TIL Some People Have an "Inner Monologue"

[@ddp941981]

My internal monologue is not a flash of words. It is a voice. My voice, or at least what I understand my voice to be. When I think, I hear and experience my thoughts as richly as if someone had spoken them to me. Yet I understand that this voice is from within. That is why I always felt the term "internal monologue" to be an apt one. It seems far removed from visual processing and much closer to speech. My feeling is that this is why I can sit alone for extended periods of time and not succumb to loneliness. I am always engaging in conversation, with myself. This can also make it difficult to sleep.

[@sjester9]

Thank you for that description. As a person with no inner monologue, I’ve wondered what it’s like and how it works.

[@jaredf6205]

@@sjester9 a lot of people with no internal monologue can’t have one because they lack the ability to imagine audio at all, auditory aphantasia. Is that what you have or do you just not do it, like Hank?

[@SethPentolope]

Interesting! In that case, it seems as though I need to whisper to myself in order to process thoughts similar to an internal monologue. Which I do, sometimes.

[@theyxaj]

Me too!! This is like me ddp!

[@Abaddon..]

Same!

[@jazzygaming420]

As someone with an internal monologue this is the most incomprehensible video ive ever watched on youtube.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

He still has an internal monologue, some people have even less availability to their own thoughts. It's literally zen.

[@JesseWard2015]

I don't think I have one and it's mostly incomprehensible for me too

[@psylock524]

Not having thoughts isn't what "Zen" means.

[@Superwazop]

As someone without an internal monologue and with aphantasia this is the most incomprehensible video I’ve ever seen on KZbin

[@MrBazBake]

Inner monologue is like the director's commentary to the movies in our heads. We see all the same stuff the non-inner monologuers do, but we also have voices that can debate it, contextualize it, and ultimately question it.

[@gokk99]

my inner monologue used to be in my native language and now its in English. when i go back to my home town, after a few days, my inner monologue switches to my native language again

[@fili7476]

Same about the inner monologue being in English. Except i still live in my hometown and i work nearby but i also work with teenagers so i technically talk a lot and sometimes it can be really hard to switch from English inner monologue to suddenly speaking German out loud.

[@spillymcspillmore3426]

When I was at the peak of my practicing German, my internal monologue sometimes switched over to German during or directly after class. As soon as I consciously recognized that, though, it would jump back into English.

[@maze7050]

@@spillymcspillmore3426 THATS SO COOL BRO I NEED TO LEARN A LANGUAGE

[@dejalinat]

I have the same experience! it also sometimes switches depending on the language I speak with the person I'm thinking of 😅

[@schloany4479]

@@spillymcspillmore3426 Lmao when I was learning spanish I forgot the word for table and had to ask my classmates what a "mesa" was. I bet if I took another year I could have gotten to thinking entirely in spanish.

[@resiknoiro7506]

I very frequently switch between thinking in words and "thoughts". Thinking in thoughts is more efficient and way faster than words, but thinking in a monologue (or dialogue) sometimes really helps me concretise and conceptualise my thoughts. Especially internal dialogues, where i explain my reasoning to a nonexistent person are useful at that. And sometimes in these dialogues only I actually "talk" in words, and the other person "responds" in thoughts. But it's never the other way around.

[@LostLargeCats]

Yeah I have some mix like this as well. The words help focus the variety of competing thought feelings.

[@Plutonium.2]

This doesn’t make sense to me bc I am always doing both. I am seeing things and having this “bubble” of ideas go past but then there is a voice talking over the top. And this is constant it doesn’t stop. It’s only slower when I sleep or if I meditate it becomes just images and “thoughts” and the words drop out. But I have to work HARD to get that voice to drop out

[@tantalus_complex]

For those of us with an inner monologue, I think it's easy to miss the times when we're not using it and instead just thinking. Because the thinking is what happens when we're not focused on our thoughts, and the monologue is what happens when we are. That is, at least, my experience. I can "turn around" in my memory and catch myself just _thinking,_ But I am most _aware_ of my inner monologue. (If there is value in comparison for anyone, I'm a career programmer and public speaker.)

[@Plutonium.2]

@@tantalus_complex I’m not so sure. I see what you mean but it’s running even when I am not tuned in. I often find myself thinking, “wait what?” because some weird idea or sentence just ran through my mind. I’m making it sound so hectic in there! But I am 100% sure mine runs all the time. Just chattering away. It doesn’t just turn up when I focus

[@Plutonium.2]

It makes sense to me there are different sorts, tho. I can see how it’s a little different if I “tune in” and I’m actually engaging that voice and speaking back, as it were. That’s not the same thing, tho. I literally have a voice in my head non stop all the time. If I’m not thinking something out or trying to make sense of something it’s just there nattering away Currently it is saying “that shits POPPINGG” in a London accent and just running over lists and so on and I mean it is doing it as I type. That shits poppinnn it’s just behind the voice writing this word by word. And each word is popping into my head and behind it is my voice which is just… chattering

[@JoshWebb]

I think of myself having an internal monologue. However, when it's time to convey the thoughts in my mind to another person, I realize the words spinning through my head as I think are far from being a complete representation of those thoughts.

[@tararice5172]

Yes this

[@erinm9445]

This is a much more succinct version of what I was trying to convey in my own comment! I think thoughts are kind of incomprehensible. We notice the most comprehensible parts: words and/or images, but they just scrape the surface of what a thought really is.

[@XiaolinDraconis]

I was picturing this for me like the words have the bubbles following them around. So while I am thinking and typing this sentence, the whole of the thought is right there with it in the quieter part of my brain, they are just bubbles of subconscious thought.

[@nari5161]

ding ding

[@itskdog]

+

[@peterstodolak8858]

Worst part of the internal monologue is when I have a very complex thought and I'm happy with how ordered and sensible it is and then I try to express it to someone else and it's too many words to say at once and everything turns into a mess.

[@LeeAnnC]

This is perhaps the most relatable sentiment i have ever seen on the internet

[@vyvianalcott1681]

Okay see though this confirms to me that we're all talking about the same experience we just understand it differently. I have an internal monologue, but I also have thoughts the way Hank is describing abstracted from words just fully formed concepts. Neither of these translate into words very well, if I want to turn either of them into words I have to little by little encrypt it into communicable form, like transferring it from one part of my brain that has thoughts to another part of my brain that makes my mouth move. So either everyone has more or less the same experience, with a greater ability towards either one or the other depending on how well they've learned to translate concepts into their language center, or I'm somehow having an experience that basically nobody else has but that makes it a lot easier to understand the underlying conscious processes. Could even be that latter one, since I know what consciousness is and how it works, but when you're a homeless nobody nobody listens to you long enough to have a chance to understand you. :( Check out my essays about this on silkythick.substack

[@inspectre27]

That's when you use the Vulcan mind meld.

[@tuneinwithtony]

@@vyvianalcott1681 I think this is a great explanation-definitions are critical for understanding what the heck we're talking about. I have thoughts in my head that are fully formed concepts abstracted from words. I also have thoughts that are words, comments on what's happening to me at that moment, what i wish would happen, and so on. I refer to some of the word thoughts in my mind as my 'anxiety demons.' These are easily verbalized thoughts, such as "You're not good enough at philosophy, no one wants to hear your opinion." Those words show up in my mind, in my voice; i assume most folks experience some degree of self-doubt in this way, and we all manage or don't manage the doubt in our "internal monologue" to different degrees. These thoughts can also pile on top of other faster than they can be expressed by my mouth (like peter said above) or faster than i can calm myself down, which would lead to an anxiety attack-fortunately those are pretty rare for me now-a-days, but it's definitely resulted in some screaming episodes. And that brings us to your final point about folks who are homeless, which wrenches my heart. What if the thoughts in your head simply couldn't be held back, and you shouted them at the top of your lungs as you walked down the street? People get scared! It would take longer listens to understand what's going on in that person's mind. There's so many more thoughts in my head that i don't have time to express clearly now-a stimulating comment section, as always.

[@SolracCAP]

Being a coherent thinker and an incoherent speaker is a level of frustrating that is too much sometimes lol

[@_JustAnotherGhost_]

Wait, Hank you DON'T?!

[@IlIlllIllIlIIIll]

Hank has an external monologue.

[@IceMetalPunk]

I know, right? For someone without an internal monologue, he's *very good* at translating his thoughts into words for us.

[@Nebufelis]

My reaction when I learned about this topic: Wait, an internal monologue is not just a literary device to show what the protagonist thinks?! It is an actual? How do people think if all they have is inner language?!?

[@k0pstl939]

I don't know if I do or not

[@pikdame]

Yeah its insane to me that Hank of all people doesnt I genuinely think that people who dont have an i ternal monologue are weird. Like i can think of things without words, but once i become aware of them they ALWAYS turn into words. My housenate recently said "my way of feeling things is thinking about them alot" and ive never had my worldview shifted so much by one sentence because i relate to that so hard

[@SparklyCoconut-le3fu]

I have adhd and an internal monologue and it does not shut up. It is never quiet

[@BeelyGG]

When I forget my meds, it's inner store PA radio time 🥲 I have no control over what is playing without actually listening to something

[@SparklyCoconut-le3fu]

⁠@@BeelyGGwhat meds do you take? Even when I’m listening to something or reading it starts talking about other things. It’s frustrating. I sometimes have to read the same page like up to 8 times

[@WildWombats]

So I was diagnosed ADHD but I'm the total opposite. My mind is virtually always quiet unless I'm actively thinking on a subject. For example, when I go lay down in bed at night, unless a major event happened that day, my mind is generally blank. I may talk to myself and say things like "I need to go to bed." in my head when the time comes around as well. But my inner monologue really doesn't work unless it's queued to work if that makes sense. If I have a reason to think things out, I will. Otherwise, I'm basically totally at peace in my mind. A lot of people don't get that. My mind does run when there's major events going on in my life. It can go on during those times and it fixates on those events specifically. I might have passing thoughts like "I need to do this or that" and I might prepare in advance if something is going on like presenting and talk it out in my head, but for me, my mind is basically blank unless prompted or has a reason to say something.

[@gogokowai]

I think the internal monologue is just the language processing portion of my brain that everyone else without some sort of developmental issue has. I think this because I can turn it off when meditating, while people without an inner monologue can still form words in their head as if they have one. Language is a tool to express thoughts, and it's like a power tool in my brain that I just never switch off, which explains why my tool bench is always getting damaged by intrusive thoughts.

[@JoeAuerbach]

I definitely have an internal monologue, but I don't only have an internal monologue. In fact, I would say the overwhelming majority of my thinking does happen in bubbles with an internal monologue sitting on top of it that is talking about the bubbles

[@DFTBA221B]

@JoeAuerbach That's how I conceptualize it as well; it's less of an internal monologue and more of a way for my deep level brain to communicate thoughts to my surface level brain just in case they need to be written down or spoken. I do wonder if that has any impact or correlation with the short term memory issues I run into with my ADHD. Dang, brains are so interesting!

[@oofmydude8173]

This is me but im usually talking to multiple people in my head

[@kevinwells9751]

Definitely agree with this, and I often have a few different layers of thoughts all stacked on each other. One putting words to the underlying thoughts, maybe another critiquing those thoughts, and another being more meta aware of that whole process, not to mention if my brain is doing that while I'm also having a conversation with someone about something else Brains are crazy

[@patrickskelly8517]

I have one layer that is thinking in abstractions, another that is assembling a continuous voiceover - which might be about those abstractions or something else or even just filler words - and a third layer that is singing the last song I heard on continuous repeat.

[@BrandoB2557]

​@kevinwells9751 That sounds similar to my thought process. I don't get "chat bubbles," though. It's all auditory. I _hear_ the voice inside my head. This applies to any other sounds, too. When I "hear" music in my head, I play the song like a radio track. When I remember conversations, I "repeat" the sound of the words to further analyze what was said. Combine all of that with a detailed "minds eye," and it's no wonder my memory seems to behave differently. I assumed this was "normal," that everyone experienced something similar. Brains are weird.

[@OceanBagel]

I've always found it kinda funny how some people go through life hearing things like "read it to yourself" or "picture this" and always just assume it's some sort of metaphor, rather that a shared human experience they're missing out on. Although I guess if nobody tells you that's a thing, you would have no way of knowing.

[@lordbalzamore7692]

I have aphantasia and no internal monologue. I can read silently, and the words appear in my head almost as if they were sounds, but I'm a very slow reader. It's just that 'voice' stays silent unless needed for reading or planning what I'm going to say.

