’m lost in a different world. I can also day dream the same way. I have continual conversations with myself all day long. I also dream in vivid color.
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I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if I have one or not. As I was reading this, i was like “Oh yeah, I do that.”, but I don’t. I have to speak. So, I’m having conversations with myself as I’m driving down the road, but I’m speaking, it’s not internal.
I certainly don’t here voices in my head when I’m reading. But I read really, really fast. I wonder if that has something to do with it.
On the other hand, I’ve spent hundreds of hours in mind designing things. I have plans in my head for starships, colonies, and houses.
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It does! I read super fast too! I don’t have to do every single word it just all forms together into what it actually says into the image. Hard to explain
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I do this too!!!
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Umm, wow. #mindblown
I have internal dialogues (or are they actually monologues?) all the time. Of course I always presumed this was “normal” but we never talk about how our brains work. For instance, I suddenly have an earworm for random reasons, because my “head-voice” says (or perhaps hears) a phrase or partial line from a song, and we’re off to the races. That’s been my entire life.
Now I wonder—for those who don’t “think” like this, how would they compose a Tweet? Or how do you write? Do you just put words on paper then edit it? I compose in my head, then put it on paper and rewrite it. Sometimes things are far more eloquent, and well written, in my head. The vocabulary seems to fail me when the brain-paper translation happens.
Thank you for bringing this up, I love deep thoughts (I mean, obviously, they rarely stop, I need a white noise machine or app to sleep at night, how about you?).
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I bought a night light projector with patterns that look like you’re underwater, or looking up through water from the bottom of a pool (depending whether you pick blue or green).
I set the timer for four hours, but it really does seems to slow down the chatter and then …. I’m out.
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But, how does one function without a voice in their head??? This introvert has a hard time with this.
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So I’m confused about this. The writer makes it sound in this article as if he actually HEARS his voice, like we hear the character‘s thoughts in a movie. In fact he compares it specifically to that phenomenon. To me this implies an audible sound. I carry on silent conversations of thoughts in my mind, but I don’t actually HEAR my voice; I just interpret/perceive/understand my thoughts. If I want to HEAR my thoughts, then I have to verbalize them through my vocal chords, aka talk out loud to myself; which I also do quite frequently, lol. I also have thoughts of songs in my mind. So when I say I’ve got a song stuck in my head, or I woke up with this song in my head, I don’t actually hear an audible sound, it’s really just the thoughts of the lyrics or music.
So do most people actually HEAR their voice (like a vocal sound without involving their vocal chords) in their head, or is the writer just failing to communicate this clearly? Does he mean to say that he can carry out conversations of thoughts, as either sentences or short phrases, which he can perceive and understand and reply to in his mind?
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I have the same questions as you and I feel the same way. I am always thinking thoughts – like “I am going to get a drink and then turn on the tv”, “maybe we will have spaghetti for dinner. Or maybe pizza”, “I hope it doesn’t rain”, etc. But there is not a sound. Just my thoughts. If people actually hear the sound of their voice – like a noise – than I guess they are different than me. I can’t imagine people do not have thoughts throughout the day though. How would they decide they have to go to the bathroom or that they are hungry??? This is confusing and I am wondering if everyone is saying the same thing but just wording it differently.
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i speak to myself all the time as a way of thinking. There is me A and me B. I simulate 2 myself in a debate basically A ask a question, B tries to answer, then A try to find weaknesses in B’s answer and inquire more, the have B refute, A refute with other argument and basically my thoughts is complete and A and B reach agreement.
They have kinda different personalities. One is emotional, sometimes egoistic and sometimes look down on other people, one is logical and try to be objective.
Depending on the subject or my emotional state, one side can “beat” the other, completing an opinion that is based on logic, objective or it can be emotion based opinion where it is much influenced by personal preferences that sometimes can also be mean spirited depending on my views on the subject. Usually the more personal the subject is, the more the emotional side trumps.
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I feel like life is more enjoyable with an inner monologue, but maybe it makes it harder to focus? It’s sort of like daydreaming. I’m curious about how people reflect on life without one. It helps me work out situations. It helps me remember people. I hear their voice when I remember things they’ve said or read things they’ve written. I wonder if there is a link to people who have vivid dreams and people who have an inner monologue.
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This is amazing. I definitely fall into the internal monologue group. It’s so bad that I often repeat things to my husband/children because I can’t remember if I just thought it or if I actually said it aloud. LOL
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I have another one that’ll blow your mind again. Not everyone can see pictures in their mind the same way.
Some people, like me, see pictures more like idea descriptions. For example, if I was to imagine a box. If keep my eyes open. Think about how a box has 6 sides all connected with right angles. The box wouldn’t have color until I have it that description. It wouldn’t have a texture until I have it that description. Closing my eyes doesn’t help me see it better. I still can’t really see it. It’s more an idea.
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I definitely have a monologue, but also other things that people are describing like pictures, and music, and hearing things I’m reading in different voices like that’s how the author sounds. And it’s not always a word for word play by play. It’s a combination, like a word and a picture. People who have high brain activity, that just kind of keep going and going, are probably also high energy people. I’m a very laid back person, so I can see how my thoughts correlate to my physical function.
