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Poll How Do You Think?

How do you think?

  • Words, sentences, interior monologue

    Votes: 62 75.6%
  • Images, pictures

    Votes: 47 57.3%
  • Sensations

    Votes: 23 28.0%
  • Other - Describe!

    Votes: 8 9.8%

  • Total voters
    82
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@ButterflyDisco I do that, too. Instead of a single stream of thought, it's much more like layers of music, swirls of images that all happen at the same time, and make sense in the moment. It lets me respond very quickly and calmly in a crisis, because all the variables are there, but becomes problematic outside of a crisis... as it's not very linear. And the connections my mind automatically makes? Outside of a crisis, are not always correct (cognitive distortions).
 
FJ, :laugh: you have humor. So you are that person who can find a way in tough situations where there are less clues. Very interesting.
 
Whoops! Forgot to vote. Too busy reading.

I think in pictures, and then have to translate everything into words. Usually English, but not always the same accent/dialect in English, and sometimes there aren't the right words in English.

Where this has gotten useful in Trauma-land is that I'm learning to talk to myself better (if I'm suicidal, for example, it can be as simple as turning the pistol away from myself in my mind... Whereas words won't make that image shift, I can shift the actual image itself), and some very brilliant person suggested I draw out my traumas that I'm having difficulty writing about. That's helping. Trying to translate into words just sends my distress levels skyrocketing, and both my mind and my jaw clamp down. Can't talk (written or verbal), followed very quickly by can't think. Drawing my thoughts out in their raw form, however, is starting to work as a bridge. First I can draw them. Then I can start to write about them.
 
Interior monologue is a definite one for me, but it's almost more like a conversation or an interview with my inner voice. If I'm thinking about something, I will often play out a pretend conversation with someone I know, in my head. I'm sure others do this too.
 
Thinking what's that, is this before Meds or after meds ?. I just seem to have pushed the auto pilot button and amble through life doing and saying the things I have to just to get by but my thinking stop at my last trauma and I have huge problems with thinking and memory I am so so bad, yet sometimes I remember the most odd things and forget the big picture. The last few years have just been a big blur of numbness and forgetfulness.
 
I'm glad you asked this! Interesting answers.

Two totally different ways. Usually in words. You could think "internal monologue". But sometimes I experience that more like someone else yelling at me. LOL

Then, other times, especially at work, I just study something for a bit and then the answer presents itself. Not in pictures, I just "know". If I'm working on a horse with a badly distorted foot, for example. I'll stand back and study it. There will be no dialogue going on in my head at all. Silence. If someone asks what I'm doing (and they sometimes do) I'll either say that I'm thinking or that I'm "looking" for the answer. After a bit, I just "know" what to do. No pictures. I can't "see" it in that sense, I just "know". Seems a bit weird, but I like it. A lot of times I get sick of listening to myself. LOL

On a slightly related topic, how many of you can close your eyes and "see" things in pictures? Like actual pictures where you could pull information you weren't really aware of out of the scene? How many can do things like listen to music in your head? "Hear" things in someone else's voice?

I'm asking because this is a topic my T & I end up talking about a lot. (And I'm trying to find out if he's blowing smoke! LOL)
 
Cool thread @FridayJones !

I'm learning to add thinking in sensation to the mix, or at least to become more aware of this as part of my process. I think mostly in swirling pictur-y moving images that layer on top of each other...then I have to layer language on top of that if I want to communicate something to others.

I often get stuck in the in-between spacetime of this. Adding sensation to this mix through mindful movement seems to help sort things out into the spacetime continuum that other people seem to be able to live in...aka more normal and logical.

Not in pictures, I just "know".
This too. Usually this when I am dealing with other people. What I said above is when I am thinking about my internal world/experience/ideas.
how many of you can close your eyes and "see" things in pictures? Like actual pictures where you could pull information you weren't really aware of out of the scene? How many can do things like listen to music in your head? "Hear" things in someone else's voice?
I see things when I close my eyes. There are two types--one is images in my mind's eye, like picturing the dog I loved from childhood. The other is actual images I see behind my eyelids. Lots of people see lights and things, but I often see pretty clear and recognizable images. These are very different from the first. I do hear music in my head...same sort of thing as the images...I can "play" a piece I know in my mind. But I also hear other kinds of music--rather more like Phillip Glass type of music. I'm not sure what you mean by your last question...I can usually sense pretty immediately what someone is feeling as soon as I hear them speak. I'm fairly accurate usually, at least at the times I've followed through and paid attention to confirm or disconfirm my gut sense of them. What about you? Do you suppose this is "thinking" too? Are thinking and knowing the same or different?
 
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