[@AKAThatKid]

When I was young, I thought everyone had bad vision. That unfocused backgrounds in photos were normal - and that high quality images were just because cameras are great. Turns out blurry backgrounds is not the the norm lol

[@thoomish3556]

I don't think that's exactly how it works in my experience as a non internal monologue-er. It's possible for me to read sentences in a voiced way, hearing my voice reading the words in my head, even though I'm not thinking in sentences normally. It's not like I can't, it's just that I don't unless I have to. Also, I have no internal monologue, and I also have a perfect visual imagination (I can imagine things exactly as they would look as if I was seeing them with my own eyes). I think it's all just a matter of brains being different for every individual human being on earth.

[@Xfrtrex]

That's exactly how it is for me yup

[@filidhdeklend893]

@@thoomish3556 I definitely have an internal monologue, but also definitely have that visual imagination as well(which is frustrating when trying to draw cause it never looks like how it does in your head), so it's not a "one of the other" sort of thing.

[@ArcticaTheFox]

2:27 - 2:38 Surprisingly NO! It's actually really fascinating: I remember learning in a cognitive science class that our brains are NOT meant to think about HOW we think! From an evolutionary standpoint, it would be wildly unhelpful for a brain to be wired to understand how itself works! Instead, our brains are built to REACT to the environment around us in the best and most efficient way possible, which makes sense! There is a term for "thinking about how we think", it's called metacognition! It's super fascinating to study, and that class I took was all about "breaking our nature" by forcing ourselves to think about how we think, it was such a fun class, I remember loving all of the discussions we had that semester.

[@rafanoodleworm4834]

this is so interesting aaa thank you for sharing ! makes me think about how i need to be in the present more and respond to my environment and needs instead of overthinking and trying to understand why im the way i am, i just have to be me and do my best and learn how i want to improve but dont have to fully understand me but i always Want to understand and get stuck on it, so this really resonates and makes sense tyyy :D

[@davidaustin6962]

Exactly. Everyone does think without mentally using words, on a frequent basis, but they don't remember doing that because they're not logging that experience in an easily retrievable mental cache.

[@taimunozhan]

We absolutely shouldn't think of Large Language Models (LLMs, like ChatGPT) as a close analogue to human minds, but this reminds me of a study that showed that LLMs do pretty poorly if _asked_ to guess what the next word in a sentence might be, despite the fact that predicting the next word for a given context is literally the way LLMs work.

[@ThatonedudeCR12956]

I legitimately get incredibly uncomfortable whenever thinking about thinking comes up. For example, a video about meta cognition and how neurons are connected together etc. came up in my recommended videos earlier today and I could not convince myself to watch it. I am interested in it and think it would be interesting, but I am incredibly concerned about having (I guess what would be considered) an existential crisis if I watch it. I have only seen one thing which caused this reaction, but it was incredibly uncomfortable. There's a video you can find which shows a single neuron sending out a connector tentacle or whatever to try and find another neuron to connect with, and it's actually a pretty sad video to watch imo. It's just a lonely little neuron sending out a tentacle and failing to find another neuron to connect with and it's just so strangely sad to watch. Meta cognition is just weirdly uncomfortable 😂

[@AnonymousAnonymous-ht4cm]

"From an evolutionary standpoint, it would be wildly unhelpful for a brain to be wired to understand how itself works!" It seems like understanding how other brains work is useful for social situations -- and if those brains are trying to understand how you think, then understanding how your own brain works could be pretty important.

[@AimlessSavant]

Is anyone capable of reading/thinking a sentence with someone else's voice seemingly perfectly?

[@sq3rjick]

Yeah, not a problem at all. I have hyper-vivid audio imagination and can play songs, music, sounds, and compose new things in my head. Voices are no big deal. I can't picture anything voluntarily, though. I only have visual imagery when I'm dreaming, and then it's always hyper intense. I can't make myself imagine it, though -- it's just a concept. I have ADHD and there are frequently several distinct trains of thought, conversations, and songs running through my head at any given time. I like to have something on in the background as a distraction so I can actually think and focus.

[@sumsarsiranen]

Yes, always have been. If I hear their voice regularly I can make their voice say anything in my head.

[@katie42496]

Yup. And I have adhd and I constantly have like 3 songs stuck in my head at the same time, all in the voices of the people who sing them

[@finn4531]

I can. I would say that I have an internal monologue that has a "default voice" (basically my own voice) and I can switch it to other voices, though it requires me to consciously decide to switch voices and some extra brainpower.

[@neochris2]

In my youth, I realized that for years my internal monologue was in the voice of an adult woman. I am male. I found it super odd after realizing. I eventually understood, it was the typical voice of TV commercials in my country, the channels me and my mom used to watch. Most commercials were directed at housewives (who make the most consumer decissions) or just had a woman talking to sound more pleasant or persuasive. I was basically a TV addict as a kid, so this realization was not too surprising. I made a conscious effort to switch my inner monologue to have the voice of a man and eventually avhieved it. I could even say my personality changed too, as if I started having more testosterone or whatever, but that could just be an effect of becoming an adult too.

[@RainaRamsay]

Hank's like "I have an existential crisis, what should I do with it? I know! Give it to 3.8 million people!

[@charlie54185]

Double it and give it to the next person i guess

[@tobinfolly901]

Or has bunch of bubbles that stick together in the shape of an existential crisis...

[@vyvianalcott1681]

What's funny is this isn't a crisis for me, I understand how all of this works and I can even put it in words. I don't have anyone to tell though, no one wants to talk to me.

[@karmabeast]

@@vyvianalcott1681 I'll talk to you! I love meeting new people

[@smithynoir9980]

@@vyvianalcott1681 Yeah, I don't really see what's so hard to grasp about any of this. Some people think in words, some in images, others in concepts. Hanks 'Bubbles' being images more so than words.

[@spiderdude2099]

I have a whole ass person narrating anything I read. It’s my voice, playing in my head. I can hear it as clearly as a piece of music. I’ve always had it that way, and it also extends to my vision. If I close my eyes, I can replay entire movies, complete with sound and visuals, at will, anytime I want. It’s great. I can’t imagine living without it being like that.

[@vandollism]

Same

[@lavenderkm1]

I have the audio but not the video.

[@baby.nay.]

I kind of like having a different person read a book to me in my head 😂I can imagine and hear anyone’s voice that I’ve ever heard before.

[@baby.nay.]

But yes to everything else you mentioned.

[@AesonRose]

Same 🙌🏽

[@stiegmusic]

As someone with an internal monologue, I experience all the things you describe in this video too. The mindmap-like, interconnected bubbles, the hard-to-describe (yet thoroughly understood) ideas that require a degree of effort to convert into words; it’s just that all these things are accompanied by a constant internal chatter. It’s not *only* words, but the words are always there.

[@scarlletnull2811]

Same here! I have an internal monologue but I can also think in pictures or think in thoughts as he’s saying. The person speaking is usually my own voice but when I’m imitating someone in a particular moment or thinking what they would say I speak in their voice or accent. When Im thinking of someone or something I hear the monologue first but shortly after I get a 3d image with words around the image usually just the name. Short of like his bubbles he mentions. I think having this internal monologue is the reason I talk to myself so frequently. It’s like Im actually talking to someone because I’d say something and the voice in my head (lol) would reply back and this can go for like 20-30 minutes. Even as I’m typing this my monologue is reading it out.

[@thelifedragon2156]

@@scarlletnull2811 exactly the same thing i was going to say. basically, i think in pictures and words.

[@garretthanson3558]

It feels like I have a full movie playing in my head all the time, but when I actually go to describe it, I realize how incomplete it actually is. Like how dreams only ever focus on the important things.

[@RufotrisRootedRockhound]

Great way to put it, I am the same way. It can be helpful as it prepares me for what I want to say. Like as I’m thinking about what I’m going to say to someone my internal voice will say that thing and listen back to how it sounds, then if it sounds good to me I’ll say it, or try another way. This can happen as I’m talking, my brain will be thinking of the next sentence. Almost like I’m typing in my brain then let the mouth go on auto pilot after I chose the lines to say. 😅 All while picturing things and forming thought bubbles about the words and outcome and how the person I’m talking to will perceive my statement… it never stops.

[@stabMyFaceOff]

Yeah I get both as well Boffa Boffa deez nutz

[@13LuckyWishes]

As a kid I asked my mom ”you know how you have pre-thoughts? Like you get an idea and have to form it into words?” And she said “…no?” And then I never mentioned it to anyone again. Haven’t thought about this in a long time, but this got me thinking again! I have the bubbles too - to learn something new, or form a new idea, I have to let them float around and form a whole idea. When it’s done cooking, then I can put it into words. My inner monologue is mostly me explaining my pre-thoughts to myself, therefore turning them into ideas I can remember long-term.

[@DaraulHarris]

Something about the way you and John are makes me feel like your parents must be wonderful people.

[@IsuiGtz]

Most wholesome comment I've read in months, maybe years.

[@coda3223]

Same. Sometimes I think Hank looks a bit like how I might have turned out (similar interests and values), if I had loving, emotionally mature, not abusive parents growing up and a bit more luck in the abled body department. I recently heard something like "a hero is someone you can see yourself as under different circumstances" (iirc from the Leftist Cooks' most recent video) and I was like "oh welp.... I didn't think I had any heroes, but I guess I've had one this whole time" 😅

[@potapotapotapotapotapota]

@@IsuiGtz what if the comment is sarcasm....!!!

[@Thom4ES]

If John is sane and ! Hank is sane ...alot of folks are clearly sane...that I had little hope ,misplaced for ....

[@BigStromStudios]

I have thought this for a long time. Have they done videos about their parents or general upbringing?

[@RobustMustache]

I believe this idea, like many things, is on a spectrum. Some people are strongly inner monologue, some people are on the opposite end, and some people are in the middle. And/or people use both inner monologue and imagery thinking. I believe they have found that people with an inner monologue are often more anxious. Likely because they are replaying conversations and things they said in their head and reliving moments that often lead in to negative self talk.

[@KingNedya]

In my case, I don't replay conversations as much as I try to predict them. I really really struggle with starting up conversations with people, and there are a few reasons for that. But one of those reasons is that before I have a conversation, I try to figure out how to word it, predict what the response might be, and then my reply. And oftentimes there are branching paths where I need to come up with multiple predictions and multiple responses all just for the same statement. I don't want to end up in a situation where I don't have a response ready. This is why I prefer text communication, though it's gotten worse over time and now I'm at the point where I'll take days to figure out how I want to reply to a text, so maybe the pressure of immediate response is something I need. On the bright side, it's really handy for debates to already be impulsively predicting their counterpoints and my rebuttals to said counterpoints.

[@espeonzeld4]

Can confirm as an anxious person with an internal monologue

[@johannesleirgul953]

I think you are right, and it's interesting to see how different peoples experiences of their own thoughts are. I use a mix of words and images. I can imagine a conversation like words in my head, just like an internal monologue, but I can also imagine things without words. I can decide which I use, but words are FAR slower than anything else. That is the most incomprehensible thing about only having an internal monologue to me, because plenty inteligent and fast-thinking people have internal monologues, but if I try to think in complete sentences, I'm only a little faster than normal speech. Also, if I need to talk or write about a wordless thought, most of the time I can go directly from imagery to words out of my mouth without even conciously finishing the sentence in my head.

[@jimmm1037]

@@johannesleirgul953 I am very strongly internal monologue (It's hard for me to even imagine visual thinking). My thoughts are not played at the speed that people talk, and though the sentence is there, its meaning is conveyed almost instantly to me. I don't think the speed of thoughts is all that connected to how the thoughts are experienced, but of course I can't go into your head and experience your thoughts and you can't go into mine, so I don't know if we'll ever know.

[@casbienbarr]

can confirm

[@prithvivashisht5260]

0:53 John Green the man vs John Green the idea

[@syd.a.m]

Concept of a John Green.

[@ryanwillingham]

Perchance.

[@PenStab]

Vs John Green the bubble.

[@ashton988]

​@@ryanwillinghamyou can't just say "perchance".

[@isweartofuckinggod]

writer of Turts All The Way Down

[@anamariabolo]

Everyone can understand what not having an internal monologue is. We just don't think about it like that. Think about it: when you're in a normal conversation, do you need to think about every single word before you say it? Or do you have an internal sense of what it is that you want to say, and then the words just flow out without having to think about every single one of them first? I do have an internal monologue, but thinking about it made me realise we don't always use it all the time

[@vids595]

We dont even use it most of the time.

[@zebedeesummers4413]

@@vids595 I'd argue that'd vary greatly by person.

[@Theplatzguy]

I have ADHD and aphantasia, with an internal monologue. My mind is an endless whirlwind of words without form or coherence. I envy you Hank Green.

[@nolanjdon3514]

I am close but I just don't shut up, up there or irl lmao. Try giving it direction maybe? I flood myself with things to think about so it always has something to talk about. No idea if that will do anything but idk want to get into any new hobbies? That' what I spend half my days thinking about lol.