Definitely interesting though. I guess it could explain how some people act or say things without thinking, bc they dont exactly work that way🤔🤔
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I can hear my voice when I read anything or my brain replaces my voice with a voice I give the character of a book I’m reading or the familiar voice of a loved one. If I’m in the shower and truly find myself lost on a particular event or subject my brain will literally take over and while the water is washing over my body, I have full out dream-like potential scenarios play in my head, almost like a movie where I am trying to solve a problem. It gets so intense sometimes that I forget I am even in the shower. This can happen to me driving as well. I have always known that I survive better around people because when I am lost in my thoughts, the voices and scenarios take over. Also, funny thing here but when I am super drunk, I actually do respond to the voice in my head. My brain would give me a thought like “Hey, Maeve. It’s super quiet in this room..you should yell a curse word or draw attention to yourself.” And you may be able to hear me be like “shhhhh no Maeve” 😂😂😂😂😂 I don’t know. I find the brain fuctions extremely attractive and I truly enjoy learning about how others percieve our world as well.
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For all the people asking “what happens when they read?” or “how do they have thoughts?”, the answer for me is: probably the same as you! The difference is I don’t HEAR it. Reading seems to bypass any auditory processes. It goes from the visual (words on a page) to the conceptual. If I’m reading a novel or something particularly descriptive there will be visual images, of course, and I might “hear” dialogue in a voice I’ve imagined for the character, especially if it’s written phonetically. But there’s no “voice” reading the words.
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not of course for pictures in your mind- I don’t get those.. just a loud constant internal monologue that honestly i wish would be quiet sometimes lol
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How do you process your emotions? I mean this in a curious way, not to offend in any way. Like do you go over an issue you need to figure out. For example, someone cheated on you. For me, I would think of the what if’s, and the how could they, should I stay with them in my voice, in my head. How does this work in your mind when you can’t hear it?
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How do you plan for the future? Is it visual or conceptual? Clearly you have the capacity for self-reflection so you aren’t like a non-conscious “zombie”, which is a great relief to me.
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I wonder if you read faster than me. I hear the words.
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“If I’m reading a novel or something particularly descriptive there will be visual images, of course”
I never see images when reading. I have no picture in my head for what Gandalf or Frodo look like. (For that matter, I can’t picture my father or mother or wife in my head with any kind of clarity.) I always subvocalize when I read. Everything I read is mediated through a voice in my head.
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I heard my actual voice read this whole response. I hear my voice as I’m typing this message.
This is a very eyeopening article.
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And no everyone “sees” the visual images in their minds, either.
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This.
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I hear a voice when reading, writing, thinking to myself about things…pretty much all the time so I understand the authors surprise. It’s weird to think that others don’t have that experience when you’ve had it your entire life. It’s not always my own voice as you explained often I’ll assign imaginary voices to characters I’m reading about especially if the story is very descriptive but I do still always hear a voice.
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Moreover, I suspect that we (non-monologuers) read much faster. I always read much faster than other kids and had better reading comprehension on tests in school. I can certainly take the time to imagine a character saying something, but people talk slowly. If you skip that you can just imagine entire scenes at a time. To be honest I wonder how people who can only read as fast as they can talk manage to function in the world. It seems so inefficient.
I would further posit that monologuers are probably worse at spatial reasoning and being empathetic because they process everything through their own voice rather than getting straight to the underlying concepts.
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I honestly cannot imagine not having that inner monologue at night (I have it all day but I swear it’s louder and far more random at night) when I should be sleeping but can’t turn it off to do so. I wonder if this is why my husband falls asleep so fast while I lay awake most of the night. I never thought to ask, but maybe he doesn’t have that going on.
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I’ve never thought of it that way, but it is not really a voice for me either. There are words, but no actual “sound” in my head unless I am portraying a character in my mind and then I imagine their voice. This is fascinating to me! I can’t wait until technology allows us to study the brain in greater detail.
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I would say this is how I read too, but I also, like the author, have a constant running internal monologue about other things. It’s not someone else’s voice, it’s just my own. I think I even move my lips sometimes (okay I’m literally moving my lips right now) but there’s no sound. Your description sounds “normal” to me, at least.
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I absolutely have a voice the whole time. Even when I type. All words. Always. Lol. I only low key visualize what I read. Instead it’s like an internal book on tape. If I focus just a tad, they all have their own voices and even accents.
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Ive got alot of diffrent ways to think.
1) I have an internal dialogue that I can turn off sometimes, i purposely listen to, & see as many diffrent perspectives as my brain can come up with then choose the best . Although sometimes my inner critic is loud, repetitive, & very hard to turn off.
2) i think in pictures & full color or black & white.
3) i think with concepts. In full color with moving pieces & expected outcomes possibilities.
4) i can turn my internal radio & tv on off , & change the channel. Replaying things at will.
5) My dreams are vivid , & in full color i can even control what happens in them sometimes. Other times they run on repeat like groundhog day.
6) if i know a person very well i can sit in there mindspace for a while, & experience how it feels to be them.
Its a thing I started doing as a kid. I once sat in my baby sisters mind before she could talk, & felt her frusteration over everyone around her wanting her to learn their grown up language. & her stubbornness over wanting us all to learn the baby language she was using instead. I also felt her begrudging acceptance in the knowledge that she would have to conform eventually but she wasn’t ready to give up yet.
Does anyone else do this?
I’d love to talk to someone else that does this.
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I’m somewhere in the middle – I *can* have an internal monologue, but normally don’t. Reading is one example: I am a very fast reader, but I find if I “hear” the internal voice, I am forced to read much more slowly. This can actually be a good thing, because it forces me to absorb the content more fully.
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Ah, interesting. I find that if I try and think about the words, or to “hear” them in my head, I lose the ability to understand the meaning. It’s useful when I’m proofreading because I can switch between “modes” – if I stop reading normally and focus on the words for the first pass, it helps me to pick up grammar and spelling mistakes without being distracted by the content and meaning. Then for the second pass I can just read normally to check for sense and flow.
