Are You Normal or an Oddball?

[EpsomWolf]

Quite interesting reading all of this. On the MH thread I’d a few times spoken about being an ‘over thinker’ and some of the consequences that come with that.

I’d never even considered that as an internal monologue but must be what it is. Problem is it never really stops and can be very intense at times. I hear people say they like to walk, or to run to clear their heads but that just gives even more time and space to think and makes it worse. It’s a cement mixer churning round and round. It’s very draining and leaves you permanently unsettled, and then angry because it’s at odds with your circumstances and some of the fortunate things in your life, and so you question your lack of gratitude… and round you go again.

Luckily those thoughts/conversations with myself are at least always ‘normal’ in subject matter with a reasonable ability to give balance and a sense of perspective, but when you feel your biggest adversity is your own mind (internal monologue) it’s damaging and the links to mental health make sense.

I suppose a lot of all that is just what many of us experience from time to time and maybe it’s just about where the frequency/intensity tipping point lies individually.

I dunno, not sure things will ever change. Either way, chalk me down as an oddball!

 

[PPB]

Normal.

 

[BillyDee]

I have full on debates, arguments with myself. Even hand gesticulations if things get heated....

 

[Wolf Hunting]

I don't know if it's true but I've always been led to believe that you only actually remember stuff once, but then you subsequently remember your last memory of it, if that makes sense.

This is really accurate! Great description!
But isn't this how we reconstruct stuff, repeat it and it then becomes 'the real version'?
I do this a lot I'm afraid. That story about Alun Evans becoming the first £100,000 pound player for instance. Classic!
I know it's an age thing, but it's largely who I am now, and if people can be a little forgiving, it's not a bad place to be.
But when I'm reading a well written book I develop fantastic pictures in my head just as the words I'm reading describe most of the place for instance, I can then complete the detail as I'm reading.
A while ago I was reading a Len Deighton book about Berlin, and the writing was so atmospheric, I paused and Googled the location on 'street view' so I could 'be there', see the gap in the building and imaging the snow falling and the guy running for his life...
But I'm very comfortable with the scenes I instantly create. All of the time.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Enjoyed reading this thread that I inadvertently spawned!

I thought we all had an inner monologue or a version of that, interesting to read that not everyone is wired the same way!

In fact the inner monologue thing is around 40% of people, so hugely different to how I thought.

 

[AndyWolves]

I've been practising meditation on and off over the last few years. I don't have an internal monologue, more abstract ideas that surface themselves.

Has anyone with an internal monologue been able to meditate? I can't imagine how that would work with a voice constantly nattering away!

 

[BillyDee]

The internal monologue kinda becomes a narration, describing the scen if you're trying to imagine a nice place, and voicing the instructions, such as "breathe in/out".

 

[SSB]

I remember faces always, but names?????
Not a kin chance

I’ve stood next to the same bloke for about 5 seasons. Chat all the time, but buggered if I know his name. Always been “alright mate”. Is it too late in the day to ask?

 

[SSB]

I have full on debates, arguments with myself. Even hand gesticulations if things get heated....

I bet that ensures no-one sits next to you on public transport.

 

[nimrod]

I've been practising meditation on and off over the last few years. I don't have an internal monologue, more abstract ideas that surface themselves.

Has anyone with an internal monologue been able to meditate? I can't imagine how that would work with a voice constantly nattering away!

Yes, but I find I have to really focus initially or it won’t work. it’s easier when you can follow an instruction, like billy said. Loads of those on YT now.

listening to music can also deaden the voices. the constant angst can be debilitating in many ways so you have to find ways to dilute it.

I find I now verbalise the internal arguments a lot more than I used to, to the extent my wife thinks I have must have a bpd.

 

[SLA]

I use visualisation to quieten those intrusive thoughts and internal dialogues that used to keep me awake at night and leave me exhausted. Endlessly going over stuff from the day just gone all the way back to childhood. It was horrible. My brain would spend hours going over arguments from 40 years ago.

I've come up with a method that works for me. Stand back (mentally) from the thought, then "pick it up" and put it a metal box. Then put as many locks and chains as I can find on that box to keep that thought from escaping. Then take that box on a boat out to sea and chuck it overboard and watch it sink. Obviously this is all done mentally - I'm not getting on a fucking boat at 3 in the morning!

Writing this, I can see it sounds a bit mental but it has genuinely worked and most of those things that I used to obsess about, I can no longer recall even if I try. I appreciate suppressing all this negative stuff is likely to come back and bite me one day and I'll end up in a secure facility eating crayons, but for now, it's working.

 

[AndyWolves]

I use visualisation to quieten those intrusive thoughts and internal dialogues that used to keep me awake at night and leave me exhausted. Endlessly going over stuff from the day just gone all the way back to childhood. It was horrible. My brain would spend hours going over arguments from 40 years ago.

I've come up with a method that works for me. Stand back (mentally) from the thought, then "pick it up" and put it a metal box. Then put as many locks and chains as I can find on that box to keep that thought from escaping. Then take that box on a boat out to sea and chuck it overboard and watch it sink. Obviously this is all done mentally - I'm not getting on a fucking boat at 3 in the morning!

Writing this, I can see it sounds a bit mental but it has genuinely worked and most of those things that I used to obsess about, I can no longer recall even if I try. I appreciate suppressing all this negative stuff is likely to come back and bite me one day and I'll end up in a secure facility eating crayons, but for now, it's working.

Sounds like you've found the brains recycle bin