No Internal Monologue/Commentary?

[OddLove]

So I got constant internal monologue, which just a year ago I thought was something everyone had. It's just my internal voice constantly thinking. Like if I'm in a grocery store and nobody is talking to me, I'll just be talking to myself in my head, like "Wow, egg prices actually went down... hmm, maybe I should get extra... but if I do that, it will probably just be even cheaper next time," then I might see a lady grab one of those giant 5 dozen boxes and start thinking, "She must have a big family... or maybe she is just stock piling..." and it goes on and on until something outside of me demands my attention and I start actively listening.

But I always wonder what it's like to not have that...

Do people without the constant internal monologue still read aloud in their head? Or are they somehow reading without speaking it in their mind?

When they're by themselves with no distractions, what does "Pondering" look like? Is it just feelings, or pictures, or something else?

Do they still get songs stuck in their head on repeat? And what does that sound like? Is it just you reciting the lyrics? Or maybe are you hearing or feeling it in some other way?

I'm just curious how all that works.

 

[AG31]

So I got constant internal monologue, which just a year ago I thought was something everyone had. It's just my internal voice constantly thinking. Like if I'm in a grocery store and nobody is talking to me, I'll just be talking to myself in my head, like "Wow, egg prices actually went down... hmm, maybe I should get extra... but if I do that, it will probably just be even cheaper next time," then I might see a lady grab one of those giant 5 dozen boxes and start thinking, "She must have a big family... or maybe she is just stock piling..." and it goes on and on until something outside of me demands my attention and I start actively listening.

But I always wonder what it's like to not have that...

Do people without the constant internal monologue still read aloud in their head? Or are they somehow reading without speaking it in their mind?

When they're by themselves with no distractions, what does "Pondering" look like? Is it just feelings, or pictures, or something else?

Do they still get songs stuck in their head on repeat? And what does that sound like? Is it just you reciting the lyrics? Or maybe are you hearing or feeling it in some other way?

I'm just curious how all that works.

Some people "think" mainly in images. I know this because I lack visual imagery (have "aphantasia") and read a lot of related stuff. But I don't recall info about what you're asking. Do some people sometimes have nothing going on in their heads? Hubby claims that's what happens when he's taking a bath before bed. Me, I'm like you. Inner dialogue is always going on. Often I'm refining a post to AH.

 

[OddLove]

Some people "think" mainly in images. I know this because I lack visual imagery (have "aphantasia") and read a lot of related stuff. But I don't recall info about what you're asking. Do some people sometimes have nothing going on in their heads? Hubby claims that's what happens when he's taking a bath before bed. Me, I'm like you. Inner dialogue is always going on. Often I'm refining a post to AH.

I also have aphantasia, except I can still see things decently when I'm dreaming for some reason.

What's unfathomable to me is, Yes, according to many people I've asked or listened discuss this topic, when they are not talking or listening, it's silent in their head. Which blows my mind. If I try to silence my head I'll literally be hearing myself like "Okay, don't think... don't think... just... think about nothing..." so the closest I can get to silence in my head is to 'think about not thinking'.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

The voices don't bother me until they start arguing.

 

[OddLove]

The voices don't bother me until they start arguing.

Same.

But once my internal monologue flips to internal commentary and all my I's and me's become you's then I know we're about to start fighting over this ship's wheel.

 

[BeechLeaf]

I explain things to my less gifted voices, then get angry when they argue back, then a higher-level inner voice tells me I'd get hauled off to the loony bin if any of this was out loud, so stop now.

 

[NuclearFairy]

Do they still get songs stuck in their head on repeat? And what does that sound like? Is it just you reciting the lyrics? Or maybe are you hearing or feeling it in some other way?

I once had three songs running through my head at the same time. It was disorienting as fuck.

That said, I don't often think in words, mostly just in feelings, pictures, flashes of sounds, but mostly feelings and pictures. However, I do still have those internal dialog moments, mostly because if I have them out loud, which is my preference, I have people constantly going, "What was that?" "What'd you say?" "Did you call me?" No! I'm just doing this whole speaking to myself thing. Jeese, can't you leave a girl alone with her thoughts.

And yeah, no, blank thoughts, not happening. I can be thinking of pretty much nothing at all, but it's not really blank. There's like weavy wavy colors going on in my head when that happens. Or stray bits of not quite heard melody.

 

[OddLove]

I once had three songs running through my head at the same time. It was disorienting as fuck.