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All that really happens for me is that I hear it. I don’t have any visual images and until I was about 30, had no idea such a thing was possible.
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I feel like a lot of these non internal monologue people just have a different way of defining their experiences. Your comment is the perfect example. It’s not so much that you “hear” a voice in your head as it is just there. Complete sentences rolling around silently in your mind.
A perfect example would be When you’re heading to a destination, say for an appointment. You know where the place is, but you’ve not necessarily done the exact drive before. Do you silently think to yourself, “I think the best way would be if I take Main Street up to whatever avenue and take a left, then head straight down to such and such place”
Do you have that thought process or does it come to you some other way?
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Same for me
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Although that’s not quite the same for me- when I read, the sentences have inflection and cadence, as though it’s being spoken by someone. Is that the same for you, or no?
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I literally hear every word on the page and have to go out of my way to try and “see” books like most people can apparently do.
“Same thing as you” does not tell me anything.
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This whole conversation just kinda reminds me of reading. Like when I read at first I “hear” myself reading inside my head. But if it’s a really good book or story eventually I’m not hearing myself reading anymore I’m watching the scenes play out like a movie inside my head. And like you said I can hear the dialogue in the voice of the characters but I’m no longer hearing it as me reading the book. And when I’m writing, sometimes the words just kinda pop into my head as an image. But I do it both ways depending on what I’m doing. Like right now as I’m typing this I’m hearing it inside my head as internal dialogue.
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Here’s a good one…if they dream, is it color or black and white? I knew a lady who was describing a dream to her husband, mentioning colors and he says, how did you know it was green? Come to find out, he dreamed in black and white!
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Absolutely. While I’m reading a good fiction book, I actually get into a state where my visual cortex(?) is making a mental movie for me (not with great clarity, but it’s definitely a visual thing) based upon what I’m reading and *I’m not consciously actually “seeing” the words on the page*. Obviously, some part of my brain is receiving the words that my eyes are pointed at, but that part is smooshing them into a visual presentation of what those words mean and holding that presentation up in front of the actual “seeing” part of my brain, which is what I then experience.
It’s why, e.g., I avoided watching the Peter Jackson LotR for years and years, because I didn’t want Peter Jackson’s imagining of the characters to replace the one my brain put together when I first read the series as a kid. (Gollum to my imagination was more of a pale green, luminescent frog-hobbit thing, than the spindly, stringy-haired, gray-blue hobbit-ish that he is in the movies.)
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That is really interesting because I’m one of those who does have an internal monologue but I do this same thing when I read a story. But it’s only when I really get into a groove so to speak. I go from hearing myself to watching a movie inside my head. There’s some sort of threshold that I cross.
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Emma, are you a fast reader?
I need to internally hear each word, which I think really slows me down. Then my mind will spinoff into an internal dialogue over what I’ve just read, which slows me down even more.
Thus the reason I’ve never finished War and Peace.
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I saw your name was Emma, so as I read your response I can hear a woman’s voice speaking in my head as I read. I actually hear a voice in my mind reading every word.
Before reading this article I had never stopped to consider if other people heard a voice reading, talking, and giving narrative in their mind as they live their lives. I guess I assumed everyone had an ‘internal voice’ just chatting away. I’ve always heard the term ‘ inner voice/internal voice’ throughout my life, as in “listen to your inner voice”. I wrongly assumed that everyone actually hears a voice in their mind. I am speechless…well except in my mind!
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I can do this but at the same time have my inner monologue reading the story. I watch the story in my head like a movie but there is like a narrator usually in my voice but sometimes others like Morgan Freeman or one of the characters. Like I read all of twilight in Bellas voice. (The voice I created with her not Kristen Stewarts.)
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Gosh, I didn’t realise there were so many replies to this. I’ll try and answer some of the questions/comments that seem to be directed at me:
–“I feel like a lot of these non internal monologue people just have a different way of defining their experiences. Your comment is the perfect example. It’s not so much that you “hear” a voice in your head as it is just there. Complete sentences rolling around silently in your mind.”
I agree – we might all be describing the same things in different ways! Except… no, I don’t have complete sentences. The thoughts are just “concepts” rather than words, and they’re very visual.
–“Do you silently think to yourself, “I think the best way would be if I take Main Street up to whatever avenue and take a left, then head straight down to such and such place” Do you have that thought process or does it come to you some other way?”
Not as words or sentences, no. I picture the journey visually. If I think about walking to the pub later this evening it’s a series of images – the junctions and landmarks I will pass.
–“when I read, the sentences have inflection and cadence, as though it’s being spoken by someone. Is that the same for you, or no?”
No, I don’t think so. When I read, the process is much faster. Something like what Brian describes in one of the replies here (“…my visual cortex(?) is making a mental movie for me (not with great clarity, but it’s definitely a visual thing) based upon what I’m reading and *I’m not consciously actually “seeing” the words on the page*.”) Straight to video for me too!
I write for a living, so rhythm and cadence is important to me, but this is the first time I’ve thought about the process of reading and writing. How strange. When I write, I’m definitely concerned about how it will sound, but it’s not “as though it’s being spoken by someone”. I seem to judge it by the feel of it rather than the potential sound. It seems like a much quicker process than it would be if I was imagining someone speaking. (Sorry, I’m finding it very hard to articulate this!)
–“if they dream, is it color or black and white?”
Colour, for me.
–“Emma, are you a fast reader?”
I am. And I was ahead of my peers at primary school when it came to reading and writing.
