I told my interviewer recently that I did not think in words. The interview was over.
Not everyone has an internal monologue
781–790 of 904 posts
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#782Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thinking less can be advantageous for situations that welcome spontaneity, thinking more is very useful for all the others.
> thinking more is very useful for all the others. Is it? Buddhist monks would likely disagree with you.
Contrary to popular belief, not all types of meditation is about 'not thinking'.
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#783See: "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#784Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is it a bad thing for your brain to be running DFS all the time? Is it a wasteful use of time? Does it cause behavioral issues? Is it a personal choice? Or...?
For me personally it seems to make it impossible to get to sleep. Which makes me tired, and less resistant to rambling trains of thought. Repeat ad infinitum.
Have had this issue sometimes, specially when ruminating about a discussion or whatever. What i often do in those cases is going into visual mode. For me I imagine having big long wings and catching the wind from some high mountain descending flying slowly, trying to surround the mountain and checking the views. It's something soothing and takes the attention away from the internal monologe. Though you can fall back to it and when you notice go back to visual.
I also note that there is like two visual modes, one less defined, more controlled by my will, and one more realistic and crowded with details mostly out of my control.
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#785Uh. How do you learn a new language if you're unable to maintain an inner dialogue? Most of my learning happens by myself in my head, constructing sentences, thinking about grammar concepts.
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#786Nietzsche actually mocks people who think in complete sentences. Made me wish I was like that. What do non-sentential thinkers think about?
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#787Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I think it's maladaptive. You are better off having no default mode network activity. > Of course it's another thing entirely if you're too stupid to have an inner dialogue, verbal or not, but I feel like even non-human animals are capable of an inner dialogue. It doesn't add anything useful. With all due respect, I disagree completely . I think it's incredibly helpful to be able to talk to yourself and examine ide…
With all due respect, rumination is a well known symptom of depression and depressed people's internal dialogue tends to be warped in negative thinking patterns.
Oh, don't worry, I'm aware of that aspect.
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#788I would say I do both...but also what about "visual"? :-)
E.g. when programming I often "see" patterns and shapes of code/data. Its not like a photographic memory and its hard to explain - I'm not "seeing" something I am used to seeing with my eyes (like actual code or whatever) but I have this sort of visual concept in my head of what the data is "shaped like" and I can "see" it.
Hopefully this wont be taken as a binary either-or thing in trainings in the future, e.g. with introvert vs extrovert it is often labeling people/colleagues "you are an extrovert" or "you are an introvert", when in reality it is often shades of grey and there is a lot of flexibility based on context. I would imagine this is the same.
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#789This isn't so hard to understand if you've ever meditated. It becomes clearer that the internal monologue is a process that just runs on its own almost endlessly, and the feeling that we control it is mostly just an illusion. You can test this for yourself by trying to find out what your next thought is going to be. You never know until you have it, which indicates that the process is spontaneous and involuntary. I h…
I also have ADHD and OCD but I'm a mostly non verbal thinker. It took me some time to modify the expositions techniques to treat OCD to my kind of thought experience. But for the most part it worked and I am usually unaffected by this intrusive thoughts.
Re: Not everyone has an internal monologue
#790Earlier quoted context omitted.
That sounds like hell to me. I don't have an internal monolog. I think in visuals. I am a quiet person. I am a better programmer for it I think. I visualize the structure of a program I am writing and pair programming would also be hell for me.
I definitely am capable of thinking non-verbally, and I agree it can help with programming. But I just can't wrap my head around not having an internal monologue at all. How did you even write this comment? What was the process that led you to put together this particular series of words, if not 'hearing' them in your own mind as an expression of your thoughts first? Edit: Thinking on this more, I may not have had an…
Words are like symbols in a programming language. Sentences pop into my head like a while loop construct might.