That said, I don't often think in words, mostly just in feelings, pictures, flashes of sounds, but mostly feelings and pictures. However, I do still have those internal dialog moments, mostly because if I have them out loud, which is my preference, I have people constantly going, "What was that?" "What'd you say?" "Did you call me?" No! I'm just doing this whole speaking to myself thing. Jeese, can't you leave a girl alone with her thoughts.

And yeah, no, blank thoughts, not happening. I can be thinking of pretty much nothing at all, but it's not really blank. There's like weavy wavy colors going on in my head when that happens. Or stray bits of not quite heard melody.

I would literally lose my mind if I had the actually songs running in my head. That's sounds like a maddening experience, even just one sounds incredibly frustrating to be honest. At least if the lyrics are stuck in my head I can conversate to myself and think about something else to get a break from it.

 

[NuclearFairy]

I would literally lose my mind if I had the actually songs running in my head. That's sounds like a maddening experience, even just one sounds incredibly frustrating to be honest. At least if the lyrics are stuck in my head I can conversate to myself and think about something else to get a break from it.

I usually can't actually hear the lyrics, just a word here and there if I'm lucky. Mostly what I hear is the melody and the voice singing it. And then I go bug my SO until he helps me figure out what's running through my head and sings the song for me to get it out.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I once had three songs running through my head at the same time. It was disorienting as fuck.

Brubeck's 'Take Five' solves that.

 

[NuclearFairy]

Brubeck's 'Take Five' solves that.

Is that a song or an alcohol? Cause I've found that listening to more song just makes it worse. And my alcohol tolerance is just the worst. Not the way you'd think either, I've got a pretty high tolerance to the poison, and an extremely low tolerance to the flavor. I've apparently got a hilarious, "WTF did I just put in my mouth," face though.

 

[AG31]

If I try to silence my head I'll literally be hearing myself like "Okay, don't think... don't think... just... think about nothing..." so the closest I can get to silence in my head is to 'think about not thinking'.

Yes, advice to "clear your mind" is annoying, bordering on infuriating.
My strategy for falling asleep is to think about incredibly boring things. Dishwashers, front loaders. Now that I'm typing this, I realize that I don't put words to those thoughts. They're just concepts. But I usually give up and start talking in my head before I fall asleep.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Originally recorded in 1959 almost as a filler, Take Five quickly became one of the best known Jazz Standards in music history. Ten minutes of pure cool jazz bliss, it will drive any bad song out of your head. I can pull it up in my head almost at any moment and just get a mellow smile going.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Do they still get songs stuck in their head on repeat? And what does that sound like? Is it just you reciting the lyrics? Or maybe are you hearing or feeling it in some other way?

My brain sometimes is like a record skipping on a track and I'll spend several minutes repeating the same phrase over and over and over and over and-
*twenty minutes later*
-over.

Not a fan.

Also have borderline aphantasia, with the caveat that I do dream in images (albeit fairly blurry images and I never have a physical body). I always thought it was weird to be a writer with no real idea what anything you're writing about actually looks like. I get that it's all based on abstractions of form, but still, the fact that I know how to describe a thing without being able to see it is kind of wild.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

"Despite initial skepticism from Columbia Records, “Take Five” became a commercial juggernaut. It was released as a single in 1961—two years after the album’s debut—and slowly climbed the charts, eventually becoming the first jazz instrumental to sell over a million copies. This was practically unheard of at the time. Jazz, though respected, was not exactly dominating the singles charts in the early 1960s, and radio programmers were notoriously hesitant to play instrumentals, especially ones in odd time signatures. But “Take Five” broke through the resistance. "

https://historyofmusic.net/1950s/ti...-eternal-rhythm-of-take-five-by-dave-brubeck/

 

[anthrodisiac]

I usually can't actually hear the lyrics, just a word here and there if I'm lucky. Mostly what I hear is the melody and the voice singing it. And then I go bug my SO until he helps me figure out what's running through my head and sings the song for me to get it out.

This is one of the sweetest things I've heard today.

 

[TheLobster]

I usually can't actually hear the lyrics, just a word here and there if I'm lucky. Mostly what I hear is the melody and the voice singing it. And then I go bug my SO until he helps me figure out what's running through my head and sings the song for me to get it out.

The most delightful kind of deworming

 

[TarnishedPenny]

It’s not the little voice constantly whispering in my brain that I fear, it’s having it stop.