I’m having such a weird couple of days thinking about all of this. It’s like when I watched a Horizon doc in 1994 and discovered I have synaesthesia. My brain is … something else.
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I’m not surprised by this because recently I came across another study that found not everyone sees images in their mind the same way. Some people have a much greater ability to visualize than others. Which I think helps to explain some artistic talent. For example, I can draw really well from a copy, but I just can’t do that thing where someone can draw something so detailed from a picture in their mind. I feel like I have a strong visual imagination, but it’s not quite detailed enough to be able to do that.
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I am extremely visual with crazy images all the time and I have the same issues with art that you do lol
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Thanks for mentioning this! I realized at some point in my past that it’s almost impossible for me to visualize things in my mind… Like a picture. It’s more a vague ‘knowing’ of what something looks like. I am an internal monologuer, so maybe it’s parts of the brain, or who knows. Luckily I’m a writer and not a painter!
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Just after discussing this very thing you described with my husband who has very different visualization than I do, I read your comment. I have very strong visualization skills, he can’t rearrange furniture in his head. I do art, and he is a nuclear physicist. My language related skills are 99th percentile, his are NOT. His sense of direction is amazing. Mine stinks. Like you I am really good at copying from a picture. The ability to imagine what isn’t there and create images is strong. While some may be better drawing from imagination, I think that skill grows with time. For instance, once you have drawn a leaf, eye, hand, tree, whatever, many times, you internalize the principle lines and shapes and can begin doing it without a reference. Try studying and drawing what goes into a simple thing, like a leaf, then later try it from imagination. I internally dialogue about what I draw too! See Thefairywhisperer.com for examples of mishmash of photos, drawing and made up stuff.
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Drawing from memory relies a lot on muscle memory as well. It’s acheivable with training.
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That’s interesting, I hear the whole inner monologue, and discuss everything in my head before I say it outloud but I cannot visualize things in my head at all, when ppl tell you to close your eyes and picture something I get nothing.. I’m not artistic at all either for that reason probably
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I wonder how they dream. What does that look like? I’m an internal monologue girl for sure.
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I have a friend who says he dreams in feelings. Like bursts of abstract colors but no real images in his mind.
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We don’t. I can’t see anything in my head, so it’s completely dark without any sounds when I’m sleeping.
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Like how we perceive day to day life, or like watching a movie. In my dreams I think and comprehend things the same way I do in real life. I retain environmental stimulation and process it into comprehensive concepts without having a voice to narrate anything. I’m kind of surprised of how mindblowing this is. Some people (not you in particular) are acting like we’re crippled and don’t have a head or something lol. Maybe it correlates with observational skills and an ability to understand things through abstract concepts?? I’d like to see psychological and neurological studies on this now 😀
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My dreams are like watching a movie, I see people and places but it’s not words. I thought everyone dreamed that way? I honestly have both, like I hear an internal monologue if I try but the main way I think is through pictures in my mind. When people ask me what I’m thinking about, I struggle to put it into words because I’m not thinking with words, I’m thinking with pictures
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I work with a guy who said after reading this, he realized that his dreams are also different. He doesn’t ever hear or have any communication in his dreams. He explained it as though all his dreaming is viewed in third person and he just sees dreams vividly. SO CRAZY lol.
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I rarely dream or do not remember them. No internal monologue.
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I’m a non monologuer. Typically my dreams are like reality but whatever I’m not focusing on is vague and subject to change. The longer I’ve been asleep the more realistic they get. Sometimes they have cutscenes like in a game where I have a third person view and am not in control.
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I wondered about how those without the inner dialogue dream also. I have a very active & vocal inner voice, but never gave it much thought – I thought everyone had it. Years ago I read not everyone dreams in color and not everyone has vivid dreams. At the time I was very surprised. I dream in color, feel the environmental conditions – cold, hot, windy, wet, light, & dark – and hear voices & sounds. My husband has often found me sitting up in bed, talking, moving my hands as I rearrange things in my dreams.
We all have our own normal and probably those on each side of the fence wonder how the other side copes with the differences.
Dede Carter
MS
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Except for the part where the people/locations/situations are usually different, my dreams are pretty much indistinguishable from my waking life…
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For me, I rarely remember words from my dreams. It is usually feelings and concepts. When I was little, voices from the tv in the room would pervade my dream-State and morph my dreams, and that was scary. Otherwise, people may look at me in my dreams but the communication is more telepathic.
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I’m about to throw a wrench in this topic: I have both. Depending on task, frame of mind, situation, circumstances, stress level, I switch back and forth. I can read either way ( ‘hearing’ or ‘mental impression’.) I would say I am more naturally inclined to think without internal monolouge. As someone who straddles the fence, feel free to ask away!
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This has totally been on my mind recently. I’ve been wanting to research into this further, as I haven’t been able to find great resources about it online (I’m not sure if it has to do with me not understanding the correct terminology I should be searching, though). Anyways, another thing to think about: if people all think differently, they also must meditate differently as well, right? And I’m not even positive the two are correlated. I constantly have conversations with myself in my head. I go into the shower, and it’s like my brain thinks up all of these hypothetical situations and I have these hypothetical conversations in my head (call it regret or call it a release of sorts). But then, when I meditate, it’s so insanely visual for me. I just start seeing colors and the colors turn into very vivid images. That internal monologue will still be there in my head though, trying to make sense of the colors and images, which makes my brain go on overload so I have to continually push the inner monologue out and just observe and pray I remember everything I see without internally processing it first when I’m done with it. I’m not sure if that makes sense but, I’ve been told not everyone meditates like this, lol. I do have extremely vivid dreams though! Not sure if that plays into it. But when thinking normally, I cannot visualize anything. I often call myself a visual learner because I need to physically see visual aspects, as I can’t see them in my head in my waking life (but can in my sleep/meditations).
