Stopping the internal dialogue

About 5 years ago I started trying to stop my internal dialogue, or that voice in my head that describes the world to me. I found it very interesting when I finally did it after about 3 years. The world is different now, the way i see it I'm describing it to my self instead of letting my ingrained perception given to me by the prominent members of society describe it to me. Any thoughts or stories of other people experiencing this or interested in it. Please reply e-mail me or PM me.

So are you claiming you stopped holding internal conversations with yourself, or that you stopped thinking in words altogether?

i hold internal conversations with myself ALL the time. ALL the friggin time. i hate it. sometimes it happens and i don't notice it, sometimes i catch myself and then start a whole another conversation with myself about why i'm doing this and that i have to be crazy. it's very good to know that this happens to at least *one* other person!

'course i blame the shrooms and late-night bong hits.

i didn't know that people didn't hold conversations with theirselves. a quiet head? hrm.

^^ well, other than BL, it's not something i've ever discussed with someone because i thought it wasn't normal. i really don't even like telling my husband about it because i'm afraid he'll think i'm crazier than he thinks already!

happens to anyone, an inherent part of being human.
i sometimes engage converstation with those parts of my brain telling me one thing (a right or wrong) and try to sway it or reason with it...
but there's no reasoning, IT IS ALWAYS RIGHT. Fun arguments though

faris said:

i hold internal conversations with myself ALL the time. ALL the friggin time. i hate it. sometimes it happens and i don't notice it, sometimes i catch myself and then start a whole another conversation with myself about why i'm doing this and that i have to be crazy. it's very good to know that this happens to at least *one* other person!

'course i blame the shrooms and late-night bong hits.

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I do this also, however I don't have anything to blame it on. It had gotten so bad at one point that I would find myself trying to recall who I've had a "conversation" with and it would end up being me. I find that if I speak outloud instead in my head then I don't do it as often.

The internal dialoge is a normal thing, but it may be different or operate in different ways in some peolpe, dunno, but it is normal. Stopping it is also a necessary thing if your going to get into spirituality. It kind of sucks up your focus and awarness, so being without it is a good thing. Not easy to do but not that hard either.

faris said:

^^ well, other than BL, it's not something i've ever discussed with someone because i thought it wasn't normal. i really don't even like telling my husband about it because i'm afraid he'll think i'm crazier than he thinks already!

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~~ or maybe he'll think you're just like him.

just my view, but I don't see how stopping your internal dialogue could be a good thing... it is the defining thing that makes us sentient... at least in my opinion... when I think to myself, "what makes me different from an animal?", the conclusion I came to was the fact that I do think to myself... I have never seen a cat look at me like it was wondering what I was thinking... this internal dialogue is what defines me as human...

so turning off this dialogue seems to be more of a step backwards then a step forwards... uncontrolled internal dialogue would be a problem, I don't debate that... but controlled it is an important tool... it's your own personal mirror to bounce ideas off when no one else is around... it crunches your problems and shows you the best course of action... it shows you details that you would have never noticed before... it is your imagination... the concept of losing it is rather frightening prospect to me as I value it so much... when I am sad, it asks why am I sad... when I feel like I want to die, it tells me what would happen after I died... it makes me reason out everything, it keeps me balanced... without it I would be an mess...

but purhaps void is right when he say it is different in everyone... maybe for some people it isn't as valuable as it is for me... it's an incredibly difficult notion for me to grasp, but I suppose it might be possible...

Sir Jac said:

... it's an incredibly difficult notion for me to grasp, but I suppose it might be possible...

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Try it and see. You cannot philosophize yourself into an understanding of these things without experience. I am sure I said in another thread that you cannot see a system without being seperate from it, well that counts here too.

IMHO your internal working or perspective is different from other people, just like how the process of memory works differently for different people (and why one standard of teaching isnt good for everyone). You have various things going through your internal awarness like emotions, feeling, pictures, ideas, not just internal dialogue. But without awarness you may see all these things as the one internal dialogue, or maybe not, dont know how other people are aware of theirs.

In some people their internal dialogue can be very negative, and I think you'd need some control to balance it and switch it on/off. Also some mental problems may stem from being too rapped up in your internal disalogue and not being able to focus much on the external world. Anyway, my main point however is that if you turn off your internal dialogue you do not become a zombie or go into a coma, you actually free your mind. I'm not sure how to explain it all but its very important in spiritual practices and meditation. Its like your internal dialogue can suck up your energy, focus and awarness, so your not as in the 'now', but instead have your head in the clouds. And I think maybe a lot of internal dialogue stuff could be a type of static in continuous loops, in a way like random dream images, they just regurgitate data on you. There is also some connection between internal dialogue and ego. While most people know what ego is, I am not sure they are as educated about the practical processes of ego in their daily life, I know I aint.

