[bellisaurius]

This recent xkcd strip has me wondering if the different types have different topics, or broad patterns of internal monologue. So, the question is simple: What does your head talk with you about? (cross posted to SP, SJ, NF, and NT).

[Mu'Amon]

Yep, this is totally not where I wanted to be. (gamestore situation)
FOR THE GAMES! right?!
YUS! Oh god here come a person! A freakin female!!!
Wuuuut111 in gameshop? Oh yup, enjoy the social anxiety overload dude ROFL
Fckin lucky u. Let me hide there, you come out?
LOL hell no
you disobeying?!
you split personality? think not
damnit...
*female stands next to me at counter* *feels analyzed like mad*
<--- isn't even freakin noticed by the female...
kussoooo (yeah too much anime -.-)
*TENSE* -DYING
what a paradox you are...
SU!!!
You have a costumor card, sir?
Yes I do.
*takes out card, hoping to not start shaking thinking about fun things for distraction*
SUCCES! -DONE
GETS OUT AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE

*has a rant with self on the way home*

That ladies and gentlemen, is an inner presentation of a retard plagued by social anxiety in public places.

[Pointless Activist]

*driving* Okay. Check speed. check mirrors. Look ahead.
Wow, this is really pretty! I wonder if I could live here someday...
There are people just walking the streets, okay....
Colorful buildings everywhere!
STEER BACK! STEER BACK! Whoops....
What a lovely sky!
I wonder why that thing happened last week, when I almost fell asleep in the middle of a class.
I was probably just tired. My sleep schedule has been strange recently.
I really should work on that, but I know that it won't work out. I sleep so strangely.
STEER NOW! DODGE THAT CAR! phew....

Repeat for hilarity.

[Alvis Oswin]

PersonB: Of course some things are provable! I know a lot of provable things.
My internal dialogue: I question that.
Where's an example of something he can't prove?
What color does he think the sky is? Blue.
It could be green, however.
How could he prove me wrong?
"I'm seeing it."
Yes, but when you look at a mirror, you do not exist within the mirror, thus sight is questionable.
"I have a machine that tells me that blueberries are blue and that the sky is blue and the trees are green, but the sky is not."
What if it was lying? What if there was a person on Jupiter controlling the machine?
"We'll go to Jupiter and check."
What if the equipment the person was using was ultimately transparent and ultimately invisible?
"The equipment would have to be a gas, and gases would just fly off."
Who says? What if it were made of a gas that has never been observed and very different than any other gas because of how it can be used?
"**** you!"
Aha!
Me externally: You cannot prove that the sky is not green.

[sleepyhead]

This recent xkcd strip has me wondering if the different types have different topics, or broad patterns of internal monologue. So, the question is simple: What does your head talk with you about? (cross posted to SP, SJ, NF, and NT).

I've never really been able to relate much to thoughts like these. I do get nervous in certain situations, but I've never been very conscious of the messages I'm giving myself at the time. Even when I'm nervous I'm usually able to just move past whatever is holding me back. Sometimes I'm a bit aware of these types of messages sitting just below the surface, but I guess I don't believe them so I don't give them much thought.

When I'm really aware of my internal monologue is when I'm alone and observing. When I'm alone, my mind goes where ever - I tell myself stories, I think about what I'm observing, I make judgements on the things I'm seeing, but I don't see myself as part of what's going on. But, that's also an unhealthy part of my 5ness coming through. Now when I notice my internal monologue starting up, I focus on my breath, watch the thought swim by, and keep myself in the present moment. My mind is a much less talkative place lately. Up until 12 months ago, I constantly had an internal narrator describing my life above me. So if I was outside walking around it would say something like, "I quickly walked down the steps. I noticed how beautiful the sky looked. I crossed the street and passed a strange looking guy..." Literally like someone is reading a book about my life - but it's really just another way from taking me out of the moment instead of experiencing it.

[StellarTwirl]

My internal monologue is NOTHING like this. He's pretty anxious.

When someone is talking to me, I mostly have mental tangents related to what they're saying. And a lot of "Why...?" questions. And when I feel at ease, I just say all of these things instead of thinking them.



My typical thoughts:

* CHANGES Finding other ways to do things, other ways things could be, etc. "What if it were customary for people not to sleep in their own houses?"