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Same!!!
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I do all of these same things!
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You’re the first person whos ever really perfectly described my own process. Reassuring, somehow. Thanks for that.
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I experience things exactly the same way you do. I also remember things as images-photographic. When I was in school and had to study for a test I could see the page and where the piece was I needed to recall exactly where it was on the page and would “read it” again. I thought everyone did this, turns out-nope! I see vivid colors when I meditate as well. The brain is so fascinating.
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I can’t totally relate to what you are saying. Sounds similar to how mine works.
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Would love to hear more about your personal experience! Do you have a difficult or easy time getting people to understand your ideas / thought processes? What is that normally like for you?
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I’m exactly the same. I have no photographic memory but remember vibes if that makes sence but yet when I dream and meditate I see it as clear as day…like a film in watching but it’s my dream…and I remember everything!! I have my internal monologue, my secret conversations with myself and I never thought of this being any different for anyone else! It’s like my brain is too busy talking during the day to open my visuals but when I’m at peace it activates. This is such an interesting topic!!!
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Interesting! Do you consider yourself an intuitive person?
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This is 100% me too. I had no idea how differently people process things. Glad I’m not the only one!
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Would love to hear more about your personal experience! Do you have a difficult or easy time getting people to understand your ideas / thought processes? What is that normally like for you?
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It sounds like you’re reaching a ‘tripping’ state from sober meditation, congratulations!
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Interesting! I’ve never done hallucinogens (for anxiety reasons but I’ve also had a lot of people ask me if I have by the way I talk/described things in the past), so in a way, I guess I never recognized my meditation as trippy (or “different”), because that’s how I thought it was for everyone. Googling trippy meditation and seeing what comes up now… lol.
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I have tri and quad-slofies in my head. I question something in my head and a spew of answers erupts on top of each other and then critiques pile on top, still related to the corresponding answer . I need a piece to finish a project and materials with applicable properties pass in the background The score is applied to attractive ones of pluses and minuses. The list of materials continues so fast I can only glimpse them but good ones pop. Hardness, durability, magnetic and electric, weight, temperature, solubility, corrosion, ease of work with available tools, compatibility, they run through fairly quick. If I’m busy with something else, it’s strictly background . Sometimes the bulb lights minutes, hours, or days later if it’s not a priority. If I have a dilemma in something else, potential side effects or conflicts or benefits battle it out. Slower process for me, but similar effect. Makes writing 2 or 3 sensible sentences somewhat difficult at times. I call them multiple tracks. I have add because of it. It’s been my blessing. Alan Durchowitz really needs some of that. It is probably easier to make a decision if you don’t do that
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This is crazy to me…my brain still isn’t wrapping around the fact that not everyone does that…like….how does one process thoughts?? Do you still tell jokes to yourself and crack up alone? I’m just very concerned…and intrigued. But more so concerned
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Why does one need a narrative voice to process thoughts as opposed to adding together abstract concepts and turning them into sensible information?? I always thought that was an innate process of how the brain works. I don’t know.
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This is why I have such a problem with lowercase i. It’s such an ugly color. Trust me, I didn’t choose it, it came that way.
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Opposite side of the coin, I’m wondering how monologue people read quickly. Does it sound like a tape on fast forward? Does the pitch increase too? My brain is lazy I guess. I can make it simulate voices and enunciations, but it takes effort.
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For me it just sounds like someone talking very fast…and sometimes I even actually end up out of breath…
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I crack up at my own internal dialogue/ thoughts. I’ll be giggling & my partner asks, “what Are you thinking / scheming about now?”
I definitely think this is a right brain 🧠 / left brain 🧠 thing. I think more artistic, right brain people think in pictures and they’re probably left-handed as well.
I have several friends that are creative and artistic (AND leftys) and told me they always think in pictures like babies and animals do.
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My thoughts are processed directly and immediately, except when communicating with other people… When dealing with others (talking or writing) I have a fully-formed thought in my head that I then have to translate into the correct words for it to make sense to the other person/people. It’s a lot of work sometimes… lol
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I see your inner dialogue and add in colors and textures for letters and numbers. I have synaesthesia. A friend of mine has the same type as mine but also sees music. Mind blown yet? =)
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How do you “see” music or “colors and textures”? I have the inner voice and talk to myself in my head all the time… but what does that look like?
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What do you mean by seeing inner dialogue? This is interesting!
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I feel like you are psychedelic. 😀
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I’m curious, when you were growing up did it occur to you that you think differently than other people? If so how old were you when you realized it, and how did you figure it out?
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My daughter-in-law has that too and thought everyone saw the #6 in blue. It wasn’t until high she discovered she was the anomaly. Two of her sisters also have it. I think it’s pretty cool 🤷🏼♀️
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I’ve got visual-auditory and auditory-tactile synesthesia so yea, I hear it and I feel it and I see it. Life is a wild ride! It definitely makes listening to music into a very immersive experience and the inner dialogue that I can’t imagine living without. It’s hard to imagine perceiving the world in any other way.
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Wait… What?
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I also have a friend who has synesthesia. She experiences when writing poetry, she sees the words as colors.
