The above cartoon raises some questions about how our minds work. Do you ever talk to yourself? If so is it out loud or just internally? I’m more of a visual thinker than an auditory one, but I do find myself mentally writing and rewriting my posts, trying to keep them as concise as possible.
A great deal of my thinking is in the form of images. When I think of topics for posts my first step is to try to figure out what picture or graphic to use. As I said, I try to keep my posts relatively short…my main goal is to present food for thought so I can share ideas and experiences with my readers.
Sometimes when I’m thinking of an idea or situation my talking is aimed at some abstract listener. Mostly I’m just observing, I don’t have a sense that “I” am doing the talking. The exception to this is when I’m facing a challenge…then I give myself pep talks and any emotional support I need.
Things are somewhat different when I’m going through a big transition in my life. Then I do a lot of free-association journal writing to make sure my decisions and actions are connected to the deepest part of me. I don’t need to do this at this point in time, but it’s nice to know that method is always there for me when I need it.
What about you? Do you have internal self-talk? Are you an observer or do you have a sense of yourself doing the talking? Does your inner voice tend to be supportive or critical? What exactly is your mind doing when you’re “thinking”?
Often my thinking deals with planning: working through the wording of a potential blog post, figuring out the details of a project around the house, or laying out how a new on-line project will work.
I guess I don’t really think of “it” as self-talk. It’s just “thinking,” “imagining,” “being innovative.”
And I am usually aware of dong “it.” For example, I intentionally do “it” when I am working out rather than watching the television or reading a book. That actually works out being rather productive more often than one might think.
At night, my thinking often turn to fantasizing about positive things, like our next trip or how we would spend — and share — our money if we were to win the lottery. I usually fall asleep fairly quickly and, going to sleep with happy thoughts, I generally get a fairly good nights sleep.
.-= Mike´s last blog ..Posting a year in advance! =-.
Mike,
It sounds as if you have a healthy life. It’s well-known that left-brain activities like planning, doing projects, etc…. along with physical exercise… are antidotes to depression. I especially like the idea of going to bed with happy thoughts. Good for you!
home alone means you can ‘chat’ with anyone whenever you like…get a lot of problems solved as well….anyone can be imaginary human or something as innate as the refrigerator.
i am also a ‘list maker’ – at any one time my desk here is cluttered with little bits of paper with all manner of things written on them.
at the moment: Wgtn hostel weekly costs; recipe for simple lemon icing; mini plan for future classes/Uni; how many keys are on a full sized piano; essay deadlines; email someone about something (tick); details of handspun I have for sale; names of herbs & dyeplants; Dummies book I might get out from Uni library; dimensions of loom for sale; – the rest of things are a voucher I won…& some info on yarn for sale with sample card.
also on desk are other things that are not to do with notes: a weighing scale; address/phone book; pens; piles of CD-roms; measuring tape and empty glasses case; paper with nothing writing on them yet!
.-= Cathy in NZ´s last blog ..Wednesday fun =-.
I use talking to myself as a way of thinking something through. Taking different sides, playing devils advocate, trying out a way of thinking, imagining how others would respond.
Mike, you wrote about winning the lottery in an earlier post. We all know you are joking. I hope you’re not buying tickets.
After my hip replacement I said out loud: “Step on that left foot, now push the hip out to that side…”
Cathy in NZ, I am a list maker too. I can’t find them when I need them, except for the Post-it notes.
Throw away the lemon icing recipe. Put cottage cheese on the cake.
bikehikebabe – actually, yes, I do buy lottery tickets. It doesn’t make much sense to dream about winning the lottery if you’re not buying. I have a very strict limit, though, on the amount that I spend on it… and if I couldn’t afford it, I wouldn’t do it. I certainly know that the probability of winning is infinitesimally small.
.-= Mike´s last blog ..Posting a year in advance! =-.
Cathy,
I’m a great believer in lists too. 🙂
Evan,
Niels Bohr used to do that… take different sides of an argument. He would sit in different chairs as he persuasively argued for and against a current theory. Often the process led to a different theory that fit the facts better.
bikehikebabe,
Andy always buys one $1 Power Ball ticket when the purse is more than $100 million. He buys them when he gets gas but never buys more than one ticket for any drawing. It’s fun and like Mike he doesn’t expect to ever win.
About cottage cheese…cottage cheese and canned unsweetened pineapple used to be my favorite dish. But cottage cheese is too salty for me now. I think Cathy should stick with the lemon icing.
I don’t think one has to find the list for the process to be useful. Just writing things down helps me remember them.
Mike,
Good luck! I would be thrilled if you actually won.
Yes, cottage cheese is terrible now. So salty. I called the company & complained.
How about fresh fruit on cake?
I’m afraid this conversation is giving me a craving for lemon icing. Would you mind sharing your recipe, Cathy?
