The "voice" inside of "your" head

[Galyna]

Guys, I really need some help here. If you can answer my question I would appreciate it a lot.

So, I am reading this book by Michael A. Singer "Untethered Soul."

(Thank you, @cetus I fell in love with the book from the first page. That was a very good advice. Absolutely love it, love it,  love it! )

In this book the author states that all of us have this constant annoying voice that takes multiple sides during the day and never shuts up. Nothing new, we all know it, right?. However, I wanted to ask people here who is "on topic".

Do you guys have the gaps between the voice talking?

I was surprised when reading the book that my voice is not acting the way he describes, please read below how the author gives an example of the "voice":

"What am I doing? I cant go to sleep yet. I forgot to call Fred. I remembered in the car but did not call. If I do not call now…oh waits, it is too late. I shouldn’t call him now. I don’t even know why I thought about it. I need to fall asleep. Oh shoot, now I cant fall asleep. I am not tired anymore. But I have a big day tomorrow, and I have to get up early.” (Singer, 2007) 

Wait what?  If my voice talks to me like this I would go insane. Glad I do not have this "verbal diarrhea" all the time in my head. 

I really want to know since people are doing some progress here with meditations, etc. How do your "voices" talk? 

Do you guys see more images or a movie like visions in your head? Do you use the "voice" when really need to remember something, for a technical reason? 

I am aware of this "voice" pretty much all the time. I know I am the one who observes it, however it does not make it any easier to get what I'm chasing for....

How to understand the level of my awareness if I can not compare it with others? Does it mean that I am more aware and do not notice it since I am in this mode for a long time. I do not understand then how to "catch" this special state you all talking about...How to be even more aware.

Thank you very much, 

Hugs.

 

 

Edited June 11, 2020 by Galyna

[Someone here]

The voice in your head won't shut up as long as those neurons are firing away all the time. As soon as you become conscious.. BOOM.. nervous system firing. The voice goes "bla bla bla". There is no off-switch to your mind. Even in meditation you can't stop thinking. It's just a brute fact: thinking cannot be stopped. It can only be watched. The more you try to stop it the more it becomes stronger and louder. Try to not think of a pink elephant and and pink elephants will be all over the place. 

You can't get rid of that voice nor do you need to. In fact you wlll go insane if you do get rid of it completely. That voice is what is making sense of your entire life and creating the narrative and the illusion of "you" and your story.  It's what's saving your life. Say thank you to the voice in your head. 

[Galyna]

@Someone here Hey  thanks for helping, I do appreciate it a lot. Read this please: 

"...You should examine this very closely. With a simple glance, you instantly take the tremendous detail of whatever you are looking at. If you see a tree, you effortlessly see the branches, the leaves, the flowering buds. Why do you have to verbalize what you have already seen?" (Singer, 2007) 

@Someone here please tell me do you verbalize it like this?  I do not. In fact this is crazy...why do you have to repeat everything you see? for whom will you be doing it? Do you register your body movements? I do, very often.

P.S. I think I have an idea how to help you quit smoking. Sorry for the random thought, I remember you asked this on forum.

Edited June 11, 2020 by Galyna

[Galyna]

17 minutes ago, Someone here said:

You can't get rid of that voice nor do you need it

You know what I was thinking, maybe then we have different ways of "hearing" it?

Because I do observe it all the time, but it is not always a verbal rant. It can it be images, sounds, sensations? 

I do not get this, am I really special here? 

Meditation is different, because you try to force yourself. 

Making sense, yes, but not repeating what you see, come on!

Edited June 11, 2020 by Galyna

[Someone here]

5 minutes ago, Galyna said:

@Someone here Hey  thanks for helping, I do appreciate it a lot. Read this please: 

"...You should examine this very closely. With a simple glance, you instantly take the tremendous detail of whatever you are looking at. If you see a tree, you effortlessly see the branches, the leaves, the flowering buds. Why do you have to verbalize what you have already seen?" (Singer, 2007) 

@Someone here please tell me do you verbalize it like this?  I do not. In fact this is crazy...why do you have to repeat everything you see? for whom will you be doing it?

P.S. I think I have an idea to help you quit smoking. Sorry for the random thought, I remember you asked this on forum.

 Lol no. I don't verbalize like that always. Only if I'm stressed or in a tough situation. Or obsessed about something.  If that's the normal internal dialogue I would say that's a mentally ill person thinking m there are certain medications that help reduce thoughts and calm the mind. Meditation helps also. But don't expect the voice to completely go away. That's not possible. 

BTW what about the smoking thing? I made some progress. Only smoking two packs a week or so. 

[Galyna]

Just now, Someone here said:

BTW what about the smoking thing? I made some progress. Only smoking two packs a week or so. 

Yesterday you told me to not derail your threads, remember?  in fact what are you doing now with mine? 

JK.

I will get back into your thread and leave you a comment there.

[Galyna]

3 minutes ago, Someone here said:

Only if I'm stressed or in a tough situation. Or obsessed about something. 

or when you want to understand why people act the way it they are, right?. But other than that it is crazy. Maybe because we are into self-development. I can not believe normal people think the way author describes it.