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I also have synaesthesia, I see my pain, bruise, cut, etc. as colors. And I see colors of what I eat. Some things I eat are rose colored, some are spiky intense colors. I did some research on this and found that most babies are born with this, but society takes over and says – what do you mean you see … this or that? So most people as they grow up lose that sense. Before I knew about synaesthesia, I saw my doctor and he asked how I was feeling. I said my stomach felt grey with red streaks. He was silent for a moment, then said – I wish all my patients could do that. It’s a gift from ancient times and those who have synaesthesia should feel blessed. 🙂
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It sounds beautiful. But what does music *look* like?
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lucky!
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4 is purple, in my world 🙂
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I might be a hybrid between both. When I work, and I’m thinking about a problem; I’m not always talking in my head, but rather absorbing or thinking of patterns with no language that lead me to an answer. I do talk to myself in my head though. I can do that and I do think of problems with conversations in my head as well. Some just don’t have the need for conversations, like when I look at a rock I want to climb, I don’t talk to myself about how I will do it, or when I ski, I don’t talk to myself about how I will take this slope on. I use other senses to formulate an answer.
If I’m thinking about any social interaction I may have, I generally talk in my head, acting things out or talking with myself about topics like the meaning of life, what I will tell my Wife today after work or when she gets home, etc, etc.
Imagine if there is no language, or how a language is created by taking in patterns you see, feel, taste, and hear. You recognize the pattern from before and you start to add meaning to it not just by language, but to remember better, you might make a noise when that happens, and others may learn that noise means that something is going to happen, then a language is created. Think about how other animals communicate and understand. If you learn another language, you begin to think in that language or a hybrid of both.
When someone asks you to take a seat, do you have a monologue in your head about how you’re going to pull the chair back lightly so it doesn’t drag to much on the floor, and then move your body into a seated position, then I will pull the chair toward me as I drop down into the seat. Then I’m going to shake myself forward so the seat will move with me, so I can closer to the table?
Do you talk yourself through the process of how you are going to walk, or if someone says look out, do you have a conversation about how you’re going to dodge an object before you can figure out how to jump out of the way?
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Yes, I do have an ongoing description of how I’m doing what I’m doing. I have to be manually aware of the space I take up or I’ll be too loud/quiet/soft/stompy/etc. I think Instructions to myself “lift this chair slightly to see how heavy it is. Now lift more so it doesn’t make a loud noise as you scoot it back.” And if I do something “wrong” I make a mental note to change that in my mental instructions. If I’m doing something for the first (or first few) times, I’m forming the instructions of how to do it. Once I have the hang of it, that’s when I have the steps listed out in my mind.
This is not necessarily typical of all narrating-types, though. I think this is a combination of my narration-style of thoughts and my adaptations for severe adhd (or possibly very low-end undiagnosed autism, as it runs in my family… which I actually think adhd is, the very light edge of the autism spectrum… that’s a whole other theory to get into)
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While taking a seat, my mind is usually on a million different other things and talking through what’s next or who else is here, or so many different other pop up thoughts. Some without rhyme or reason. Not what I’m actually doing.
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Interesting way to explain it. I don’t have an internal dialog about how to sit, but I would probably have an internal dialog about which seat would be the best one, if the one I pick will be next to someone I like or find irritating, if I can get out easily to go to the restroom, what seat looks the most comfortable, etc.
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I don’t talk in my head about how I will physically achieve those things, but I will have internal monologue about observations and decisions surrounding them, for example “I’ll sit on that side, it’s nearer the window. Oh, the print of the seat fabric is nice…”, “I think I’ll take this route today, it rained yesterday so the other direction will be too muddy” or “whoops, nearly walked into that” as I dodge a lamp post.
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Thanks for sharing this! I’ve wondered the same thing about how many people do and don’t; and I have asked many people. I didn’t have an internal dialogue for a large portion of my life, at least not one that would run all day and night. When I started playing and singing music it started or became much more active. Meditation, running, playing music, alcohol/drugs or just being as active as possible throughout my day tends to slow or stop mine so I can sleep well.
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Yup, my husband thinks in an abstract way, while I have a running monologue in my head 24/7. Makes life interesting 😂
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Interesting as I have asked my husband what he is thinking and he responds, “Nothing.”
I spoke aboutthis with a co-worker and she said that she sometimes thinks nothing. Both are intelligent people. I mentioned to her that I nevery stop. If driving down the road as a passenger, I think in sentences such as, “there is a bird on that fence; wonder if feet have ever stepped on that part of the earth, wonder what the person’ s family life is like as they pass in a car; that power line was once put up by someone on a ladder, etc. I do dream a lot at night and if not remembering a dream I feel the night was wasted. A book or news article made up in my mind is constant. So you see, this article I found interesting as it explains HOW my husband and others are formulating sentences of thoughts. I do speak out loud to myself sometimes so that the thoughts are concrete.
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Yes! I love long drives alone because I can sort through all of those monologue thought-sentences (and sometimes find great new ideas among them, if I listen to myself).
This possibly explains the very intelligent people I know who just don’t like to read even though they can read fine… or if they do, it’s not as personal if an experience. They find a movie more intimate than a book… which makes sense if the action of reading a narrative is not as natural as a thought for them. For me, reading a book can feel as if it is my thoughts and makes me feel very strong feelings. I can watch a million scary movies, but if I read a scary book, it can really mess with my psyche.
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“wonder if feet have ever stepped on that part of the earth” I think this all the time!!! I am so glad I’m not the only one!
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I am exactly like you. I was just telling someone that even when I’m watching a movie I’ll pause and think about the technical elements and set pieces in this way.
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I do this exact thing… like one thought leads to the next and the next and then I end up somewhere that was not even close to the original thought I started with. I usually see this as not able to concentrate as I’m a proofreader and these thoughts pop in as I’m reading and it drives me insane! I wish I had the non-inner monologue type of thoughts as I could probably focus better I imagine?