Anyway, if you switch it off it will come back on. It takes a lot of effort and intent to switch it off pernamently, so if you try this and do it, you will gain a bit of experience and it will come back. One thing to remember is that with these things you are in total control, its not like drugs where once you take it you have to suffer the consiquences as long as they last. Without it your mind is calm and still, or at least that is my experience, and it does lead into other higher things like greater awarness and understanding. You cannot imagine how much time or energy some people spend each day in their internal dialogue, and it does go to waste, I mean you dont remember all the crap you were thinking over your life and very little was beneficial. Like I said, there are different things going on, so if you do get rid of internal dialogue you still have memory and consciousness and thoughts, ideas, ect. Its just all clearer like tuning into a radio station frequency to such a point that the static disappears. Its hard to understand how beneficial it is until you try and get a better sense of these things but it definately is beneficial.

so turning off this dialogue seems to be more of a step backwards then a step forwards... uncontrolled internal dialogue would be a problem, I don't debate that... but controlled it is an important tool... it's your own personal mirror to bounce ideas off when no one else is around... it crunches your problems and shows you the best course of action... it shows you details that you would have never noticed before... it is your imagination... the concept of losing it is rather frightening prospect to me as I value it so much... when I am sad, it asks why am I sad... when I feel like I want to die, it tells me what would happen after I died... it makes me reason out everything, it keeps me balanced... without it I would be an mess...

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I agree.

i wonder what it would be like without all of the noise in my head... i'm usually having 3 or 4 internal dialogues at the same time so it's pretty noisy in here...

actually, i have my own theories about this... but recently i've been thinking a lot, especially if i am in relationship problems.

Then once when i was stoned (for some reason, me being stoned enlightens me) i realised all the thinking was to naught. THinking is only beneficial if you ACT on it based on the thinking.

E.G- a friend asked you to go out, but you have an exam tomorrow. One part of your brain automatically tells you to go; another tells you not to. If you were originally going to not go, but you decide to think over it (and talk about the pros and cons) and end up not going, then you have wasted time and energy.

It is only worth it if after your thinking, you decided to go out.

But then it raises the question on how you know whether a topic is going to waste your energy or not. The answer? you will never know.... one good way is to rule out choices that dont really matter, leaving thought for only very important things.

Most of my thoughts are happening all the time subconsciously, and I'm not even aware of them. When I'm creating a poem I find that the internal dialogue of words helps immensely, so I can plan it out and hear it in my head before I write it down. My favorite thing to do in my head is create songs. I imagine a drum beat, add in some bass, guitar, special effects, etc. Sometimes a full song just pops into my head as well. Actually, some of the best songs I've ever heard were in my head. Hearing inside your head is called audition. It's perfectly normal whether it's voices, instruments, or anything else. It only means you have an active imagination. Drugs are not needed to think this way, it only takes practice. While marijuana may make it easier for some people to pull subconscious thoughts into their consciousness (as has been the case with me at times) it's better to do it while sober.

yeah but when your not composing you dont need it, do you? Anyway, turning if off/on has its benefits, and if you get into them, you can still use it when you need to.

Tell me what you think...

I've thought about this before, and I think I think in pictures sometimes, and other times I just `feel'. The thing is that every time I do just think in pictures or feelings, I think I have to think about it in words in order to realize I'm not thinking in words. This makes me think that maybe thinking in words is the only way we can really think, and we just think we think otherwise. I mean, in order to think about not thinking in words I find I have to think about it -- in words. Don't you? So I guess my question would be: do you guys think it's possible that you're only thinking you're not thinking in words?

I have never been able to shut off my internal dialogue. I am willing to try it out...does anybody have techniques?

rewiiired said:

Tell me what you think...

I've thought about this before, and I think I think in pictures sometimes, and other times I just `feel'. The thing is that every time I do just think in pictures or feelings, I think I have to think about it in words in order to realize I'm not thinking in words. This makes me think that maybe thinking in words is the only way we can really think, and we just think we think otherwise. I mean, in order to think about not thinking in words I find I have to think about it -- in words. Don't you? So I guess my question would be: do you guys think it's possible that you're only thinking you're not thinking in words?

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well, when you think about a friend what do you think about? I think about how their voice sounds... I think about what they look like... I think about memorable times with that person... I think about the kind of person they are... but I find I don't think of any words... I don't even think about their name since that isn't how I identify them in my mind... without words the whole of who this person is to me is created in my mind...

but because I don't think of words describing them or even who they are, I find that I have a hard time remembering peoples names even though I've seen them 4-5 times... and if you asked to to verbally describe them to you, I give a really horrible description...

in the end I think that it is impossible to think purely in words, since it would be impossible to think about something as complex as an entire person...

B3 said:

I have never been able to shut off my internal dialogue. I am willing to try it out...does anybody have techniques?

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There are many techniques, and you need to go out and experiment to find what works for you. It also helps if you read up on some of the basic prinicpals behind it to try and get your mind around it. Anyway, the main thing though is intent and intiuition, just do what you want to do, and keep focused on your inner dialogue throughout the day. Once your aware its occuring stop and focus on it, try to cut it short or disattach yourself from it, maybe a mix of both. Do not allow it to lead you along. You will quiet often catch yourself being pursuaded by it before you even realise it is going on, which is really bad if it causes you to get angry. There is no secret password you say to get it to work, you just need to build up your intent, desire, will, comfort level (remove fear) whatever to a certain point and it will be silenced. Meditation for at least 5 minutes a day might help too.