[@steggopotamus]

For me, how I mangage words/images/thoughts Is by organizing them with a hypothesis. So I have a hypothesis for how to manage medical misinformation, and a hypothesis for how to make my adhd life easier, and so on. What that does is gives me a way to organize thoughts even if the hypothesis is wrong, the structure gives me extra ability to recall it because I only have to remember the topic to remember how they're related. I did this naturally, I just realized my more neurotypical seeming friends don't cling to hypotheses the same way I do, they can just entertain a notion and let it go, because they can recall what they want more easily.

[@NoelyNoel]

ADHD and Aphantasia gang rise up!

[@retardidfish3169]

Same here, i am constantly talking in my head. Also why i dont enjoy reading because i cannot picture anything in the book

[@elijahfeuerstein4710]

@@NoelyNoel have you also had the cursed thought to "imagine what it's like to imagine something without aphantasia"... or is it only cursed for me? lol

[@hailbopthecomet]

I think in words, images, and concepts, and it baffles me that some people don't have access to all three

[@jennamathews7506]

I don’t know if I think in concepts, but definitely words and images and random sounds and even other people’s voices and cartoon character voices. There’s probably too much going on to notice the concepts tbh.

[@w花b]

I used to think in "feelings". Not emotions but it's kinda similar to concepts but there's a feeling tied to it like a sound, the cold or an emotion. I guess the closest thing that can awake this up to this day are mnemonics. Mental mnemonics in a way.

[@realMarkholla]

Bro is a superhero lowekey.

[@riverhalorix4203]

same.

[@anywallsocket]

Imagine not thinking exclusively in smells and tastes 😋

[@kimono5484]

I have aphantasia and I have an internal monologue. I don't understand how thoughts can exist without words.

[@willwright7314]

same here lol

[@AlexDings]

I'd say they exist as feelings for me, much more so than as words

[@macmansfield-parisi5812]

likewise!

[@GamesFromSpace]

I can do it both ways. The wordless thoughts are kinda like flavors or smells. Not literally that sort of sense, but the same familiar and known 'thing' which I understand without knowing what it's called.

[@curtishansenmusic]

Welcome to the club! But I also have experienced moments in the past few years, thanks to flirting with meditation, of the monologue being interrupted temporarily. It is absolutely *terrifying* the first time it happens. But once you realize you're not dying, I tend to agree with Hank that having thoughts sans words is, in fact, more efficient more of the time. So I try to keep it in mind and notice windows of opportunity for entering that state. I can't turn it off permanently though.

[@jackthake7209]

Now imagine if a random guy came up to you on the street saying this

[@ripzaurus]

You're making me realize that I do actually understand what's it like to not have an internal monologue. Since I was a kid I've always noticed how I have two thoughts: The Abstract one that comes to me at the speed of thought (literally lol), and immediately after, the Monologue one. And I would always think how weird it is that I'm rethinking something, like, I already know my thought, why am I repeating it to myself "out loud"? As if I was in a sitcom in my mind, talking to the camera. Very fascinating.

[@boogereater69]

Test to see if my account is shadow banned from comments

[@fang_xianfu]

Yeah, it's funny - I am capable of monologuing internally and I do it sometimes to "practice" big conversations, or just for fun, but it's not continuous, and it's not required for many types of thought. I'm a software engineer and when I'm writing code there is no talking inside my brain, it's all concepts and ideas and patterns and structures. Mostly I have the internal monologue when I'm reading large pieces of text, like your comment - I perceive my brain as reading it "out loud" even though it isn't.

[@UnashamedlyHentai]

@@fang_xianfu same. you might think that since coding is all words that the thoughts would be words, too, but no. opposite.

[@CatherineLu]

I do this sometimes too!

[@sentientlamp]

Me too! Except I have to relax my brain in order to access the "pre-verbal" thoughts. I think I discovered this while spacing out on the school bus in middle school lol

[@thethoughtemporium]

I would highly recommend "the thousand brains" theory of intelligence book/lectures. It explains some of the real neurological mechanisms of attention and how important that is, but also how you are not 1 brain, you are a chorus of many working together to make the lived experience. Each cortical microcolumn builds a complete world view, but from the perspective of whatever tiny patch of the sensory system it's connected to, and given context by all the other columns doing the same thing over the entire neocortex, but connected to other sensory patches. Hard to explain the whole thing in 1 youtube comment but it's amazing. To me it was the most clear piece of neuroscience that broke the brains real function down and actually explained the computation it's doing in a way that both tracks with lived experience, but is also immensely clarifying to why our brains do some of the weird things they do, in the way they do them.

[@videomontaggenerator]

Omg, I didn't watch your videos a lot, but I remember you channel as really good one! Thank you so much for recommendation! Some really tasty knowledge ahead

[@graygreysangui]

I found "A Thousand Brains" by a guy named Jeff in my library e-book system. In five weeks, I can check it out. Thanks for the suggestion, Internet stranger.

[@simonkeith7687]

it's a congress

[@xxportalxx.]

Yeah, and it's irritating when they argue haha

[@Reversed82]

agree, also after learning this, REBUS / anarchic brain hypothesis is a fascinating idea about how psychotropic substances alter perception and hypothesizes a bit about why psychedelics can work for psychotherapy (by basically randomizing how much "loudness" each world model gets)

[@EdEddnEddyReference]

I have an internal monologue because when I talked to myself out loud as a kid my siblings and parents told me to shut up.

[@rockets4kids]

If only you had a way to record that and share it with the rest of the world that *did* want to listen...

[@Somethingoftheold]

​@@rockets4kidsI played Just Cause 3 on PS4 once all alone. Then something funny happened so I saved a video which saved 30 minutes of gameplay. Unbeknowest to me it also recorded my voice, so checking the video I heard myself mumble sone thoughts I had and was caught by surprise of this.

[@vyvianalcott1681]

I have both what he's describing and an internal monologue, is this not common? Am I special?

[@philipmartins9501]

At 25 years old, I still often say my thoughts out loud, usually without even realizing I'm talking to myself. It's usually me talking myself through a complex topic, a task I'm doing, or if I'm writing. I usually don't do it when I'm conscious people are around, but idk how I can turn it off then and can't control it when I'm alone.

[@ballman2010]

​@@philipmartins9501Oh, yeah. If I'm working through some problem, I often kind of narrate what I'm doing as a way to process it. I feel weird about it if someone else is present 😅

[@buhbabs]

I can’t imagine an existence without my brain always speaking to me

[@LukeNasti]

My inner monologue is like when you flip through the radio stations but you're trying to make sense of the song even though it's 50 different songs

[@memphischick2805]

Yes! This is exactly how I describe my internal monologue. Sometimes it's downright exhausting to slow down the stations.

[@victorrrrriaaaaaaaa]

is this what adhd brain is like or is this common for everyone with an internal monologue (genuine question)

[@williamspirralafton3143]

​​@@victorrrrriaaaaaaaa for me yes for the 1st question for adhd

[@hydra70]

Nah, that's called ADHD (if you have an internal monologue).

[@ambrosia18]

This. Mood. Because the closest way I've been able to describe my internal anything is a jukebox musical.

[@mythicpink]

My internal monologue will involuntarily recite dialogue that I think is valuable in a particular situation. For example, say my Mom verbally tells me to "Make sure to look both ways before crossing the street". At the time, I listened to her and thought that her statement was valuable because I don't want to be hit by a car. Weeks later, say I find myself about to cross the street. I will hear her voice in my head saying the same thing verbatim and I will listen to that helpful voice. Another thing my monologue will do is recite someone's dialogue on a one second delay of me listening to them. It's a weird feeling and has helped me focus whilst listening.

[@davidrudpedersen5622]

What you describes sounds like the same as recalling a piece of music. To me, this is different from my internal monologue which is something I actively control. Each word is like taking the next turn in solving a rubix cube. I choose the word to think. When I write something, I'm just immediately putting down what I think. But I can also use my internal monologue to reach logical conclusions, formulated as words. Basically like a mathematical proof, but in words. (And about more abstract subjects than math)

[@ssnowstarr4985]

Oh, I have both! The repetition of something I'm listening to on a short delay also helps me remember it

[@nessiecz2006]

@@davidrudpedersen5622 ME TOO DUDE (and i like math)

[@DennisGr]

oh, that's absurd, you managed to formulate a thought i could never quite pin down. just the other day i went buying boots and in my head i said to myself "he who buys cheap ends up buying twice" like grandpa always told me when i was a boy. i generally feel the inner monologue is strong in me.

[@timothymessier7690]

See I feel like my internal monologue gets in the way a lot when having a conversation. It takes a lot more brain power to both ignore my internal monologue in relation to what is being spoken to me but also not ignoring it too much so I can formulate my own thoughts.

[@FaeZae-McBear]

For anyone without an inner monologue who wonders what having one is like - imagine hank saying everything he's said in this video, but he's saying it silently in his head instead of aloud. It's essentially kind of like vlogging to an audience of 1, where you're both the presenter and the audience, talking to yourself about yourself 😂 Now, also having second and third thoughts which think over that at the same time, is a whole other thing which I'd love to see Hank explore!

[@Noobazzah]

I generally prefer to think in abstractions but it's not difficult to think in sentences either. Usually there's a song (or like the chorus of a song) playing on one layer though. But yeah I just don't think there's any meaningful difference between, say, thinking that the room needs cleaning and specifically forming that thought into a sentence that says that. Cognition doesn't require language (plenty of things that think don't have a language), so it's probably just a difference in our approaches towards our own thoughts in a conceptual sense. Is the thought the response to stimuli, or an interpretation of the response, essentially. My pet theory is that it's just a more efficient way for some people while other people find concrete words more efficient; since I seem to recall that language acquisition is fairly important for a child's cognitive development it may even be that it's something some people simply "grow out of", which is simply to say that people get in the habit of thinking in a certain way. For me, if I'm specifically committing something to memory or just coming up with a story it's usually better to mostly "think in words", though writing things down is even better. Images are a part of it too of course, et cetera et cetera.

[@TheFrancesc18]

​@@Noobazzah I think your viewpoint is interesting, and I mostly agree with it, but there's something I have to disagree on. You say that plenty of things that think don’t have a language, which is true. However, we don’t fully understand what their thoughts are like (partly because they can’t communicate them). Moreover, we have strong evidence suggesting that other animals lack our capacity for abstraction and imagination. This brings up an intriguing question: wouldn’t abstraction flow more naturally from “unbound” thought rather than word-based thought? I believe the key lies in complexity and the ease of directing thought. Language allows us to encapsulate raw thought into symbols, which can then be combined syntactically to guide thinking in a structured way. While language originally evolved for communication, it developed an emergent property: the ability to shape both our own thoughts and those of others. Although it may be slower than pure thought, language provides stability and scalability. Take math as an example. We can instinctively understand that two apples and two apples make four - this is faster than thinking “2+2=4” or writing it out. However, as complexity increases, pure thought becomes less effective. For instance, calculating 33 groups of 717 apples in your head would be nearly impossible. Abstract calculations or written representations reduce this mental load, enabling us to handle increasingly complex ideas. In this sense, mathematics could be seen as the purest externalization of symbolic thought. This principle also applies to human accomplishments. Many animals solve simple problems, such as breaking objects or opening doors, but their understanding often stops at immediate cause-and-effect. Humans, by contrast, use abstraction and symbolic reasoning to build upon those basic insights. For instance, early humans started constructing shelters about half a million years ago, while beavers have been building dams instinctively for over 10 million years. Despite this, a modern human who has lived in buildings their entire life might struggle to build a proper shelter in the wild, while a beaver raised in isolation would still instinctively construct a dam. This difference highlights the interplay between instinct and learned behavior: beavers rely on evolution-baked instincts, while humans depend on abstract reasoning and cultural transmission. This comment turned out a lot longer than I planned, and there's still a lot things that would be interesting to mention, but I'll leave it at that.

[@NicCrimson]

I'm interested in the opposite

[@NickyBaldwin-jw3cc]

All the time on 100

[@AstroSandee]

@@TheFrancesc18 There are studies showing that animals have this same ability. And we aren't too much better. These quick counts lower than 4 or 5 are done at a completely different level than higher numbers.

[@jarlsterra]

It's not one way of thinking vs another, it's one group has something the other does not. We with internal monologues can think without it, there's just very little reason to ever do so. Even further, we don't think by just talking to ourselves. It is far more accurate to say we are able to give a play by play description of the processes of thinking our brain is undergoing. It is as if we are observing our thoughts and having an active discussion about them.

[@TheAugmentedMan1]

Exactly

[@challalla]

As someone without an internal monologue, I remember thinking that "thought bubbles" in cartoons or thoughts written down in word form within quotation marks in stories were strictly literary devices. I remember thinking that the concept of "reading someone's mind" was metaphorical. I remember being confused when people asked me what language I thought in. Thinking is thinking and then you translate those thoughts into language so that others can understand them; if there is no audience, there is no need to put your thoughts into words. Of course, I gradually came to realize that there were plenty of people who really do think in words.