About lotteries…when Andy has bought his tickets at the gas station he’s met more than one person who buys a state lottery ticket every time they get gas. They don’t expect to win but their children have gotten scholarships from the fund and they want to contribute. There’s more to life than just money.
About unsolicited advice:
The lottery in Arkansas has only been operating since October. Besides Powerball and Mega-Millions they have a variety of the scratch-off games, which I don’t play, even though they have higher probabilities of winning. I saw a guy yesterday win $70 and he turned around and spent $60 on scratch-off cards. I don’t even want to get into spending money on that.
I buy tickets for two drawings a week for whichever is currently the highest of Powerball or Mega-Millions — and that’s it.
The lottery in Arkansas, with all of its various games, is called The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery. It won’t benefit my grandkids as they live in Wisconsin, but it will help a lot of kids get with a chance at a higher education.
.-= Mike´s last blog ..Posting a year in advance! =-.
Jean, how very interesting what you are saying. Gives a rare glimpse into your “workings”.
I not only talk to myself, I even laugh at my own jokes (someone has to). Sometimes I wish I could switch off that constant machine gun fire of words in my brain: “SHUT UP”.
YOU plan your posts; whenever I write something, whether on my blog or a comment on someone else’s, I throw it out as is my mood that very moment. To me they are not essays or articles carefully crafted; it’s how I splutter in a conversation. Do I sometimes shake my head re-reading my spontaneous utterings a few days later? You bet. Tough doesn’t bother me. It’s just me. As I keep saying – and, yes, I know it’s wrong: Lump it or leave it.
U
PS: Jean, you often lump so many wonderful questions into your posts I’d need to book a appointment with you to answer them all in any depth
.-= Ursula´s last blog ..Dragging my feet =-.
Speaking of the “constant machine gunfire of words in my brain: ‘SHUT UP’ “, I have that at night when I want to be asleep. I’m thinking what I’ll do tomorrow, what I did today, what I did 20 years ago. I have a party going in my head. I’d like a brick to bang against it (my head) to put me out for the night.
Jean, if I didn’t have something to do occupying my full attention, my mind takes off chattering. I am lucky in that I can watch the chatter in a detached manner and take it where I want it to go.
.-= Rummuser´s last blog ..Lies =-.
Ursula,
I like to play with ideas. One reason for blogging is to have a chance to do that.
My thoughts aren’t like a “machine gun fire of words”. I’m more of a visual thinker and I’ve noticed my thoughts are slower now. It could be just a sign of getting older but I also think it’s because of all the time I spend absorbed, say in working with Photoshop or solving Sudoku problems. When my thoughts used to come rapid-fire and I wanted to slow them down I would play FreeCell on the computer. There was something about the bright colors and manipulating the cards that was calming. Drawing in Photoshop now has the same effect, with the added advantage that I sometimes wind up with a picture I like. Sudoku occupies my mind but doesn’t have the bright colors. Its advantage is I can do it while using my NordicTrack treadmill, which is always a mood lifter.
bikehikebabe,
I thought you listened to audio books…they’re my sleeping pills. You might try the 25-CD Gandhi and Churchill. It has enough details to put me out right away. 🙂
Rummuser,
That’s the advantage of meditation, whatever form it takes.
I’m very auditory and not very visual, I’m always thinking out loud. I write most of my blog posts and other writings in my head while I’m going around the house working. I have often been accused of ‘talking to myself’, but it’s just not so.
When I take time out to spend praying and meditating, I get great messages from my inner voice. But it’s not an audible voice of course, more of a compulsion.
.-= gaelikaa´s last blog ..Unselfish Trees =-.
gaelikaa,
I’ve never understood the prejudice against talking to oneself. In fact I’ve been trying to do it more often. See An Unexpected Source of Power–The Sound of Your Own Voice. Thanks for reminding me!
Jean, I just followed your link back to your article in 2008. The paragraph in which you remember talking to your baby (and the dogs) makes moving reading.
The cat who is no more was a talker: She and I had great conversations. I swear she was Plato reincarnated expressing her opinions to my offerings in dozens of different miaows. And to MY credit she never yawned at me.
And that’s the funny thing: Even when people catch you having in-depth conversations with your cat they think you quite alright. As soon as you start muttering to yourself they want to know who you are talking to. Mind you, I have a far worse problem, and I only confess to it since it’ll be buried in the depth of your blog: I hear voices. Like my son calling “Mama” in the middle of the night. Which is fine – but NOT when he isn’t in the house. Make of that what you will.
U
.-= Ursula´s last blog ..Upright =-.
Ursula,
I’ve heard voices from time to time. I can’t remember if I ever heard my daughter say “Mommy” after she left, but for a long time I would slip into the Mommy mode whenever I heard a child use that word. The main two times I’ve distinctly heard voices were
I used to think people walking along the street talking to themselves were strange. I now think they are on a mobile call.
Evan,
Good point!