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I have pretty bad anxiety and depression that stems from a bipolar disorder. I used to always have multiple trains of thought going at one time, one would be a song, one would be a thought, and one would be another thought analyzing the first thought and so on. It got to the point where I decided to get on a different medication (I’ve been on and off anti-depressants for years) And for the first tome in forever it’s quiet. One train of thought at a time. No more overlapping analytical thoughts. I’m very grateful and it’s made me much happier. I also can’t trip on psychedelics while on this medication. I will get a body high but no head high, no introspective thoughts. Anyways- thought I’d share. This is a very interesting topic to me!
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Your thoughts are very much like my own.
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I might be weird or crazy, but I have to think out loud constantly to turn off my internal monologue otherwise I feel like I’m gonna go crazy lol. It also helps me meditate on subjects. Making my thoughts concrete as you said.
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Sometimes I think about nothing. Teachers and my parents used to call it daydreaming, but I wasn’t daydreaming, I had no thoughts. Other times I can’t get myself to shut-up.
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This is way cool. Some awesome notes great topic! I personally have the inner voice. I am also a Writer so my thoughts become words before i right them out. As a studied journalist, i often times can translate what people say into a narrative in words. I also see the world in ” ‘Puns’ or bad dad jokes as my inner voice works to create a funny something with every word. I have inner voice all day long and still able to communicate and have conversations with people…i just really shouldn’t say the things i am actually thinking to people lol. Cheers!
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It’s pictures and big pictures all typing and writing is stream of conscious. I think it makes processing faster because all those words form actual images in my head. I tried to close my eyes and deliberately form a sentence just a sentence and it was really hard it was “the brown cat jumps over a log “ and it didn’t work until I just pictured the brown cat jumping over the log. My mind is blown I thought this was normal
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See, if I think that, I hear the words and see the image, but I don’t see the words. I DO hear the sentence in my head though. I’ve actually jumped myself awake when I thought I physically heard something that had been in my head. Like, i knew it was in my head, but then the last syllable or word as I fall asleep is processed in my brain as actually audible to my ear and I DO hear it, and it scares me awake. I have cone to realize it’s just a brain misfire, but the first times it happened when I was young really freaked me out. It’s very rare, but happens enough for me to analyze it a bit lol.
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I picture the cat and log, but also hear my voice.
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“How have I made it 25 years in life without realizing that people don’t think like me?”
I don’t know, but it definitely makes me think we need to RAISE, not lower, the voting age! 😉
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I can’t roll my eyes hard enough at this.
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This is a question I’ve asked myself since elementary school… I specifically remember thinking and hearing myself say in my own head I wonder if that person is thinking about what I’m thinking, or if they’re thinking about if I’m thinking what they’re thinking about…
I can never turn my brain off, constantly rolling through options of different ways my day could turn out or what consequences may arise if I take or choose this action and are those better or worse than the consequences if I chose a different action…
Although this Blog post really puts it into perspective that all people are wired and built differently; which should not be considered a good or bad thing, it just is a thing and it is what it is…
HOWEVER, I am very much struggling to understand, accept, and digest without emotion the consequences of those that are “thoughtless” or without monologue in their own brain when their actions and choices directly impact my day to day life or interfere with the emotional wellbeing of my family…
Remembering that I cannot control anybody else’s choices nor can I force action, or even their reaction to said negative effect when it comes to other people, especially when they don’t view it as an issue or cause for concern is my Kryptonite right now!
I’m exploring and always open to new coping mechanisms and ways to practice what I preach; worry about what is in my control and just let the rest go. Happiness is not an achievement or certain level of success, nor is it something you can win, find, create, or expect others to create for you: which also means that I cannot allow other people’s actions and choices make me unhappy either <—- easier said than done!
Happiness is a choice and it starts within your own self and worrying about other people’s choices is not making me happy so I need to continue telling myself not to worry about what other people are doing, worry about myself and making sure that I’m doing everything that I possibly can to create the happiness that I desire!
Hope that makes a little sense, at least to some of you out there, and I don’t just sound like a crazy banshee 🤪
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Why would the consequences of the actions and choices of people without an internal monologue be different from those with an internal monologue?
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Ashley, I think you’re misunderstanding something basic…
You said:
“HOWEVER, I am very much struggling to understand, accept, and digest without emotion the consequences of those that are “thoughtless” or without monologue in their own brain when their actions and choices directly impact my day to day life or interfere with the emotional wellbeing of my family…”
But just because someone doesn’t have an internal monologue doesn’t mean that person isn’t thinking… My thoughts come in fully-formed and have to be translated into words if I want to communicate them to someone else. They are often far to complex to fully describe with words, and I have a very hard time imagining having a mind that is limited only to thinking things that can be verbalized using words…
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Very valid and very true point, in fact it’s what I would call the “norm”. It’s having to function with those that live outside the norm and repeatedly choose not to take their thoughts and communicate that into words that is challenging.
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I felt the same way when I found out that some people can actually visualize images inside their mind. I cannot. I had no idea that when you are told to imagine an apple, some people vividly see an apple. I see an idea or what I would call a memory of an apple. It’s hard to describe. I looked it up and it’s called Aphantasia. Blew my mind and I sat around trying so hard to see images in my mind for days 🤯
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I can only see a shadowy ghost of objects and not always even that much of a picture. Frustrating – Hubby often says, “picture this” and I literally can’t.
Also I have a constant monologue going on but I can’t hear it remember any kind of music. Wish I could!
