Do you have an inner voice?

Do you?

  • Total voters
    21
big ron

big ron

Chief Super Moderator
Pronouns
He/him
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Messages
33,197
Location
On the chaise longue
Since finding out that not everyone has a constant, insufferable internal monologue chirping away in their brains I've become a bit obsessed with the idea.

After reading this today I'm amazed that some people have different versions, colours and even visual monologues for the deaf.

www.theguardian.com

The last great mystery of the mind: meet the people who have unusual – or non-existent – inner voices

Does your internal monologue play out on a television, in an attic, as a bickering Italian couple – or is it entirely, blissfully silent?
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

Curious if anyone on here has a mind that is just a tiny island in a vast ocean. I have my suspicions.
 
This is so weird - I was actually thinking about this this morning for the first time in years. I remembered that I used to have one when I was little. Not like a make believe friend, but a constant voice rationalising things over and over. I was about SIX. I remember wondering if the process would ever go away when I got older - it did, not sure when, I can't remember, and then I look back now and again as i did this morning and think what a strange fucker I was as a child. Very introverted and shy.

I still entertain thoughts in my head and overthink things a lot but I'm not sure it's an internal voice like I had. Moreso from living alone I think. I have to talk to SOMEONE!
 
My inner voice:

cymbal-monkey.gif
 
I’ve never really thought about this before, I just assumed EVERYONE had a voice chuntering away in their head when they’re trying to relax. It’s basically just my own voice which has a tendency to play out hypothetical conversations about whatever I’m doing at the time.
If I try to drown it out, all of a sudden my tinnitus is a hundred times louder so basically I’m fucked whatever. It’s why I tend to watch a film as I fall asleep; it’s something to focus on.
 
Last edited:
Lucille said:
It NEVER SHUTS UP.
Click to expand...

This!

I find this concept so fascinating because I just can’t comprehend not having one...

I think if I didn’t, I’d like watching tv/movies and reading more. I struggle with not having the voice “talk over” whatever I’m trying to pay attention to
 
I talk to myself all the time but I don't hear a voice, or narration, or anything like that in my brain. I just have THOUGHTS.
 
Yes,especially when I’m competing, but they’re both me, not a different person like the lady in the article was saying.

Slightly off topic I have an annoying habit, usually at bedtime, where I envisage a potential situation arising at work or socially which never happen and I go in a loop of thinking “well if they say that I’ll say this and if not I’ll say this” creating multiple scenarios along the way.
 
Kate said:
Yes absolutely, although when I'm alone it's not inner at all - I witter away to myself all day
Click to expand...

Maybe when we get our London flat I can introduce your voice to my voice and they can fuck off together so we can have a holiday.
 
Kate said:
Yes absolutely, although when I'm alone it's not inner at all - I witter away to myself all day
Click to expand...
Sometimes it happens to me too, especially if am mentally going through of a dialogue that my mind thinks I should have handled better and replays it with the appropriate changes, which sometimes come out loud like if am talking to myself. Usually when am alone at home, but it has happened on my walks too, or in the bus, the train etc. And I feel very ashamed if that happens. But beyond this, it's pretty much what ButterTart said.
 
I’d love to go a day without one, to see what it’s like
 
BoysForSeles said:
Yes,especially when I’m competing, but they’re both me, not a different person like the lady in the article was saying.

Slightly off topic I have an annoying habit, usually at bedtime, where I envisage a potential situation arising at work or socially which never happen and I go in a loop of thinking “well if they say that I’ll say this and if not I’ll say this” creating multiple scenarios along the way.
Click to expand...
Yes, this! When one of the big bosses was being an arsehole I spent every second of every day fine-tuning a conversation I knew I'd never have.
 
Gangsta Nancy Lam said:
I talk to myself all the time but I don't hear a voice, or narration, or anything like that in my brain. I just have THOUGHTS.
Click to expand...
it's weird, right? I'm tempted to say I just have thoughts also (which, luckily, are not constant). but if I close my eyes and "say" this sentence, I can hear myself saying it, put emphasis on a certain word to sound more sarcastic or whatever. I guess that's what people mean by inner voice, right? do you have that?
 
BoysForSeles said:
Slightly off topic I have an annoying habit, usually at bedtime, where I envisage a potential situation arising at work or socially which never happen and I go in a loop of thinking “well if they say that I’ll say this and if not I’ll say this” creating multiple scenarios along the way.
Click to expand...
Oh I have this too, although I try to get away from it by starting a celebrity sex fantasy instead
 
lolly said:
Amazed to discover some people don't have one
Click to expand...
me in sociology at school, presenting the results of my survey designed to find out how many copies of Fever the average household has and what that says about the correlation between Kylie and gay
 
Jark said:
it's weird, right? I'm tempted to say I just have thoughts also (which, luckily, are not constant). but if I close my eyes and "say" this sentence, I can hear myself saying it, put emphasis on a certain word to sound more sarcastic or whatever. I guess that's what people mean by inner voice, right? do you have that?
Click to expand...

That’s not what I mean by it, at least. I have an inner monologue, which is constant unless I’m sleeping
 
Now I'm practising meditation I can get a glimpse into what it's like to not have one, but there's been maybe one or two moments where I'm not actively conscious.
 
And even then, I need guided meditation to do it, so I'm focusing on music/another person to silence my brain.
 
Hmm reading the comments here makes me realize that maybe I don’t have a real inner voice, it’s just me talking to myself all the time (always with a hellish song stuck in my mind in the background)…but also certain ”urges” rather than voices that make me want to do things that my other self would try to control.
 
BoysForSeles said:
Slightly off topic I have an annoying habit, usually at bedtime, where I envisage a potential situation arising at work or socially which never happen and I go in a loop of thinking “well if they say that I’ll say this and if not I’ll say this” creating multiple scenarios along the way.
Click to expand...

This sounds like a form of PTSD - not a severe one relating to an accident or injury but a bad experience at work which you might have supressed, and your mind is trying to fix the situation over and over because you never had closure. The only way to reduce the process is to deal with the initial situation that causes the trigger. It's quite common.
 
Kate said:
Oh WORRYING URGES is a whole other topic. Thinking about throwing yourself in front of trains, buses, off balconies...
Click to expand...

Mine is more imagining worst case scenarios. Apparently there is a name for this, I saw a documentary once. There was also that comedy show about the girl who keeps picturing her parents having sex when she gets anxious. Mine is never sexual but my mind always goes to exploring what would happen if. It's almost like a defence mechanism, preparing yourself for the worst case scenario, which is fine in say a work project or moving house, but it seems to drift over into unnecessary territory.

And it's nothing like fantasising, like wanting to hurt someone, it's more worrying about what if this happened to me or someone I care about.

I'm quite good now at having a word the moment it starts and swerving to another thought.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top Bottom