[@MrBrock314]

I almost exclusively think in words. :) I can conjure imagery too but I would immediately start describing it like a narrator or describing feelings like a narrator "Steven imagined his pile of work and dreaded the hours that it would take."

[@АлександрМельников-л5г]

Yeap, for me "thought" exist in its own category outside of "words" and "shapes". A thought can fill words or shapes as a shell if it can make the process of thinking more convenient.

[@TiggerIsMyCat]

​@@MrBrock314Pretty much. I conjure images too, if prompted to. Like if I'm thinking about going to the store after work, I'll think the words "I should probably go to the store after work", but I'm not conjuring the vision of myself going to the store, but if someone asked me to "imagine yourself going to the store", I would see the image, though I, in this situation, wouldn't also hear the words in my head "I'm going to the store". I guess the words need to be there, but not necessarily from my own brain, lol. Also I can't daydream and think separate thoughts in my head, because my daydreams are like a movie playing in my head, visuals and dialogue (though sometimes there can be dialogue on it's own, but it's never all dialogue, it's either both, or a mix of both and dialogue only). Thoughts necessarily interrupt (like pause on a movie) any daydream since I can't have two lines going over one another.

[@TiggerIsMyCat]

I'm my own audience, lol. I'm clarifying my thoughts by putting them into words to myself.

[@BabakoSen]

I also used to think thought bubbles or narrator voices were either just conventions for things that are too hard/expensive to render as complete pictures/movies, or just the parts of the inner movie that involved someone imagining saying a thing that they'd like to say aloud. Only found out a few years ago that internal movies (with our without sound) were unusual.

[@Veilure]

I've always described it as “thinking in connections“ or “thinking in patterns”. I don’t need to think “that sucks” to know something sucks - it just sucks.

[@bramvanduijn8086]

I call that gestalt thinking, because you are thinking about the entire thing at once.

[@rachelmedling8695]

This blows my mind honestly

[@madhavraghu]

​@@rachelmedling8695there's no way you don't already think like this, you just also have an internal monologue that describes what you think. The monologue just describes what you think, you don't need it to think, or maybe that's not your case idk. Are you unable to think about anything unless you can describe it with words? When you look at something you know what it is and what it does and what it means to you without having to describe it in words right?

[@coraf9682]

we have what's called a train-of-thought, but it's not like the train is headed anywhere, but the different cars of the train are connected and sequential, and come by because the next car is pulling it because the next car is pulling it because the next... Thoughts are always responses to the immediately previous thought.

[@jaredf6205]

That’s not how people with internal monologues think though. Internal monologues are way of externalizing your thoughts through language. In the same way that someone might write something down or draw something out to get a better understanding of something they’re thinking about. Don’t need to say something in my head to have the thought. It’s just my primary way of organizing my thoughts and thinking about them differently. If I’m alone, I’ll just say it all out loud. When I’m alone in the car, I’ll say things out loud that sound exactly like this comment, but just to no one.

[@EchoGillette]

"i think in thoughts" is such an incredible phrase

[@coollary1]

@@EchoGillette There’s 7 forms our thoughts take. Words, sounds, images, feelings, movement, abstract, logical. I assume Hank means his are mostly abstract or logical.

[@Sam-shushu]

​@@coollary1 I think this is oversimplified. I see movies, but the movies come with a deep emotional context and an interrelated matrix of other ideas and memories that "flavor" the scene

[@anywallsocket]

@@coollary1imagine thinking the differences the thinking thing can articulate about its thoughts are the essential differences in said thoughts rather than just the articulable ones.

[@coollary1]

@@Sam-shushu I’m not trying to simplify it. You think in images and feelings mostly. That’s what it sounds like. Along with abstracts. The researcher that discovered how people think has said that we are not really accurate at defining which types of thoughts we think in predominately. Most people think in a mixture of the 7 along with the ability to use the rest. Some can’t think in one or more. IE can’t see images or hear sounds like voices. It takes a lot of focus to accurately tell which types you use the most. Im adhd and people don’t believe me when I say I have multiple abstract thoughts all overlayed all the time with background sounds (music or like voices). The only time I can think logically without multiple thoughts is when i’m sleep deprived or on medication. And without them I am constantly holding myself back from distractions while also reminding myself of the task at hand and the steps to follow (logical thoughts) which is exhausting. What blew my mind is learning that other people can just do things without thinking ie Brushing their teeth. I can’t just brush my teeth I have to focus my mind to move my hand, to put the toothpaste on, etc I have to think each step through or I won’t remember to do it and I won’t remember later if I even did it.

[@coollary1]

@@anywallsocket i’m confused haha

[@chalybee8689]

4:40 That was needlessly complicated. But as someone with an internal monologue, no the thoughts are not limited to monologue. Its just my voice asking questions, or reviewing events or thinking of what words to say. Like when I write this, I say the words in my head as im typing them.l just as if i would me reading. But if i think about a person a think or whatever, it's not limited to a word. The whole idea and feeling of it is there and is separated from my internal voice, both are there and exists independently. How do you even read without a inner voice? You see the words and then...? Well, if anything, it doesn't make expressing onself any easier. Physically verbalizing the words take alot of brainpower, it creates alot of hesitations as I am constantly questioning myself and it takes time to think then verbalize them. Because im adhd, i can easily lose track of what i was going to say. It takes alot of focus to have deep long conversations. I think it's for that reason cant talk when looking someone, i usually have to focus all my attention to my mind so i stare at blank or when it gets realy hard, i may even have to close my eyes to shut down any visual stimulies so i can focus all my attention to my thoughts in order to verbalize them. When I talk, its like I read out loud the sentences that forms in my mind. When im depressed or tired and my mind becomes foggy for whatever reasons that hinders my ability to think, it becomes very very hard to speak coherentely since i start forgetting and my mind blanks out. How does one function without it though, you move and act on instinct? Do you not question your actions and reflect on them? Can you even introspect?

[@juzoli]

Having internal monologue doesn’t mean it is the ONLY thing we have. Our thoughts are a mixtures of spoken words, pictures, feelings, or basic elements of these. Sometimes I don’t use my internal monologue at all. I’m pretty sure it is a multi-dimensional spectrum, with different ratio for every individual person. Some people have a bit more internal monologue, and less pictures, or the other way around. Or a lot less in this case. So the group of people who think they are the same in this sense, are also all different. And considering you can be a successful author without internal monologue, it is not that important to have…

[@WinterWitch01]

Umm, wdym you don’t always use your inner monologue? You can turn it on and off?

[@Ash_Wen-li]

And not having an internal monologue doesn't mean you can't make one

[@juliaprice7220]

​@@WinterWitch01for me if I'm energetic I might have a very fast paced monologue and if I'm quite mentally tired it might slow down or stop altogether for periods when it takes too much effort to keep going. Personally I can't voluntarily 'turn it off' at will.

[@mgancarzjr]

​@@WinterWitch01some thoughts require words and other thoughts require visualization

[@VivaMidnight]

I was contemplating a little while ago whether or not my internal voice is what makes me a slow reader, because I'm saying it out loud, but in my head. I guess it's like listening to an audiobook, which for most people I believe is slower than just reading a book. In fact, when I read an autobiography for example I often just read it in the writer's voice, if I'm familiar enough with it. But of late I've been trying to take in the written words without saying them, which I can do but requires me to concentrate harder, perhaps because I'm not a big reader, or I never learned this way. I feel like subtitles are a potential way to get better at this, as I am time-limited on reading them, where as I can slip back into my monologue too easily with books, plus there is audio you're already listening to when watching TV. Well, this was a box of text.

[@samranda]

no wonder some people are so good at verbalizing their thoughts when they LITERALLY COME TO THEM AS WORDS

[@azotan1]

Many people said to me I am great at verbalizing my thoughts and I don't have the internal monologue.

[@purpleghost106]

@@azotan1 My spouse is like you, he doesn't think in words, but he's actually great at having whole ideas thought out that he can translate into words. He thoughts also like percolate and aren't accessible to him as a thought he can verbalize at all til they're whole enough to be said in words. Which is weird to me as someone who thinks in images and feelings and gets hazy half cooked thoughts constantly. (I think 90% of my crappy ideas and would be less crappy if I had an internal monologue to go 'wait hold on!' about)

[@Blaketarded]

@@azotan1i am horrible at verbalizing my thoughts and I do have the monologue

[@ansalem12]

Yeah, my internal monologue has never helped me express myself to other people any better. It only helps me express myself to *myself* better. I still struggle to translate my thoughts into words other people will understand. It's weird. Brains are weird.

[@CineSoar]

In the days after reading a good novel, my internal monologue flows like a fire hose, in the style of the author I’ve just read.

[@daniel_rossy_explica]

1:21 for me at least, it is neither. I have aphantasia on one hand, and I don't have an inner monologue in the other. I can think in "words" if I do it conciounsly, but generally ideas come to my mind and I just know they are there. Interestingly, I can think of "rotating" an object but I don't actually see it.

[@TakuThe71st]

Me too

[@stan-15]

Almost me. I feel like I’m 95% of the way to aphantasia. I can just barely picture things sometimes, but it is very hazy and incomplete and disappears almost instantly, and I need to put in constant mental effort to try to maintain it. An effort that feels sort of like I’m fighting to pull together a misty smoke that’s quickly dissipating back together with my hands lol. It’s not even like I’m seeing a hazy image, but more like I am very hazily thinking a hazy image. That hazy image does not exist in any way overlayed onto my visuals, but very hazily lives in my mind (unlike my brother that says he can picture things almost as if they were really there). I don’t know if any of this makes any sense at all lol.

[@kittenslikestars]

I have aphantasia also!! But a very, very loud internal monologue :)

[@marmantole]

It’s amazing how people’s brains work so differently

[@itisdevonly]

I can "visualize" spatial relationships of objects to one another without difficulty, but I can't visualize very well how they actually look (as in shape, color, texture, etc). I have hypofantasia. Some visualization capacity, but very little. It makes sense that you have spatial ability despite lacking an inner eye. Spatial processing is actually separate from visual processing in the brain. Imagine you were born completely blind. You would have learned to navigate three dimensional space without ever seeing anything. You could still have a sense of where things are in relation to one another and to your body, even though you would have no capacity to visualize them. Vision is just one way of sensing the presence of an object. But spatial awareness is a mental map of physical space, not visual data. It's just common for people to have both capacities and be able to combine those things mentally.

[@SunshineTheLover]

4:50 in my mind the "me" as an entirety is represented by a council table of the different parts of myself i can assign a feeling or presence to. body parts, emotions, needs like hunger all have a voice and it helps me to have them debate with each other about the best possible way to do things like alien x. if i have multiple things going on they'll confer with each other to decide what to prioritize and when depending on the state of things. it helps keep me sane tbh

[@christianseibold3369]

I love how the way you spoke out loud in this video is basically like how I speak to myself with my internal monologue - disjointed, a web of connections, rambly, and talking to myself as if I'm explaining my own ideas to someone else.

[@christianseibold3369]

Although, I will say that when I think things up, I don't have to "say" the words in my mind to have the words within grasp, and there are times when I don't have to use my internal monologue when I have an idea. Idk, it's interesting.

[@saulgoneman]

Yes, I find it especially strange that thought-me feels the need to clarify what I mean as if I'm talking to someone else. I know what I'm thinking, because I'm thinking it, but I'll still scold myself for thinking it in a way that could be misinterpreted by an outside observer.

[@DFTBA221B]

I'VE NEVER HAD SOMEONE ARTICULATE THIS SO PRECISELY BEFORE OH MY GOD!!! Thanks Hank, I'm sending this to all my friends and family now

[@newsaxonyproductions7871]

Ikr! Particularly that bit in the middle where he talked about what forms his own self, I felt like that hit the nail on the fucking head for me!

[@Somerandommomcommentor]

I am definitely on the Hank spectrum, shining a flashlight in my own head

[@paulbrown7848]

Same

[@alilililili868]

I'm so happy to know we are not alone! Like me and my twin sister would talk sometimes about how its weird some people just have the audio description turned on all the time. Sure. I can summon the inner monologue if I need to, for example while planning what to write in this comment. The annoying thing is sometimes I start inner monologuing on what to write or tell someone and then I can't unplug from that steam of language thoughts for a while and it's annoying! Final case where the monologue appears is with dark thoughts... Which means me think now that maybe they were never a reflection of my true mind but actually attracting from things i expect other people to tell me... Thanks Hank for making me think too hard once again about the meaning of existence 😂

[@technophobian2962]

​@@alilililili868 I'm pretty sure it's normal to have an inner voice that only activates when you're reading or writing. It's possible your inner voice is less active than average though. If I'm not mistaken, Hank is saying that he has no inner voice at all - which isn't very common.

