Inner monologue

I certainly plan everything in my head, including what I'm going to say on any important occasion.
It's both words and images for me. I find the ability to plan like this is often time-saving and very useful.

Not so useful is another layer of sound which is exactly like standing in a crowded street and hearing snatches of conversation, not directed at me, as people pass by.

These can be different accents, male, female or child, loud or soft. It's happened all my life and I long ago learned to ignore it as they never speak to me at all.

In tandem with this are the mind-pictures when I close my eyes.
A Victorian street scene; a desert landscape; a group of schoolchildren - it can be anything and never related to an event in my real life.

Also, as another poster mentioned, I very occaionally get flashes of inspiration, especially about locating lost things or solutions to problems but somehow these are not words just a sort of 'knowledge' - and it's never wrong.

I once took part in a psychological experiment at a university to see how many things people could think about simultaneously.

Most of us can carry at least 2 threads of thought, as when we get an earworm song and are able to continue thinking normal thoughts as we go about our lives.

Some can get up to 10 different thought threads, I managed only 5 and that was a struggle.

The mind is a fascinating thing.

Recently I realised that the probable reason I only scraped through O Level Art 60 years ago was that I don't see things, "in my mind's eye", I make it up as I go along.

Strangely, if I am in poor light or darkness, I see numerous images; not in my mind but actually with my eyes.

Back in the 60s/early 70s someone came up with the theory that children learn best in various ways eg some through hearing, some through reading.

Has the OP set off a rocket that will power someones PhD thesis in the future?

I tell myself a story to get to sleep. I pretend I am telling what see and hear to somebody else.

Does anyone else hear others voices in their head as well as their own? Like if I am worried about someone being cross with me over something and I am imagining how the conversation will go, I will hear their voice when it comes to the possible things they may say x

Sometimes I spend so much time visualising and planning a project, I never seem to get around to doing it because my ability doesn't match my imagined outcome. Very frustrating that x

My inner vocal monologue is linked with the visual as well.
In my mind if I have an event on a future date I can visualise the month and day as it’s lit up, also if on a day in the week when I have something to do it lights up as well. The other days and months are dark but then there is a day that’s shines bright
I also have a good memory for faces, events and voices, but I never remember food or meals out, DH will remember each food course and what we had to drink, I don’t remember any of it.
However DH has an awful memory of past events and almost no memory of his childhood unless prompted by his siblings. I’ll,ask him if he has an inner dialogue or visual images.

I can visualise very well( and have inner dialogues all the time!) and work with neurodiverse people- who- for the most part - can also 'see' images in their mind's eye and often in colour. We can harness this to improve memory just like activating a muscle and get better at doing it. However , there are also those towards the Autistic Spectrum who either cannot visualise and don't know what you're going on about or find it difficult. There's a condition called prosopagnosia whereby a person cannot remember a face, even of a loved one and needs other cues like frizzy hair or particular clothing with which to recognise family members and others. A student I worked with knew her father always carried a briefcase and her Mum used a walking stick so this helped her to recognise them.

Whatever about conversations going on in my head, with me it’s constantly playing songs, word for word and note for note. It started when I joined a choir many years ago and I would find it difficult to sleep after choir practice. But now it’s a constantly running tape in my head! It drives me insane!

I'd much rather not have the inner monologue. It sounds much more interesting to think the other way! It had never occurred to me that people might think differently. I agree with others about shutting down negative thoughts asap x

Mamacaz said Sometimes (only occasionally, thank goodness), the content of these thoughts appalls me, and I pull myself up, thinking what a truly awful person I must be for these thoughts even to enter my head, however fleetingly.

I actually think this is a good thing to do. When I am really angry or upset about someone, I go for a long walk or go somewhere where I am alone and let the inner monologue rip. I walk fast muttering and letting everything out to myself, how angry I am how awful the person who caused my distress is, what I would like to do to them etc etc. Then at a certain point I stop, my mind is worn out and fed up with thinking about the subject and I can take a deep breath expel all the emotion and get back to normal.

It is a mental version of writing someone a letter then tearing it up instead of sending it.

I could never understand when people used to say that we need language to be able to think. I do not think in words, but images and ideas. I do sometimes have a monologue with myself but this is only when I talk to myself out loud!
Incidentally, I have always seen the days of the week as different colours. Sunday is pink, Monday is red, Tuesday is orange, Wednesday light green, Thursday dark green, Friday deep brown and Saturday light brown.

I remember first discovering as a child that I can think inside my head ( in words) and nobody else will know what I am saying/thinking. And boy, did I love discovering that!

I have synesthesia. I seen certain words in colour. Tuesday is always yellow, Saturday brown. They have always been the same. I am also very, very particular about pattern.

I too have an inner monologue,I am glad I am not alone.I have vivid dreams and thought I was alone on that too,thank you other GN s.
The fact my inner monologue is on the go until late at night doesnt help me to sleep, but I try to think of the four places I love most and concentrate on one of them before I fall asleep, it usually works.

One of my very musically talented friends has the condition synesthesia. He 'sees' musical notes as colours.
Modern keyboards, where you can press a button to change the key, drive him mad. His fingers tell him that he is playing in one key, his ears tell him that he is playing in another, and the colours in his mind don't match up with what his fingers are playing, either.
He finds it much easier to just transpose the music into the new key. Then everything 'matches up'
The brain is an amazing thing!

Daffonana that's so cool x

I’m one who thinks / plans in pictures , like a storyboard and am surprised by the idea of inner monologues ; it must be exhausting . I also visualise numbers and days , months and years passing as sequences of coloured images . I used to think that was how everyone did it . I would never remember anything without my images .

Thank you everyone, really very interesting!

yeniffer, a user here is a really talented artist, but yet never sees a picture in her minds eye.
She used the example of the word 'giraffe' but said she cannot picture one when she thinks of the word.
I immediately see one every time - I couldn't paint one though!

I m another who constantly talks in my brain practising conversations even giving the other persons made up answers
I do see some pictures but think the words are more prevalent
It goes on and on I wish it would shut up I have never had an awake moment
I once went to a gp who practiced hypnotism but after three tries he gave up I was still mentally talking as he was trying I remember in my brain asking him “Why can I hear a lady in high heel shoes walking past your window in the street shouldn’t I be out of it by now” I could not think of nothing impossible I wish I could have a break

As well as the inner monologue I also become the hero/heroine of any book I read. I was amazed when DH didn't know what I was talking about because I couldn't imagine any other way of reading.

Oh if only we had a switch, so we could have peace from the inner dialogue/ constant jabber. It wears me out ?

Some people call the inner monologue/dialogue the "chatterbox' and say it isn't really you - its just something your brain does - and that it is important to know that your thoughts are not The Truth. Check them out and ask if they are true and helpful. Many people suggest standing back and observing the chatter, rather than identifying with it, and when an old thought returns just say "Oh! There's that thought again!" Good books on this include 'Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway' by Susan Jeffers, "The Chimp Paradox" by Steve Peters and "How to Stay Sane' by Philippa Perry. All are paperbacks, easy to read and not expensive. Could be life changing!

I wonder if I would like myself better if I didnt have to listen to me all the time! x

I mix visual and verbal. This afternoon, sitting in the car, I was mentally planning some major garden alterations.

Mind said: 'What if you get rid of the pergola, hmm, will DH mind? Then I visualised the pergola gone, the, as yet unbuilt, extension in and what the area outside the living room would lok like. Then the monologue started again. 'That might work, now where will I put the whirligig dryer?'

and on, and on, and on.