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So, this might sound weird but I’m actually both of those people. When I was in high school, a friend and I had this same conversation. I was baffled that she had an inner monologue and I didn’t. I thought I was “stupid” for not having one. (I didn’t realize at the time that I thought in images instead of words.) I was in band and I knew I could hear musical notes in my head but I couldn’t recall ever hearing my own voice. So, I figured that if I could hear notes in my head, I might be able to hear my specific voice. In order to do so, I’d listen to my spoken voice and then try to hear that voice in my head just as if I were trying to reproduce a musical note from a specific instrument. Eventually, I started hearing something that resembled my spoken voice with its specific timbre. It was so exciting. After what felt like weeks of practice, I could only muster simple sentences at this point. The amount of effort it took just to make enough words to express a single thought was exhausting and slow. I had to force myself to think in simple sentences. A single sentence could take up to a minute to make. It was like a form of meditation for me because it took so much focus and brain power. I remember walking to class or sitting down watching TV and forcing myself to use my inner dialogue to make thoughts. Eventually, with years of practice, it became second nature to me. The sentences I form in my head now are much faster than spoken sentences in fact. Now, my default is an inner monologue but I can still think in images depending on what better describes the idea I’m trying to convey to myself. Anyone else have a similar experience?
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I don’t, but that is SUPER neat! It really shows how our brains can adapt with enough practice. I love your level of self-analysis.
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Me!!! Although I didn’t intentionally train my mind to do it. The way you described being able to do both is on point with how my mind works.
For example, right now I can “hear” my voice in my head, but when I read your post I imagined I heard something that was a flux between my voice and what I’d imagined yours to be, especially when you said “…it was so exciting.” I heard that in a very excited voice that was not necessarily my own.
Further up someone mentioned an image of a crisp apple and my mind immediately made up an image of a beautiful red apple with a sort of golden glow around the edges and behind it are indistinguishable shapes, because it’s all dark. I just see the beautiful tasty apple, but at the same time I know I also heard “crisp apple” in my head.
If what I am reading is a narrative I think I hear things in accents too, because accents are more interesting, but the moment it all becomes more descriptive I no longer hear words but feel as though I am genuinely watching it unfold in my mind.
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I never had to force one or the other, but I experience the difference in leisure reading the most. Your comment, this blog post, my reply, technical docs, and the like are all internal monologue. But when I read a story or novel I stop reading words after a few pages and start seeing what the words describe. It would be like looking at sheet music but instead of seeing the notes I hear the music. A few other things work that way.
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Yeah. Sometimes your brain is narration, sometimes it’s just words. Sometimes poetry, sometimes prose. Sometimes, beatboxing wordplay in a performance art piece.
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KRS-1 ROCKSTAR
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❤
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Wait a second can the people without the internal monologue hear music in their head when there is none?
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yup! I’m one of those folks and my internal sound system is GREAT
until it gets stuck on something that’s a little too catchy.
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Yes. You can hear the song as sung by the artist/band/choir, but not as if you were singing it. So one could hear however your memory stored it, say …Bon Jovi singing livin on a prayer, but couldn’t sing it in their head themselves.
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I can and very clearly.
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My internal dialogue is now screaming. Laughing. And crying. What a mess.
This was a fantastic blog post. Thank you for sharing this.
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I’m definitely one of those who hears a background dictation, regurgitation and/or echo when I read or type. The kicker, if anything, is that I’m a male and I hear a female voice.
The human mind is a strange place.
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You should be able to change the sound of the voice to any kind.
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Some people claim that their mother is “the voice in their head”.
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Ok going deep here if you don’t hear your own voice (your inner voice) do you lack a conscience? Do you hear warning signs? Do you have a sixth sense about things?
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Conscience: If I thought about punching a grandmother I would get an abrupt little mental simulation of it. A short vauge action scene flowed by how it would make me feel. Usually followed by a bunch of possible outcomes that could follow and conversations that could happen because of the event. How other people would react. Etc… Hence, if you were to ask me to punch a grandmother I would physically cringe a bit as I experienced the thoughts.
I do wonder if that’s why I hate suspense and drama in movies. I don’t like the feelings I get while I’m thinking about them as I watch them. I’ve always said they hurt me. I mean it literally. I don’t want those feelings and can’t imagine why people would purposefully subject themselves to them.
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I recently discovered that people see images in their head when I can’t. Like if someone imagines an apple they see an apple. I see nothing, but know what an apple should look like. It’s called aphantasia and finding out people can see images in their head makes me kind of jealous, and explains why so mamy books spend so much time on describing details.
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I talked with a young woman earlier this week who told me that when she reads novels, she falls into imagining the whole thing and actually forgets that there are words on a page. Blew my mind. I don’t see anything when I read.
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Yeah, I always wondered about those long descriptive passages in books. I thought they were just poor writing, but apparently they are actually meaningful to people who can picture things.
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I have inner monologue but I don’t use it all the time. Sometimes I also think in concept blocks that are just ideas rather than actual language/voice interpreting the ideas. But I do also switch over to that actual inner voice at times, particularly when I read, and when I’m upset/angry…but when I read the voice varies into different ‘Character” voices that aren’t really mine. it just depends, I guess. Never really thought about it, It just .. is the way it is. lol
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Eckheart Tolle’s The Power of Now describes the inner monologue as the Ego. A great read, he explains that most people experience this incessant inner babbling and that once you can over come it – that is when you really begin to live.
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I go back and forth in my head. Am I really borderline personality disorder or am I actually normal? Are other people just afraid to admit what they think?
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Your inner voice is not borderline personality disorder.
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