[@Just_a_commenter]

I'm glad that I've got an internal monologue since, in my experience, it helps to process existence. Sometimes, it's conversations with myself - like two copies of me in my brain discussing things, offering counter-points and suggestions to the other.

[@naominekomimi]

I mean, people without an internal monologue (like me) can still discuss things out loud. Talking to yourself is only stigmatized because the majority has an internal monologue.

[@tiptapkey]

It helps you, perhaps. But I feel like not having that limitation helps me process existence. We can never know each other's brains, though.

[@SirWussiePants]

And sometimes it is conversations I am thinking of having with other people or replaying conversations that I had and messed up. Sometimes it can be nerve wracking too. Especially when you have the real conversation and it doesnt go the way your brain concocted. But when I think of the ancient Egyptians building the pyramids I dont see words I see the act being done. Yeah, the brain is weird.

[@kevinwells9751]

Yeah I hear people talk about inner monologue and I'm like, "wait you only have one voice going on in your head at a time?"

[@Cheetahhh]

I don't think in words, and I haven't found myself lacking in that way. The equivalent experience for me would be holding onto a thought, and naturally letting the other contingent thoughts and counterpoints flood in. I've found my subconscious to be really good at finding pertinent information, so those counterpoints and suggestions still come through. They're maybe just not labeled as nicely lol.

[@sulomaliska4201]

To me it feels more like there is me that is experiencing everything and there is my consciousness or something of the sort that interprets what i am experiencing and audibly talks to me about what i am experiencing and what it reminds me of. Instead of bubbles being connected its like myself reminding myself of the connections i make from experiences. There isnt really text going through my head and I am not good at picturing images, instead there is a constant voice in my head that is even saying all these words as i type them out. The second the voice in my head says something I am able to say it, its almost in sync actually, but before the voice in my head says anything, i havent thought that thing yet.

[@andrewprahst2529]

I don't think just in monologue, like when I just look at a person. I can turn off the monologue, it feels meditative. I can do every day actions with it off, but I struggle to think about abstract things, or about the future without talking myself through it. But I bet I could teach myself to. Fascinating.

[@coreytravisbean]

I found that my anxiety and depression was being exacerbated by my inner monologue and by turning it off it often got better. I totally get what you mean by it feeling meditative.

[@andrewprahst2529]

@coreytravisbean Limitations of the technology of language

[@trismegistus7638]

@@coreytravisbean I used to have a very loud and insistent internal monologue that was very closely tied to my depression & anxiety. At the worst of times it became inescapable rumination, intrusive thoughts, and talking to myself. At it's strongest, I had the sense that what it really was was an ingrained habit I had learned to have a ready-to-go explanation of my actions at any given moment, in case someone asked. I had a very inquisitive mother who often asked me what I was doing and why. In my earliest memories, my internal monologue was addressed to my mother. In my teens and twenties it became addressed to various other people, but mainly my girlfriends and roommates. After a particularly bad break-up I realized that all my thoughts were addressed to some homunculus I had built in my mind that only vaguely resembled the person it was originally based on. So I put in a lot of effort to stop thinking in words. I discovered mindfulness meditation, and I learned how to cut off the extreme ruminations I was experiencing. It took years of effort, but nowadays I think more in abstract thought instead of words. But I notice that on the bad days, when I have too much on my plate and my anxiety is rising, I start monologuing internally more. It makes me feel very claustrophobic in my head.

[@jellyfrogfish]

How do you turn it off

[@andrewprahst2529]

@jellyfrogfish Start looking around the room, but just look. Nothing else. Start doing something. Same thing.

[@GSBarlev]

"It's work for me to say all the words to convey the thoughts." *Yes this!* I've struggled with communication for my whole life, because I'll have this crystal clear idea of what I'm envisioning, but when I try to convey it using words, I inevitably miss parts that are just obvious inside my head. It's a huge disadvantage for me in my day-to-day life, and I, fittingly, haven't had the words to properly describe it before now.

[@rhel373]

I have an inner monologue but this still happens. The words in my head make way more sense than when I say them.

[@ThePCguy17]

@@rhel373 And worse, having put them in order in your head doesn't mean you remember them all perfectly as you say them out loud, so a neat and tidy elegant train of thought can quickly get derailed and, at best, lose its impact as it comes out in fits and starts. At worse, it's just gone completely, no clue what that brilliance 5-seconds-ago me was on about could have been, at best I'll reconstruct it from first principles.

[@rob_nsn]

5:24 after my brother was cured of his Lymphoma, my mom started saying in response to her smaller worries: "it's not a tumor!"

[@number1darren]

I read the quote in the voice of Arnold Swartzenegger

[@KirkWaiblinger]

Sounds like she has a good sense of tumor about it

[@NotSomeJustinWithoutAMoustache]

​@@number1darrenJeez, look at Mr. Internal monolog haver over here showing off with that crazy voice acting. That Schwarzenegger impression was spot-on!

[@beachcheeseburgerdoingyoga3111]

“Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow.” -Oliver Wendell Holmes, Supreme Court Justice

[@CinziaDuBois]

I feel this so much. I don’t have an internal monologue and I have no memory of having one. However, I also have aphantasia - but I used to be able to see images in my head. I probably lost it before the age of 12 as I remember telling adults around that age “I’ve lost my imagination” and no one knew what I meant. They kept saying “that’s part of growing up” etc, not realising I stopped being able to see anything in my head anymore.

[@janedoe3085]

@@CinziaDuBois I've never had either and while loss of anything can be painful, I'm sure you have an extraordinary wealth of gifts otherwise.

[@w花b]

Then imagine having aphantasia AND an internal monologue. It's so frustrating.

[@wobblysauce]

Just found out we don't have another thing Anauralia is a term used to describe the absence of auditory imagery, or an inner voice. It's often associated with aphantasia, which is the lack of mental images in thinking or imagination. A 2021 study found that many people who reported having aphantasia also reported having anauralia. The study also found that auditory and visual imagery can dissociate from each other in people with aphantasia and anauralia, respectively. People with aphantasia may use other senses, words, or numbers to process information and store memories. They may also have difficulty with first-person memory, meaning they can recall events but can't visualize them

[@society_for_praising_appli6261]

🎉 Je crois que le « monologue intérieur » est un outil, il peut être récupéré et utilisé, ou non. Un outil qui, une fois utilisé, se pratique donc plus agile. Cependant, cela peut gêner et même devenir difficile à éliminer. C'est à ce moment-là qu'il est plus efficace de sauter ou de redescendre ou encore de s'immerger. Tu veux apprendre le français ? Immersion. Paix 🎉 I believe the "inner monolog" is a tool, it can be picked up and used, or not. A tool that when used gets practiced thus more agile. However it can get in the way and even become hard to shake off. This is when it is more efficient to jump or drop back or up to immersion. Ya wanna learn french? Immersion. Peace

[@Sam_on_YouTube]

I can't picture that experience. I have no words for it.

[@mrchom]

Yes! This is it. This is the explanation I hadn’t had before. I don’t have a monologue…I have concepts of things like objects in programming. Thinking of a person brings up this linked bubble of how they move, their laugh, something they love, the texture of their wallpaper, a thousand things that are them. When I write I get a “future echo” of the words in my head and edit them on the way out. If I think of doing something, like leaving, I get the concept of leaving, not “I should go”

[@DanielW-x4v]

My mind works the same way, internal thoughts are like a tree of linked objects and parameters. I can talk in my head but it's intentional. I never have words just flying around like a thought stream.

[@benjaminatwood]

@@DanielW-x4v no wonder i was bad at object-oriented programming. I stream consciousness, so linear is so much easier for me to comprehend. :D.

[@ezekieldaniels5846]

I get concepts too! And the “future echo” if I’m understanding correctly, sort of like text prediction that’s not fully a thought but I can pick out what I want from it to become a thought

[@Icantchangemyhandlehelp]

I'm glad I have the voice for the sake of immersion in stories, but I'm also jealous at not being able to turn it off and on freely. I feel like the words get in the way sometimes. The core, subconscious, wordless thought would help a lot and be a lot more peaceful. I don't know though, I have ADHD so inner voice or not my mind is always a bit chaotic. Occasionally I do have wordless thoughts and they feel so surreal and magical. I normally think and read EVERYTHING in words.

[@weedling3552]

yeah but thats kind of scary. i feel like i also have that information, but its just in the background. i dont have to formulate all that information. its also there as a concept, like you describe. but then on top of that there is the self, talking to itself, ordering the thoughts and controlling the whole thing. how do you think for example doubt? do you not argue against yourself? when you get the concept of leaving, what tells you what to do with that concept, what makes the higher level decisions?

[@SrSecca]

"Differently than I used to" i vividly remember having a strong "mind's nose and palate" , aka being able to imagine / recall smells and tastes, and I can't anymore. Feel like the mind keeps changing the way of thinking every X years

[@newsaxonyproductions7871]

Very interesting fr

[@TrickVT]

Yes!! I used to be a..."concept thinker", like... instead of having verbal thoughts, it felt as if the abstract thoughts emerged fully formed from The Void of my consciousness, and then I had to translate them into words Now, I'm primarily an Inner Voice thinker, but I still experience Concept Thinking from time to time The brain is a weird machine

[@tornfingertips]

can you imagine different textures? specifically, can you imagine different textures if you imagine licking them?

[@katelillo1932]

This is fascinating!

[@klosnj11]

Okay, your comment just made me test to see if I could still taste and smell with my mind, and I most certainly can. But now I am really hungry, damnnit.

[@jdp3578]

This seems so strange to me. I have an internal monologue. It's just hearing my voice or imagining someone else's voice in my head. You also get images, or entire scenarios in your head. I have realized that people who don't have an internal monologue, talk nonstop, or hum to themselves, etc... like they have to let any thoughts and words just pour out immediately. Not having an internal monologue is just so foreign to me.

[@SeerSnively]

Go one more step, Hank. You are the Unity of all of those Hank bubbles. The flashlight, what it sees, the force holding the flashlight, the physical body that houses it all... it's _all_ you. You are not the orchestra, or any one instrument within, but the song that's always playing.

[@IsuiGtz]

Oh lala mr. poetry right here .🚬🗿

[@mosaic2476]

we contain multitudes ^_^

[@caseys2698]

@@IsuiGtzlalalalallalalalallalalalalalallalalalalalal cigarette im so stoic!! Look at me my face is made of stone! Come on man poetry is a great artform. Why do you have to be sarcastic about it. It’s a nice comment.

[@IsuiGtz]

​@@caseys2698It wasn't sarcastic. It was an observation of how a simple comment on KZbin turned out to be borderline poetry. I'm no stoic. I love poetry. I don't smoke. I'm a woman. Keep telling yourself stories about people you don't know.

[@IsuiGtz]

​@@caseys2698It was a mere observation of how beautiful the comment turned out to be. I'm no stoic. I love poetry. I don't smoke. I am a woman. What else did you find out about me through my comment?

[@jackettech]

"I might just be a collection of 'whatever works'. And like sometimes, 'whatever works' doesn't work that well." Love it. You just described behavioral science in two amazing sentences.

[@simsamsammie]

I gained so much more sympathy for people who struggle to write when I found out not everyone had an internal monologue. In middle school I thought they were just lazy, but now that I know that it's not as simple as writing the words in their head on a page, it makes sense. I'm truly always having a conversation in my head with either myself or an imaginary version of someone I know. That or a song is playing in my head or a phrase someone said in a specific way that's playing on a loop; like my brain is chewing gum.

[@mduckernz]

I have zero internal monologue, but have been considered a skilled and precise writer for nearly ever since I learned to write in the first place. I’m not convinced they have much association with each other to be honest. Maybe it makes it more challenging for some? I could be convinced of that, at least… but I also think that this is a skill they could develop should they choose to.

[@snookerwither9955]

I have songs playing in my head almost constantly! I can even "play" songs in full in my head, if I know them well enough

[@AxiamWolfe]

I wonder if fiction writers traditionally might have a higher ratio of people with internal monologues? The entire concept of penning down a character's thoughts to words, especially the kind that are italicized train of thoughts, are they figurative or literal? As someone with an internal monologue, those italicized texts are indeed what I would be saying to myself at pretty much every juncture.

[@HannahKossen]

I do have an internal monologue and still have a very hard tome finding enough words to write about a prompt i dont care much about.

