this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2025
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As per title, I am curious. How does your mind / your thoughts work? I only ever experienced my own thoughts, so I'm curious how it works for other people.

I for one feel like my thoughts sometimes are like me talking to myself silently. Sometimes I can even let out a random short sound, which I've come to start disguising by laughing kinda quietly or coughing or whatever. Like it was part of something, and not like an inner monologue almost leaking out.

So, how do your thoughts work?

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[โ€“] Tudsamfa@lemmy.world 5 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

I'm in the "inner monologue" camp. Most of what I think materialises as thought words. I don't have to move anything in my throat to do that unlike OP though, I can think in words without mumbling to myself.

But I know the voice can't be all. It's difficult for me to think in words while actively saying something, but I can have new thoughts while speaking. Sometimes, I get interrupted in thinking mid-sentence, but then I return to that sentence to finish it because... it's just satisfying? It's not that I learn anything new.

I feel like I don't have very much imagination any more. Its hard to produce images in my mind, not impossible but I do have to concentrate - remembering images is easier.

Weirdly, way harder to me: imagining a voice. Inner voice is what I sound like to myself, I can remember and replay songs and quotes as I heard them, but having any voice say anything is hard, especially female voices. Went through some examples in my head couldn't make anyone say anything - until I thought to make different tf2 mercs sing "Oh Canada", that somehow worked despite me definitely not having heard that before. Brains are weird.

[โ€“] I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago

If I've been listening to an audio book, or a tv series my inner monologue can take on the voice of the narrator or main character. I'm always afraid I'm going actually speak out loud like them, but it's never happened.