* WHYS I wonder why things are the way they are. Sometimes I'll ask why something is generally accepted as normal ("Why does visiting a gallery involve spending so much time essentially staring at walls? Is this form so standard because of cave paintings? {...thought stream...}"). Maybe I'll notice a similarity between things and wonder if they're related. For instance, I'll wonder if there might be a connection between tap dance and flamenco.

* IMAGINED POSSIBILITIES I heard a weird siren earlier today, and I immediately pictured a vehicle with a cage on top that contained two creatures. The driver rattled a stick through the bars, and the creatures went nuts, jostling around and emitting that siren noise I'd heard.

* REINTERPRETATIONS I'll look at something and read it differently. Like I'll look at a logo and consider what else that image could mean.

* FEEWINGS How do I feel about this? Is this beautiful? Is it terrible? Do I think the world is better with this in it? Why?

* COGS A-SPINNIN' There's always some problem I'm trying to figure out that involves a long and subtle period of sifting through data. It might involve figuring out what fulfills me. It might involve human tendencies. It might involve how things (often art-related) work. Difficult to explain. Produces unexpected "OH!!!" moments of insight.

[Aelthwyn]

well it certainly depends on the situation what my inner monologue is...

sometimes it's anxious stuff like that where I'm worried what the other person is thinking, but only around people I'm not comfortable with. I do tend to wonder what I'm suppose to do with my hands and whether my smile looks fixed instead of genuine. I'll be thinking about what I think they think I'm thinking, and wishing I could explain what I'm really thinking only that probably wouldn't go over well. And I analyse their emotions and motivations behind what they are saying and their nuances of tone and retranslate what they say into what they are really saying, and take note of how other people are not understanding what they are really saying, and debate on whether I should speak up and clarify things or just let it play out. I also tend to wonder what on earth someone is talking about and try to guess how they expect me to respond even though I have no clue, and I debate on whether I should just say 'I have no clue' yet again because it's pretty constant and hope they will just conclude that I am a moron and stop trying to talk to me, or if I should keep smiling and nodding so they feel like they're having a good connection which is what I gather they're looking for. I also get paranoid wondering if that thing they seem to think was funny was supposed to be some kind of innuendo and how on earth they would even get something like that out of it. And I may disolve into thinking how stupid humanity is. I may also be rather more harsh in my mind with people if I'm in an irritated mood, even though I don't show it, like making sarcastic remarks to myself that I'd never actually say out loud.

When I'm not around other people I am usually absorbed with various ideas I have about stuff and wondering and exploring possibilities in my mind, but I often will have some phrase, word, quote, or song stuck on repeat in my head and occasionally I'll snap at it to shut up.

[geekofalltrades]

"Making love is like playing electric guitar on an aircraft carrier made out of rainbows."

[Ningsta Kitty]

I think this is a fabulous question paired w/ this comic!

Not sure if this is what you were going for but:

My internal monologue at a party is NOTHING. Literally. I will walk into that room, busy crowed. I'm aware of my body and it's nervous sensations but I'm detached with NO internal monologue whatsoever. This is the ONLY time this happens w/out the efforts of lets say meditation. Even in a yoga class I have to focus on not thinking. The party scenario my thinking brain will shut off. It's so weird. I Literally absorb all the energy and dialogue and sensations all at once and when I move through the room it's nearly a swimming feeling through all the sensory overload ocean.

If someone is talking to me, it's as if he/she is in my "bubble" which sounds so skitso but it's not. It's not because I really don't believe there's a bubble! lol! It's just the best way to articulate that abstract feeling. Then I will attend to that person and there will be a back and forth flow.

Now not in that situation ...

[bellisaurius]

I think this is a fabulous question paired w/ this comic!

Not sure if this is what you were going for but:

My internal monologue at a party is NOTHING. Literally. I will walk into that room, busy crowed. I'm aware of my body and it's nervous sensations but I'm detached with NO internal monologue whatsoever. This is the ONLY time this happens w/out the efforts of lets say meditation. Even in a yoga class I have to focus on not thinking. The party scenario my thinking brain will shut off. It's so weird. I Literally absorb all the energy and dialogue and sensations all at once and when I move through the room it's nearly a swimming feeling through all the sensory overload ocean.

If someone is talking to me, it's as if he/she is in my "bubble" which sounds so skitso but it's not. It's not because I really don't believe there's a bubble! lol! It's just the best way to articulate that abstract feeling. Then I will attend to that person and there will be a back and forth flow.

Mine's tends to shut down when there's all kinds of stuff going on too. Perhaps, at those times, most of us resemble sensors more than anything else.