[@danielmartins6279]

a song !!!.....me too. it's like background music wenn the dialogue stop's music starts. the down side is when the music doesn't stop and you can't get your thoughts together. another down side is when there are no thoughts and no music and you are like waiting in line and you are bored and even actively thinking doesn't stick and you return to silence

[@FunbobbyJ]

I can distinctly remember thinking without a monologue until I was about 10 years old and the idea of having a voice speaking words inside my head was mentioned to me by an adult. I started "hearing" my voice as thoughts after that and I've never been able to change it.

[@sentientlamp]

I have a fairly strong inner monologue. It's also a mimic. For example, recently when I play connections, I internally narrate my thought process in Hank's voice. Also if I've been reading a book with a very distinctive writing style, my inner monologue will adopt that style for a few days.

[@vlogbrothers]

Wild…

[@brandonm5750]

@@vlogbrothers It carries further into how you speak as well. As a lot of the sentences I say in conversations are already thought out, often word for word, in my head as the other person is still talking. Which you have to be careful of, as it can be really easy to focus on what you're essentially "writing" in your head instead of what the other person is saying with thought styles like this. I'd be interested to figure out if people who describe their thoughts like this consequentially are more prone to influence on their speech than those without the internal monologue. As they are basically rehearsing speech of a style in their head all the time.

[@sallyoldford9237]

Yep, mine does that as well. If I listen to too much dear Hank and John my monologue will be in hanks voice for days lol

[@emmakane6848]

This is so interesting because I don’t have an internal monologue normally, but I can develop one while reading first person stories (like John’s). It can either be in my own voice, or one that I imagine for the narrator. Usually depends on how long I have been reading the book, and how much I connect to it.

[@massimocole9689]

YES SAME!

[@dorothykern8537]

One reason I think that I have a hard time remembering people's names is because I just think the feeling of them instead. It's somethings like: Oh man it sucks that {feeling of person} was [feeling of verb]

[@howard5992]

I think I know what you mean. A person's identity is how we experience them as a whole.

[@kindredanastasia]

I may steal this explanation even though it's not true for me... it's an awesome explanation that might excuse how much I suck at names.

[@marsZpants]

+

[@caseys2698]

I’m also bad with names until I know someone well enough, or just something about them or the interaction I had with them or other people, or maybe their name is just memorable- but even with people I know pretty well, anything less than close friends or family I’m not at 100%, like I know someone’s name I’m sure, but don’t want to risk the embarrassment of possibly getting it wrong because my brain just hasn’t like the name hasn’t “clicked” yet? I don’t know if I think of things as feelings primarily, but my emotions are often intense. Anyone who isn’t solidly someone close to me or someone I can’t stand is less than 100% of me being entirely sure about their name. It sucks- I envy people who can remember people’s names the second they meet them. ADHD does what it’s gonna do i guess

[@samneibauer4241]

Yeah, usually when I can't remember someone's name, I can still feel the texture of their name. This is the best I can explain it: What I mean by the texture of their name is the way that the phonetics and ideal image of someone with that name connects to what that person actually looks like and my experiences with that person. For example, when I think of a certain person I know named Lisa, my brain first feels the phonetics of the word "Lisa", which actually lingers longer than the following sensations and kind of reverberating during them, plus the image of that word being written most likely also arises. After the phonetics comes a sort of half-imagining of what I think a person with that name would probably look like, which might just be my brain going through the process of searching for a result of a person I know who has that name. Then my brain flashes one or many images of that person in my imagination, then my feelings of that person arise, then I may get flashes of images or feelings of past experiences with that person. Finally, my brain transitions from conceptualizing the person to how they relate to what's being said about them in the current conversation. That all happens within a split-second every single time.

[@justanoval]

i have 50 internal monologues and images and sounds and feelings and concepts all bouncing around at 500 miles per hour

[@intelligentdonut]

Yes absolutely! (Also hey there) - Same with me except mine is constantly repeating itself in a very annoying manner

[@ThatOneIrishFurry]

omg hit wacky artist justanoval in the vlogbrothers comments section

[@laurabowles]

Same (thanks, ADHD!)

[@silverXnoise]

Yeah, mine is really more of an internal dialogue.

[@Jaggith]

Yup, ADHD is like 5 bands playing over each other at the same time. Or like 7 drivers changin in the drivers seat every second. Might be why i liked Sense8 so much.

[@Warlock-Morlock]

I have ADHD. It's like having the thought bubbles described (many of them), along with variable inner monologuing... all at once, all of the time (except for some of the time).

[@themapleman5089]

As a person with an internal monologue, it took new antidepressants and a lot more time with mindfulness to even realize I HAD thoughts that weren't words. And now, it takes way too much time meditating to convert the not-word thoughts into word-thoughts. When I space out thinking about a not-word thought, if someone pulls me out and asks "What are you thinking about?" I'll say, "I have no idea."

[@scaredyfish]

The thing I found most frustrating about cognitive behavioural therapy was ‘identifying your thoughts’. I would have ideas flash into my head and I would become anxious, but remembering and identifying what that thought was often made me more anxious.

[@tranquil14738]

Antidepressants and other psychotropics kill the inner monologue for some. Did you notice any change in your inner monologue after getting on stuff?

[@themapleman5089]

@@tranquil14738 yes … the bad thoughts went away. And the good monologue took weeks to come back

[@kamikeserpentail3778]

Oh, I just initiate the old internet dial up tone. Not really, but it feels like that's the only correct answer sometimes.

[@V01DIORE]

I despise that they dulled my mind, quietened my internal dialogue. Is it not in effect causing partial aphasia? Even now it feels lesser, I cannot flow words so well as before. Maybe they help people with emotions to certain changeable situations, but if you have a problem with the world itself? I can distract myself in other ways.

[@redtaileddolphin1875]

The thing that always gets me about this conversation is there’s never any room for anyone in the middle. I usually have sticky thought bubbles like hank, but sometimes thoughts that are not meant to be verbalized are yet thought of in complete syntactic sentences

[@newsaxonyproductions7871]

real as heck

[@paulmillcamp]

Honestly I don't know where I fit on the monologue-bubble thought spectrum. But there definitely is room for you! We're all unique and also very similar and beautiful.

[@YvonTripper]

I imagine there is a whole spectrum. I have a constant internal monologue but I don't think the word "ouch" when I stub my toe, when I'm tired or rushed I often say things that weren't in the monologue, and so on.

[@theghost9667]

Same

[@DanteCourtney]

Yeah, I can think both ways. It’s also very easy for me to switch between internal monologue and more expressively

[@wizard-lizard]

A monologue feels like breathing, where mostly I go in and out of it as necessary but once I'm consciously thinking about it it's hard to stop thinking in words, so now I'm stuck for the rest of the day lol

[@LGranado-pj6nb]

relatable

[@justinhageman1379]

Same lol. Another weird thing every now and then when I’m thinking I see the words I’m thinking in my head as white impact font text on a black background

[@acorn861]

aaaand now im breathing manually… thanks lol

[@EmeralBookwise]

For me stopping that inner monologue is more like holding my breath. I can force myself to do it, but not for very long. Although sometimes I also experience gaps in my consciousness, like my brain just shuts down briefly while my body keeps going on autopilot. I might be walking down the street, only to suddenly find myself already at the end of the block as if I'd just skipped over the time it took to get there. Which can be kinda frightening when I wonder if my autopilot was even aware enough to watch out for traffic.

[@Gatorboy5678]

I was like “uh huh uh huh” and then he said something about a flashlight and then I could understand Daffy Duck speaking Spanish better than that.

[@eline_plug]

I contributed the fact that I don't have an inner monologue to me being dyslexic. Like Einstein, who was dyslexic, perfectly said: “I very rarely think in words at all. A thought comes, and I may try to express in words afterwards.” This has always resonated with me so much! Seems similar to you saying "I think in thoughts." Also your quote: "It is work for me to say all the words to convey the thought" really hit home! This is my daily struggle, but I love my dyslexic brain.

[@Themissgee1234]

Interesting!! My partner is dyslexic but has an inner monologue!

[@eline_plug]

@ ah so maybe it’s not related then 🤔😊

[@sloops09]

​@@Themissgee1234 same here, I have dyslexia and have a very active inner monologue

[@mysticzebra5421]

I also have an inner monolog and dyslexia

[@eline_plug]

@@mysticzebra5421 haha whelp there goes my theory 😂 it was fun while it lasted 🤭

[@mazennassef6623]

I’m actually so happy to find someone else who both had an internal monologue at some point and didn’t have an internal monologue at some point. people always talk about it as if your either born with an internal monologue or born without one and that it can’t change. I also SOMETIMES have an internal monologue and sometimes I just don’t, and I stay in whatever state I’m in for like a month at a time. out of the two though I prefer thinking without an internal monologue, because it’s much faster. you don’t have to stop and turn everything into words you can skip past with only impressions of the general idea and get stuff done much faster

[@jennamathews7506]

That’s so interesting. I prefer a constant jibber jabbering internal monologue. I have ADHD and when they put me on meds for it, my internal monologue disappeared entirely and I forgot how to talk to people because I wasn’t constantly verbalizing thoughts in my head. I got off the meds. I couldn’t deal with such a stark change. It got rid of the pictures in my head too and the songs I was used to having there for background ambiance. I dunno if that is the intended effect of the meds or if I was on too high a dose.

[@SteveFasano]

Oh my God! You just helped me out tremendously! I have been having all of this anxiety lately because just within the past few years I've noticed that I went from inner monologue thought to non-inner monologue thought. I've been concerned that I did something to alter my brain chemistry and wasn't sure if it was positive or not, or whether I damaged my intellect in some way. Just the idea that someone else has gone through that same transition and articulates it the same way reassures me that I'm not uniquely affected by this. Anyway, I just appreciate the video and the reassurance it brought me!

[@albertlassiter8608]

Reading this comment section has been a fascinating experience, reading about how different people interact with and experience the world around and within themselves. It can be helpful to know we are not alone. Personally I know someone whose inner monologue stopped after a TBI (though they were able to build part of it back, iirc) and now others whose minds have simply shifted over time. It is so cool to see how the mind can develop and adapt in so many different ways

[@Damogen]

I can further reassure you then. I constantly switch between different ways of thinking, depending on what I'm thinking about. If I'm thinking of a technical problem (I'm an engineer), then I am thinking in completely abstract concepts, no words, no images. If I'm thinking about a physical project, I am going to make, like building a shed in the garden, then I will think in images, which can be quite vivid. If I'm thinking about something I need to do together with other people then I will have internal monologue. Though sometimes, if it is a difficult task, I have to first think about it in one of the other ways, and then afterwards try and translate it to words. Which can actually be super difficult. Oh, and I'm fluent in two languages, so my inner monologue changes language depending on which person the thought is related to.

[@Damogen]

btw. I fully agree with Hank that the non-monologue thinking is much more efficient. So I would say that your change is a sign of growth.

[@clownkid]

I also experienced this, and I was worried that I had injured my brain since it began after I started using marijuana and dissociating a lot during normal activities like cleaning, showering, and gaming. It is relieving to find out that others have experienced this too - it feels impossible to explain, but I think Hank did a great job doing so.

[@nathanfey3852]

this is my exact experience also

[@captainnerd6452]

"Know thyself". Unfortunately according to Gödel you can't fully know yourself because any system can't contain all the information about the system within itself.

[@Carewolf]

I have both. I mostly use internal monologue to imagine conversations, or to try to simplify concepts into words.

[@georgiawilksch5708]

Im also very both, I find I think very visually, and conceptually, so I find the “internal dialog” is me trying to condense down my actual thoughts into a communicative way. I’m also big on verbal processing, so I think I’ve internalise this when I don’t have anyone to talk to.

[@Léon-x3c]

I’m the opposite, I conceptualize and abstract things that cannot be put into words simply. I speak many languages and it made me realize a lot of ideas don’t have a word for them.

[@yoketah]

Yeah, I thought this was normal? Like, I'm not thinking novels in my head all the time, but sometimes I do and sometimes I don't think in full sentences. Mostly it's more concepts. One of the hardest things about speaking Japanese in the beginning was having to think out the entire sentence in English first, then translate it to Japanese. Now I "think in Japanese" but what that actually means is I have a concept of what I should say and the Japanese words just flow out. I'm not thinking in my head in Japanese. But sometimes I definitely will when I need to do deep thinking. And I can definitely internally monologue in my mind at will whenever I'd like, so I'm not really understanding how it is these 2 sides are thinking.

[@mrridikilis]

i'm confused! isn't an internal monologue more like thinking the words "is this right?" or "that's an interesting car." some have even described it has feeding ideas to you, almost as if you're the listener and not the speaker. i definitely can relate to your imagining conversations, but that sounds more like a one-sided dialog, but not a monologue. i have these kinds of conversations constantly; but i'm just giving one side of an argument. or, maybe i'm almost giving a kind of 'lecture' about a topic or solutiong i'm trying to work out in my head. but, i never considered this an internal "monologue." any thoughts?

