I wonder if there are benefits of non instructional self talk. e.g talking to yourself in the car about nothing in particular.
The Benefits of Talking to Yourself
31–40 of 149 posts
Re: The Benefits of Talking to Yourself
#32I grew up an only child and so in absence of anyone else, I learned to talk to myself instead. I naturally have a busy mind and over the years I've found that getting a thought out of my head is the quickest way to get it out of the way. I've had anxiety issues over the years. One day I was feeling a bit anxious and suddenly the idea came over me to just try to shut off my inner voice - completely. I focused on tryin…
How did you shut off your inner voice? I went on a multi-day, complete-silence (no talking, reading, etc.) retreat to meditate and found I wasn't much closer to shutting off the internal voice or flood of random thoughts.
Not the person you asked, but I do have practice at this skill.
And it is a skill. I also have a highly-active internal thoughtstream, and it can cause me significant stress if I don't control it. In my case, it isn't a verbal dialogue, but rather the thoughts that swim around one level below. Busy nonetheless.
The only thing that works for me is to not fight it. If I attempt to resist the flow, it only amplifies the pressure, akin to pressing your thumb over the garden hose. Much of the stress of these thoughts comes not from the thoughts themselves, but the urge that feels like you must hold and analyze them all before moving on.
Rather, concentrate on letting it pass by, acknowledging it as it flows downstream, without reaching out to hold on. Visualizing yourself sitting calmly near a rapidly flowing creek. Imagine the strength of the flow slowing over time. Let go of the worry of the uncompleted thought- tell yourself that if it is truly worth considering, it will flow back around again in time. Smile to yourself as the thoughts wash through you, appreciating their fleeting nature. After a short amount of time, minutes at most, you will find the strength of the torrent ebbing. It will not cease, but the trickle that remains is much easier to cope with. Ten minutes of this, and you will find yourself mentally refreshed, and ready to get on with things.
This, of course, is not a cure-all, and if you expect it to work every time, you will be disappointed. But it does become easier with practice, and in my case, at least, it genuinely helps.
Re: The Benefits of Talking to Yourself
#33Japanese train drivers have a system that's called Pointing and Calling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_and_calling http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pointing-and-calling-ja... Visual and audio feedback is great for your brain. For me, I often need to make a 200mL bottle for my child, and each scoop of powder makes only 20mL - meaning that I need to put 10 scoops in. Especially when I have a crying baby it'…
New York City subway has adopted this; next time you're waiting for your train, stand in the middle of the platform and you'll see a zebra-striped panel mounted on the wall. When the train arrives, the conductor in the middle of the train will open the window and point at it.
Re: The Benefits of Talking to Yourself
#34Japanese train drivers have a system that's called Pointing and Calling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_and_calling http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pointing-and-calling-ja... Visual and audio feedback is great for your brain. For me, I often need to make a 200mL bottle for my child, and each scoop of powder makes only 20mL - meaning that I need to put 10 scoops in. Especially when I have a crying baby it'…
I live in NYC and didn't realize this isn't common elsewhere. Thanks!
Re: The Benefits of Talking to Yourself
#35This is also super useful for learning a second language.
I once met a dude in China without much of a noticable accent. I asked him if he had lived abroad, to which he replied that he had never been outside the country. He just regular talked to himself in English in his head. I'm sure other factors contributed to his strong English, but I found this really interesting and started trying it with Chinese (which I was studying at the time). I discovered that talking to yourself as you go about your daily life really helps you identify really practical words that you don't know yet. Or even, very impractical words like "elbow" which can be embarrassing gaps in your vocab when you reach a certain level.
Re: The Benefits of Talking to Yourself
#36There are a lot of things I miss about working from home, but the biggest is being able to get up and walk around while have conversations with myself aloud.
Re: The Benefits of Talking to Yourself
#37I find it entirely plausible that when you hear words spoken, even if from your own mouth, it then becomes processed by the same hardware machinery that processes other external voices. In my case, I tend to disbelieve anything I hear so..
Re: The Benefits of Talking to Yourself
#38I grew up an only child and so in absence of anyone else, I learned to talk to myself instead. I naturally have a busy mind and over the years I've found that getting a thought out of my head is the quickest way to get it out of the way. I've had anxiety issues over the years. One day I was feeling a bit anxious and suddenly the idea came over me to just try to shut off my inner voice - completely. I focused on tryin…
How did you shut off your inner voice? I went on a multi-day, complete-silence (no talking, reading, etc.) retreat to meditate and found I wasn't much closer to shutting off the internal voice or flood of random thoughts.
This may be a frustrating answer, but it's the truest I've found: you just do it. It's an ability you have that no one ever talks about and you can think about it endlessly and do various practices, but really it's an active thing. You might not think you know how to do it, but the muscle is there. You may not have used it very much, but I think you can find it if you look for it. I learned how when I was a teenager and was looking for answers while closely examining my own mind.
Re: The Benefits of Talking to Yourself
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
For me, it isn't even vocalizing - I discovered that forcing things into words helps me troubleshoot after noticing that I solved my own problems after giving up and composing an email to someone to ask for help. The act of describing the problem in written form allowed me to see what I was missing. Since noticing that, I started doing it fairly, and not just with programming. At some point, I realized I was keeping…
When writing SO questions I tend to only press the submit button 5–10% of the time before realising my error (typically something mundane). The act of putting the problem into words, along with writing up a good background of the problem (as you should for a good question) often forces an objective viewpoint/reevaluation of the problem.
This makes me wonder what the bounce rate for Stack Overflow questions is and what percent of visitors actually make it through the submission process.
Re: The Benefits of Talking to Yourself
#40This is also super useful for learning a second language. I once met a dude in China without much of a noticable accent. I asked him if he had lived abroad, to which he replied that he had never been outside the country. He just regular talked to himself in English in his head. I'm sure other factors contributed to his strong English, but I found this really interesting and started trying it with Chinese (which I was…
One of my Japanese teachers really stressed reading out loud as good practice - you practice reading the piece, you practice saying the words, and you get some listening practice too.
One nice big feedback loop!