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1992

Abstract

ou think, do you hear your own voice in your head? Like, do you listen to yourself talking?”</p><p id="4fb3">“What? No. I don’t do that.”</p><p id="f0db">“You mean, there’s no voice in your head? You don’t hear yourself as if you’d speak out loud, but in your head?”</p><p id="71d6">“No, why? Do you?”</p><p id="d925">That was a surprise. Like, if she doesn’t hear her voice, how does she know what she’s thinking?</p><p id="659b">“How do you think then?”</p><p id="0889">“I see stuff. Like when I think about grocery shopping, I see the fridge wide open. I look at what’s missing.”</p><p id="e882">I was stunned, my chin dangling from my neck. She asked me how I think and I explained to her that I think like talking to my self in my head, like I’m reading myself a book. She only replied with “that sounds noisy”.</p><h1 id="3d40">Try to think about “nothing”</h1><p id="fa9f">This whole epiphany gave me another closure: Sometimes at night, we’d lie awake. For her, one of the most relaxing things there is to “think about literally nothing”, utter silence. Just like that.</p><p id="6929">She always wondered when I told her that I can’t do that. I’m always thinking about something. When my mind can’t think about something important, it starts drifting off, imagining the most ridiculous stuff, just to not allow me this precious silence.</p><p id="fb22">I can think in images. I can imagine a red car driving on a lone desert road. I can imagine the sound of the roaring engine. I can “think visually”. What I can’t do, however, is suppressing the constant commentary of my inner voice.</p><p id="e1c4">Now that I learned, that my case is not normal for every single human out there, it has put my thinking into an entirely new perspective.</p><p id="e328">So, what do you think? And more importantly: <b><i>How </i></b>do you think?</p><p id="1447">Thank you for reading!</p><p id="a68d"><b><i>Kevin is an editor and writer for the <a href="https://medium.com/illumination">ILLUMINAT

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ION</a> publication. Follow him on <a href="https://twitter.com/KBuddaeus">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-budd%C3%A4us-692869198/">LinkedIn</a>.</i></b></p><div id="14ae" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/how-i-used-the-art-of-war-to-grow-personally-98d146dd37e3"> <div> <div> <h2>How I Used “The Art of War” To Grow Personally</h2> <div><h3>15 Teachings That Changed My Way Of Thinking</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*u7nQUNnU00q-Liwe_-AbeQ.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="3bc9" class="link-block"> <a href="https://byrslf.co/love-can-find-you-in-the-strangest-of-places-ec662a208982"> <div> <div> <h2>Love can find you in the strangest of places</h2> <div><h3>Don’t try to find it — let it find you instead</h3></div> <div><p>byrslf.co</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*ovtdaZAktNNqeQY2D16Ggg.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="2d94" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/our-gift-today-fe26d1d381c6"> <div> <div> <h2>Our Gift Today</h2> <div><h3>Enjoy the content created by ILLUMINATION writers</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*npPqn6ci6mD0EhBmK4MBKA.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

The Crazy Secret About The Way We Think

I was surprised to learn about this little detail

If you “think”, what is it exactly you do? Do you hear your own voice in your head, leading a monologue?

About a quarter of you will answer “yes”. Congratulations, you are just like me. But the rest will answer with “no” instead.

And that is what baffled me when I first learned about it. There are two types of thinkers out there.

A clear voice, talking to yourself

or a vivid image, “show, don’t tell”

This phenomenon was first explained in this article from psychology today, back in 2011.

I stumbled upon it sometime last year. And it was some sort of epiphany. Not all of us have this inner monologue. Some of us think in images and emotions instead. There’s no voice in their head saying “I have to pee”, instead they see a memory of their porcelain throne, waiting for them.

I have always thought that this inner voice, hearing yourself, that’s how we all think. That’s the only way this works. Every one of us would talk to himself in their mind, about this and that.

Fact-checking with my wife

So after reading this (and honestly believing that it’s nonsense) I casually turned to my wife.

“Hey, tell me. When you think, do you hear your own voice in your head? Like, do you listen to yourself talking?”

“What? No. I don’t do that.”

“You mean, there’s no voice in your head? You don’t hear yourself as if you’d speak out loud, but in your head?”

“No, why? Do you?”

That was a surprise. Like, if she doesn’t hear her voice, how does she know what she’s thinking?

“How do you think then?”

“I see stuff. Like when I think about grocery shopping, I see the fridge wide open. I look at what’s missing.”

I was stunned, my chin dangling from my neck. She asked me how I think and I explained to her that I think like talking to my self in my head, like I’m reading myself a book. She only replied with “that sounds noisy”.

Try to think about “nothing”

This whole epiphany gave me another closure: Sometimes at night, we’d lie awake. For her, one of the most relaxing things there is to “think about literally nothing”, utter silence. Just like that.

She always wondered when I told her that I can’t do that. I’m always thinking about something. When my mind can’t think about something important, it starts drifting off, imagining the most ridiculous stuff, just to not allow me this precious silence.

I can think in images. I can imagine a red car driving on a lone desert road. I can imagine the sound of the roaring engine. I can “think visually”. What I can’t do, however, is suppressing the constant commentary of my inner voice.

Now that I learned, that my case is not normal for every single human out there, it has put my thinking into an entirely new perspective.

So, what do you think? And more importantly: How do you think?

Thank you for reading!

Kevin is an editor and writer for the ILLUMINATION publication. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.