[@Carewolf]

@@mrridikilis I have a common internal monologue that is basically an interview that asks me to explain what is happening or my reasoning.

[@Grab_001]

Sucks having Aphantasia. Learning that people have an ACTUAL HAPPY PLACE that they can just CONJUR in their minds was devestating to me. It's like a super power from my perspective.

[@Evelina_412]

There's pros and cons. We can picture nice, comforting things, but we also picture gross and sad things, and we can't always control it. I saw a run over cat on the road the other day and when I think about it, the image pops up in my head. It's nasty.

[@TheLissame]

I am with you on this but I am also grateful for it because at least I don't get random image flash backs from past trauma

[@slime_camp]

I was trying EMDR therapy and like one of the first things they have you do is imagine a happy place and I just couldn’t. I think my therapist thought i was just being difficult, but no, I can’t do it.

[@retu3510]

You would think people use it all the time, but most don't and need to learn that conjuring of a save place in therapy. Like I have great sexual fantasies, but everyone else seems not to use it for that, which I don't get.

[@durdleduc8520]

to be fair, i don't have aphantasia and "imagining a happy place" doesn't work for me. it depends on the person a lot obviously, but the idea that we can just conjure up Positive Thoughts whenever we want is blatantly incorrect and bordering on weirdly ableist lmfao.

[@_-luke-_]

I always struggled in class whenever teachers would tell us to "write our stream of consciousness" because I lack an internal monologue. Years later I found out other people actually have a voice in their heads and it's not just a saying lmao

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

I'm not sure why that would be a problem, you just skip the part where it's in your head. Or at least that's what I always did.

[@TheValerieMeachum]

​@@SmallSpoonBrigadeBut if you don't have an internal monologue, your "stream of consciousness" isn't words and can't be written down. I ended up turning it into an exercise in just picking the first words that kindasorta communicated something vaguely approximating the thought, instead of my usual hunt for the words that will get as close to carrying the full meaning as possible.

[@Leau03]

​@@SmallSpoonBrigade thats so wild to me, how would you even write something without thinking the words first? I cannot for the life of me imagine thinking without words and sentences

[@emmakane6848]

@Leau03 So if I want to think in words/numbers I imagine big white/grey block letters in a black void. Otherwise it feels the same as having a conversation and not knowing what words you’re gonna say next. (Except inside my own head, without ‘narrating’ my experience of the world.) I can think about my conception of a given subject - being a collection of memories and knowledge related to it - and then try to fit it into words as I write it down.

[@Leau03]

​@@emmakane6848interesting! When thinking in words, I don't see the words (I also think I have aphantasia to some degree), but I feel like I hear them on like an abstract level. My internal monologue also isn't exactly a narration of my experience of the world, I would say, its more like a constant conversation with myself. I do also have more abstract concepts when thinking of my idea of a subject, but when I actually start thinking more deeply about a subject I do that in words/sentences only, most of the time

[@myleswillis]

It's usually an actor or musician I like, ones that have passed on. Sitting on a chair or coming over to the desk and asking about things I'm working on. I'm "teaching" them how to do things, and I think this reinforces my own understanding of these things.

[@piperaislinn2511]

The fact that you used to have an inner monologue and now you don't gives me hope that one day I'll be able to escape the barrage of words in my head. I always have words going on in there. I don't think I always fully think out every thought as a sentence, sometimes I become aware of a partial sentence that I thought and I know what the rest of the idea is without "saying" all the words, and then I'll make myself think through the words for no reason?? And then I also practice how I would say my thoughts to other people internally even tho I could just have the thought without words. It feels like an obsessive habit rather than a necessary part of thinking sometimes.

[@FellowLee]

+

[@yfrit_gg]

Out of curiosity, do you have any mental diagnoses or suspicions thereof? This sounds to me like a control behaviour that's not entirely foreign to me (with autism and adhd), and which I suspect probably arose out of an incessant checking myself to try to learn to correct for the things I was bad at that most people somehow seemed to manage just fine. Wondering if that might be recognizable to you!

[@bobboberson8297]

same, it's so distracting for me sometimes. like if I'm trying to read or write something, I have to completely verbalize all of my thoughts and it's really hard to tell my brain no. if I could just experience the thoughts without having to then also put the thoughts into words it would save me so much time

[@ChespinCraft]

omg ive never heard someone else talk about this but i experience it all the time. its like my brain has the components to finish the thought without needing to talk it through but i end up forcing myself to do it, and often repeat it several times to get the right tone even though its just me in there and i already know what i mean.

[@nikitabuzdygar5771]

Okay, so now i see that there's a lot more people who also struggle with this...

[@um2913]

That’s so crazy that you had an internal monologue but no longer have it. That’s just so wild for me as someone with an internal monologue

[@IsuiGtz]

Exactly the same happened to me growing up.

[@Meloncov]

I've got one some of the time. If I'm trying to think through a linear problem, or focus on a particular detail, my thoughts become much more language-oriented.

[@NihongoWakannai]

People who think with words seem crazy to me. It's so inefficient. A thought that would take 0.1s takes 10s to say in words.

[@bitescratchkill6849]

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@NihongoWakannai dude the idea of thinking wordlessly all the time exhausts me it's crazy to me that people are like that and are just.. chill about it 😭 i'm obv an internal monologue haver but i've had those wordless thoughts many times before and like.. idk i guess the speed of them is just super tiring if you're not used to it lmao. personally the slowness and the more like.. concrete nature of the monologue is a massive help in detangling complex problems so it's really difficult for me to imagine doing that sorta stuff without one 😵‍💫

[@yfrit_gg]

​@@NihongoWakannaiI mean it obviously doesn't really work like that because then there'd be a direct correlation between the processing speed of people with an internal monologue vs people without, and that's not the case. It's not really an 'I think in words' and more 'I hear myself thinking words that correspond to the thoughts' and if the thought skips, changes subjects, whatever, then the words just up and change or vanish with it. It's very non-committal, and at least for me it's at best in partial sentences, certainly nowhere near eloquent and fully thought through as much as they're just half-formed sentences usually in a generally sensible order, but nowhere near fully manifest.

[@everydayengineering817]

5:30 - I have a very strong inner monologue and your video prompted me to do some quick research about it. Apparently it develops in early childhood in about 30-50% of people to help develop language skills and recite information.

[@itskdog]

+

[@erinm9445]

Interesting! That's a lower percentage than I would have guessed. Also makes me wonder how much less common inner monologues may be in communities or cultures with less formal schooling and education.

[@stardust-reverie]

this makes sense to me as a professional yapologist

[@everydayengineering817]

@@erinm9445 Based on my understanding the development of the inner monologue occurs during the verbal phase of development which is before children go to pre-school. Therefore I would suspect similar numbers in societies with complex verbal communication. Although as an engineer I am always suspicious when I don't see the pareto split of 80:20. Usually under further investigation systems trend towards 80:20 in my experience. Systems that don't trend to 80:20 usually have external forces that are skewing the results. The external force here could be the preparation of children by their parents to enter the school system.

[@Zaina_Anas]

I used to have one in elementary school but dont anymore

[@Smichiwerbenjaggermanjensen]

When I think about "John Green" I see the image and I also have an internal voice that says "John Green". My inner monologue is also multilingual - in English, in my native language and other dialects from my region.

[@andrewhardwick4480]

“I think in thoughts” thank you for putting it so

[@johnbachner9901]

THANK YOU! Just like you, I used to have a constant flood of dialogue pouring through my head. I would find myself speaking to myself when I was alone. Talking myself through problems wasn't something I chose to do, but rather a natural process like visualizing an image. A difference between you and I (I suspect), is that since late adolescence I have struggled with substance abuse to an extreme degree. Now I, in my early to mid 20s, also process information in a subconscious way by default. I whole-heartedly believed I gave myself brain damage, altering the very foundation of my lived experience irreparably. Its a freaky concept, thinking you injured yourself, not physically, but almost spiritually. I thought I killed my soul. You are someone I respect, not only intellectually but as a entertaining, funny, likeable human. Thank you for giving me hope that I'm not as broken as I suspected. I realize this comes across as perhaps an overreaction, but your video truly made me feel normal.

[@musicaccount3340]

I feel for you, cause I also struggled and often think about whether something is just hard for me, or if I made myself less abled by poisoning my brain. Whether you broke something or not, humans are always imperfect and it's not like you can go back and change your decisions. All you can do is be happy with lessons learned and what you have now, and try to make the most of it. You're probably a lot more functional than so many people on this planet, don't be too hard on yourself.

[@MrAddex]

I actually did this deliberately, because I was always like "I've already thought the concept, and now my inner monologue struggles to put it into words sufficiently" And it would make me stutter within my own thought process, stuck on finding words, repeating things over and over again. And I was like "Why do I do this to myself" And so I started just moving on whenever I'd stutter like "I know what I'm thinking, I don't need the words". and with time that just became my new normal. Minds are weird in a multitude of ways, embrace the weirdness, don't be scared of it :)

[@snowwonder9814]

Anyone else a mix of internal monologue and images? My thoughts are a like dialogue with myself with random images constantly thrown in. I actually enjoy fiction writing as a hobby, and when I write scenes they basically play out like movies in my head, with audio and visuals… which I then essentially “transcribe.” I’ll do things like pause the scene in my head to write down what I saw play out. When I’m done, I’ll read what I wrote, and start playing it out again, modifying the scene if I don’t quick like how it plays out on “rewatch.” Similarly, books play out like movies in my head and I can have memories of visuals my brain conjured from the words of a book, the same way I can remember an actual image I saw.

[@zact5577]

This is exactly me, I have a pretty loud inner monologue but I also (particularly when I’m in bed or just with my eyes closed) can have really strong visual images that pop up like movies. Sometimes I’ll be listening to a song and just be watching a movie in my head as if the song was just backing the visuals. But when I’m thinking more practically about a concept that isn’t visual, or I’m mentally breaking down a situation in my life it is pretty much all inner monologue as if I’m having a discussion with myself about it. I’ve also just realised that this is why I struggle getting through fiction novels, as much as I enjoy it, I am constantly getting distracted by my inner monologue or visualising what’s going on in my head like a movie, often times imagining how I would continue the passage/ story without actually continuing to read it and I have to focus really hard to get through the pages at any reasonable speed which gets exhausting, even if I’m listening to an audiobook I find myself constantly pausing it and continuing it in my head through monologue and/visuals and if I don’t I end up missing what comes next as I’m still thinking about before.

[@sylviagiselle_]

This!!! This is exactly how my mind works. It is largely a mix of words and images that vary in vibrancy and importance depending on the situation. When I write my fiction, I will play out a scene and imagine how the characters would interact, and just like you I will pause these scene in my mind so that I focus on the transcript of what the characters are saying. Same thing when I am going over memories, I can seen scene happen and also the inner monologue I have on that certain event.

[@iamnobody2]

no, but i have a fairly strong inner monologue and a very strong mind's radio. i can hear stephen king telling me a story when i read a story, or i can call up music i'm familar with

[@Cakingit213]

I’m like this but extra. I’m not just watching the movie, I’m in the movie and the movie is real, the emotions and everything.

[@SophiiLuca]

yes! my thoughts are mostly images, feelings and concepts and only when I have to convey them or understand them, do they turn into words. It’s also partly the reason it is so hard for me to learn a language, because I cannot for the life of me remember the word, but rather what the word conveys. The word comes to the tip of my tongue but I’m unable to find it. I also struggle really bad with nonfiction books because it is all just a bunch of words. They have no story to tell, so I am completely unable to see it as a movie in my head, which is my primary form of remembrance and memory.

[@jackbrasesco2949]

When you say bubble to describe your thoughts, do you really see a bubble as a picture in your mind?

[@Rannulfus]

Having an internal monologue is like talking to yourself without using any truly verbal means. It's a voice. Yours, but separate. Ideas are presented with words and the understanding of what those words represent, exactly in the same way that conversations are had. It's interesting to hear that people don't have this means of thinking, but to attempt to understand the idea of having a conversation with yourself without words is something that's personally a little difficult for me to grasp, especially considering that I've always considered it a prerequisite to having the ability to hold verbal or linguistic conversation with others. Like "you must be able to run the simulation before putting the performance into practice". I still consider what you do some form of "conversation", simply a nonverbal one, which we obviously know is possible interpersonally. Interesting how the same organ, that being the brain, can have multiple ways of achieving the same results.

[@MasterpieceCollection]

Just realized this is why Hank is so good at connections

[@unvergebeneid]

You don't know that.