[Someone here]

@Galyna alright lol. 

[Galyna]

@Someone here just hang in there because today I will be reading this book, but I will try not to forget. 

[Nahm]

@Galyna

Meditation quiets the activity of the mind, and leads to the “permanent state” referred to as no-mind, samadhi, and satori. I use quotes on “permanent state”, because it is not a state at all, it is who you literally actually are, an infinite being, unconditional love. Maya, is the believing of thoughts, which perpetuates the delusion of believing this place is physical and you are a separate physical person in it. The experience of no-mind is not an experience at all, it is that of pure silence,  absolute love & bodily sensations of bliss, all day, everyday. There is no such thing as “body”, nor “days”. There is only infinite bliss. Thought is the activity of consciousness, which is infinite love appearing as thoughts. As such, consciousness appears to veil itself, like clouds appear to veil the emptiness of the sky. 

 

 

[Galyna]

@cetus Hey there! 

 

Quick question...I am almost done with Singer's book, could not stop reading last night, very easy for comprehension. So researched about the author and it seems like he has another best seller "The Surrender Experiment" (2015) have you read that one by any chance? if yes, would you recommend buying it? The reason why I am asking because I do not want to order another book and re-read everything that was written in the previous one ("Untethered Soul")

Thank you

 

 

[cetus]

@Galyna Haven't read that one but here is someone who did.

 

[Galyna]

@cetus Thanks, the guy in the video is so funny 

I would say that Singer is a very extraordinary person according to his bio. I wish his meditation center would be in my city. 

[An young being]

On 12/06/2020 at 3:10 AM, Someone here said:

The voice in your head won't shut up as long as those neurons are firing away all the time. As soon as you become conscious.. BOOM.. nervous system firing. The voice goes "bla bla bla". There is no off-switch to your mind. Even in meditation you can't stop thinking. It's just a brute fact: thinking cannot be stopped. It can only be watched. The more you try to stop it the more it becomes stronger and louder. Try to not think of a pink elephant and and pink elephants will be all over the place. 

You can't get rid of that voice nor do you need to. In fact you wlll go insane if you do get rid of it completely. That voice is what is making sense of your entire life and creating the narrative and the illusion of "you" and your story.  It's what's saving your life. Say thank you to the voice in your head. 

This is not true for me most of the time. I have a blank mind most of the time and I can spend hours alone silently doing and thinking nothing. I don't know if it's a boon or a bane. It's like my mind doesn't want to work. It has become so lazy that it doesn't want to think at all.

[Galyna]

@An young being  You might not be fully aware of the activities within your mind. 

When I ask my friend "what are you thinking about now?" she always replies "my mind is blank, not thinking about anything. "

I always joke that it is impossible without a proper practice, she always denies.

You know how many years yogis meditate to come to this blissful state? Regular person can not seat without thoughts even for one minute. 

Unless you are a hardcore practitioner, then all the above will never be applied to your situation. 

[Seraphim]

There are people with almost no mental activity even though they are far from being enlightened, this is known in the field of psychology. These people suffer because of this because they have no creativity, they are "empty" in a bad way.

However, after self-realization one can meditate without thoughts, it's the natural state for humans, we are not supposed to be addicted to thinking. One will still have creativity, ideas and can function like normal.

 

Edited June 13, 2020 by Seraphim

[Galyna]

@Seraphim Agree, but this is rather exception, then the rule itself. For ordinary person to completely turn off the monkey mind is next to impossible. 

[An young being]

On 13/06/2020 at 11:19 PM, Galyna said:

@An young being  You might not be fully aware of the activities within your mind. 

When I ask my friend "what are you thinking about now?" she always replies "my mind is blank, not thinking about anything. "

I always joke that it is impossible without a proper practice, she always denies.

You know how many years yogis meditate to come to this blissful state? Regular person can not seat without thoughts even for one minute. 

Unless you are a hardcore practitioner, then all the above will never be applied to your situation. 

What if I am a gifted being?? 

On a serious note, I might have unconsciously trained my mind to concentrate on a particular thing.  When I generally see something, I automatically enter a meditative state by focusing on the object without thinking much about anything else. That might have helped.

Edited June 14, 2020 by An young being

[Galyna]

15 minutes ago, An young being said:

When I generally see something, I automatically enter a meditative state by focusing on the object without thinking much about anything else

No thoughts , no images, nothing at all when looking at the object?

asking because I am hyper focused myself, to that point that I don’t see and hear others talking to me, but my mind is still not blank. 

Edited June 14, 2020 by Galyna

[An young being]

15 hours ago, Galyna said:

No thoughts , no images, nothing at all when looking at the object?

asking because I am hyper focused myself, to that point that I don’t see and hear others talking to me, but my mind is still not blank. 

It doesn't happen all the time the whole day. Sometimes, my mind is hyper active and during those times it is very difficult to keep the mind blank even while trying to meditate. But sometimes, yes, my mind becomes completely blank other than the object I am focusing. No thoughts arise in my mind during those times, but still if disturbances occur from external environment, I lose that state.