[@MasterpieceCollection]

@ you right

[@EStewart573]

Maybe, but as he said in the video, the way his brain interacts with thoughts has clearly changed as time goes on Like, for me, I'd call the way my thoughts present themselves as an internal monologue, but then, I can't actually confirm whether that internal monologue existed before I had a desire to analyse or express those thoughts. I doubt this is necessarily part of why Hank is so good at science communication. It's really hard to talk about this 😅

[@skylerwitherspoon]

"brain bubble" is definitely going to enter my vocabulary now

[@newsaxonyproductions7871]

same lol

[@ZombiesOhMyGod]

This was so incomprehensible it made my internal monologue, a constant voice I hear in my head that voices my every thought and every word I read that literally never shuts up ever, be quiet for a few moments in confusion, so thanks I guess???

[@briank2633]

As someone with an internal monologue, it feels like one hemisphere of my brain is constantly trying to explain what I am thinking to the other in a similar way that you explain your thoughts verbally to us. On a strange note, back when I was recovering from my first covid shot, I woke up to two internal monologues that were talking over each other about different things at once. It was about as productive as a conversation where two people talk over each other too.

[@SageThyme23]

The metaphor of my brain explaining to the other part of my brain what my brain is thinking about feels very accurate

[@oddtomato1049]

I just feel like I am my brain, and don't need to explain anything to myself. I just 'know' there is a thought 'I' made, and understand it.

[@IsuiGtz]

It was Bill Gates trying to sync up with your brian through the new 5G towers.

[@TiggerIsMyCat]

Oof. I used to argue with myself (I externalized it as my imaginary friend, who actually was a character from Captain Planet), but that's a whole other level. Damn.

[@ballman2010]

Yeah. I'm usually kind of always internally explaining things to a person who isn't there. I imagine I lean a little too close, my hair is unkempt and my eyes are wild

[@ultimatepotato713]

I'm usually quite adamant about having an internal monologue, but the more I think about it, the more I realize I kind of have both. Like a thought will be delivered to me as a bunch of words all stacked on top of one another and I'll instantly understand what I'm thinking, but then I think them back to myself word by word. I don't uncover my thoughts one word at a time the way you reading this are uncovering the information word by word. Rather, I get the "understanding" in an instant and then spread it out to make it clear. Maybe that's how everyone's internal monologue is?

[@eightthirtyeight]

This is a FANTASTIC description!

[@embodythejotun]

Yeah that's me too. Mix of just thoughts and internal monologue, not 100% one or the other.

[@ElpSmith]

That’s not how mine is. I hear my own voice in my head talking

[@piccalillipit9211]

Yeah - do you rearrange the pile of words to make the best monologue as if you were writing a story? Kinda put them in both the most understandable way and the nicest sounding way? I do - you probably guessed that

[@ultimatepotato713]

@@ElpSmith I hear my own voice too, but in the order I described. It's very weird.

[@strawbearie9469]

i have an internal monologue, but i am also terrible at communicating. it’s like thinking is knowing how to drive and the act itself of driving, but communicating thoughts is like trying to give someone directions to a place you grew up going to, but they have never been to the area before.

[@emilyk5003]

Me too! I think thinking is kind of like taking photos on your phone and communicating is taking photos with a single roll of film. You get used to taking 5 different angles of a silly looking tree so having to consciously decide what to photograph and how to photograph it is overwhelming.

[@EggBastion]

that's not a bad analogy

[@fantakilla1]

THIS

[@transcyberism1459]

Hey I'm someone you might call a "plural system" meaning that I have a lot of different dissociated parts that feel like entirely different people and I relate really strongly to basically all of how you describe yourself, BUT I also have about 9 different "internal monologues" that all tend to either talk over each other or directly argue with each other, and I don't have a good handle on which one is "me"! Idk if that means anything but yeah

[@bluesdjben]

It seems like the internal monologue thing is framed as you either have it or you don't, when most people are somewhere in between (seems like a familiar pattern we see in all sorts of discussions in society!) So people are either like, "Wait, you NEVER have words in your brain? How do you think?" or "Wait, your brain is just 100% words, that sounds stressful!" I'm definitely on the side of having an internal monologue, but I also do plenty of thinking in images and concepts. I am usually trying to clarify and express my thoughts as if I was going to speak them or write them down, so much of the time I think with an internal monologue that is taking the images and concepts and weaves them into coherent sentences. This helps me remember things and have a better idea of how to express things if I do want to tell someone else about them later. But there are some cases where I need to think more quickly than I can synthesize the images and concepts into words, like when I'm playing a game or performing a physical task, and then I'll just let the images and concepts do their thing and act accordingly so I can focus on inputs and reactions rather than taking the time to clearly state my thoughts. We're often thinking on multiple levels at the same time, from sensory input, to action and reaction, to communication, so we can have a mixture of different types of thinking at the same time, and it just depends what we are focused on at a given moment. Like if my thinking was a piece of music, the melody would be my internal monologue, the beat would be my reaction to sensory input, the rhythm would be my actions and reactions to things, and the harmonies would be the images and concepts that are floating around and making connections but don't quite get fully expressed in my inner monologue unless I decide to focus on them, but it's all still one big related bunch of things that my brain is making happen together in order to help me function.

[@alfombra1054]

YOOO THAT'S CRAZY THAT'S EXACTLY HOW I FELT ABOUT THIS. Thanks for sharing, I was somehow feeling insecure about not fitting into one of the two boxes of *thought processes* . The internet is wild.

[@thewitchhh_]

+

[@sarabills4890]

The comparison to music of how you experience thoughts is a beautiful way to express it!

[@youngbloodbear9662]

This is a great way of putting it. For me it's painfully difficult to have a consciously expressed thought that isn't either explicit language or a visualization (or both) but obviously just doing any action carries out a usually unexpressed intention automatically... its strange

[@NoahCochran-x3e]

My hot take: This video speaks to what is foundational to the field of psychology, particularly social psychology. This is the areas, more or less, of Vygotsky, Volosinov, James, Billig, Hermans, Bertau and many others. From my understanding, i think he is addressing the notion of how the "self" is constructed, and he seems to be approaching a dialogical approach that emphasizes language activity, i.e. a co-constituted bidirectional communicative reality that constitutes the psychological plane/dimension of self. I don't think language (self talk) can be completely absent because it co-arises with thought (images, memories, feelings, etc.) which takes place prior to articulation, which, if what is said is internally and externally coherent, then some degree of inner speech must take place. The inner speech could, in theory, remain below the threshold of awareness, but its complete absence isn't logical.

[@dothingsbad2]

I'm not super clever but I'm pretty sure a lot of my insights that others have occasionally found clever can be put down to having absolutely zero internal monologue to slow me down or be tied down to. I end up resorting to weird vocabulary and metaphors when I can't think of what the words are for things and this leads, necessarily, to thinking outside the box. I have a lot of thoughts in my life I've still not found words for. Blessing and a curse. Equally, I'm often blown away by how other people find such useful ways of saying things and blown away by how effortless they make it look! I think the world absolutely needs a full spectrum of this because while we probably don't think too differently on a grand scale (the null hypothesis would be we're just experiencing the output a little differently) but it's enough difference to add diversity and value.

[@daivboveri]

5:19 - "I'm fine physicaly," he says, despite the fact his nose was dripping for the first half of the video

[@mcheezy]

I don't have an internal monologue. Didn't even know it was a thing until my adult years

[@kawnah3519]

I wonder if it’s more peaceful that

[@Blherrou]

2:23 Interesting thing about minds thinking about themselves: it turns out that meditation is a very powerful tool for understanding consciousness. You're doing basically an attentional trick where you notice things - like thoughts arising in your mind - in a way that *thinking* about them does not let you notice.

[@rentaspoon219]

I wish I didn't have an internal monologue, the silence would be a blessing

[@the_sockdolager]

You and me both

[@jpe1]

Practice mindfulness meditation and you can learn to silence your internal monologue. I recommend “Waking Up” by Sam Harris.

[@Conor1_23]

idk I kinda like it

[@the_sockdolager]

@@jpe1 I have kids, mindful meditation hasn't been an option for a while🤣

[@jpe1]

@ children can learn to meditate as well as adults, there are even guided meditations designed specifically for children.

[@HollyOly]

A therapist and I once decided on intentional internal monologues instead of things like meditation or “talking to my inner child.” So, I do it on purpose from time to time. It’s actually really grounding for me. Sometimes, like after I wake up from dreams, solutions to problems are suddenly there (which makes it great motivation to do it!)

[@mat_name_whatever]

That's really interesting - do you have to intentionally keep it up or does it become automatic after a while?

[@HollyOly]

Because I am ADHD, I have to intentionally do it for a little while to kickstart a routine (hence pairing it with an automatic activity). I’ll do it habitually for a while then get distracted by shiny objects and forget for a while. It’s definitely easier and more intuitive the more I do it, so I don’t beat myself up for forgetting, but I do cheer when I remember how simple it is to access that big payoff!

[@mat_name_whatever]

@@HollyOly thank you for the insight. I also have AD(H)D and no internal monologue, so it's a really interesting idea for me. What is the monologue you start intentionally about? The thing at hand (shopping, laundry, whatever) or something more removed from the now?

[@HollyOly]

@@mat_name_whatever It depends. Lately, I just let my “inner child” opine. Generally, it’s anything I might journal (if I got off my duff for a writing implement), just in a conversational format. Like listing the things for which I’m grateful or reflecting on how I feel or “talking out” a problem.

[@mat_name_whatever]

@HollyOly interesting. I'll actually try that. Thank you for sharing :)

[@mspooner]

I'm pretty sure I have undiagnosed ADHD. As an afab person, the constant internal word thoughts, the spinning internal monologue is exhausting and can be distracting. The best way to derail this internal monologue is either A Particular Plant Substance or someone else feeding me streams of language to focus on........uuunnttiilll I get distracted. I know having an internal monologue is part of my creative writing skill. I also rate about a 3 on the apple visualization scale.

[@chatterboxxtvv]

As a transfem with diagnosed ADHD, a mood disorder, and a Dissociative disorder, this fully tracks! Derailing the internal monologue honestly just sounds like a really cool metaphor for dissociating to me! (Which can be positive or negative, depending on context)*

[@mspooner]

@chatterboxxtvv oh no!! I've done dissociating and that wasn't fun, nor did it make the inner monologue quiet

[@NishchalChandna1024]

Re the bit about you being various parts: A field of psychotherapy that's based on this idea is IFS, which is about treating different subsystems in your brain as different personalities. It has bits that I found weird/unhelpful, but overall really helped me fight internal disharmony. A metaphor I like to use is I (as in the full me) am a van, where the body is the vehicle, and the occupants are different aspects of my mind. Some of them are prone to throwing a tantrum when their needs aren't met, some of them *really* like driving (read control), others are constantly trying to mediate the bickering and get consensus, while some sit quietly in the back rolling their eyes at most conversations. But ultimately most of them actually want to help me, they just react in unhelpful ways when they feel like they aren't being listened to. For how this relates to the topic of this video: my thoughts are represented not just by a singular internal monologue, but an actual conversation between these different aspects. And more. Some of these subsystems really like the sound of their voice, so they're over represented in the internal word-based thoughts, but others think in more abstract ways (images, logic, even music/sound). Having all these aspects work together is how I can correct myself when I make an assumption that doesn't hold, for example. I think you can use this sort of model (with different weights attached to different aspects of the subsystem) to characterize everyone's internal thought mechanism, with some folks having the gain on the microphone turned all the way down.

[@revlarmilion9574]

It's more of a bus. Remember the parts that don't say anything, like the one that keeps your heart beating. Just because you can't hear it doesn't mean it's not a chunk of brain doing thinking

[@jennamathews7506]

This. My thoughts are me and like 6-10 other people all trying to work together. We’ve been getting better at it!

[@nikitabuzdygar5771]

- We are loud and disorganised? - yes... But We are still moving!

[@jzmc7562]

I have a very strong internal monologue, and so thinking for me is an extremely similar mental action to speaking just a lot faster and without the mouth movements. This also results in me talking to my self often without even realizing.

[@leannagreenberg5165]

Watching as Hank discovers Internal Family Systems Theory. (And also explores aspects of organization of experience that somatic psychotherapists have been nerding about about for a while now...) - Welcome, Hank!

[@mostlyvoid.partiallystars]

IFS is really neat 😊

[@IanMoriarty0]

Totally this. Also, it's entertaining to expand the concepts of IFS to the metacognition of individual experience, that *how* we think can shift over time as much as what we think.

[@frogface9699]

OMG I'm autistic and I've always struggled explaining the way I think and why it's hard for me to put things into words. And you just explained it perfectly!!!! Now I'm realizing that maybe I don't have an inner monologue 😂 I always say that my thoughts are not like a stream of words but rather abstract concepts floating in my mind and connected through patterns. So it's always hard when I have to put words into something because I have to "grab" those concepts floating in my mind and "translate" them into words...