it never shuts up (never)

~ Live & Learn

In case you haven’t noticed, you have a mental dialogue going on inside your head that never stops. It just keeps going and going. Have you ever wondered why it talks in there? How does it decide what to say and when to say it? How much of what it says turns out to be true? How much of what it says is even important?…If you’re smart, you’ll take the time to step back, examine this voice, and get to know it better. The problem is, you’re too close to be objective…Notice that the voice takes both sides of the conversation. It doesn’t care which side it takes, just as long as it gets to keep on talking…If you spend some time observing this mental voice, the first thing you will notice is that it never shuts up. When left to its own, it just talks. Imagine if you were to see someone walking around constantly talking to himself. You’d think he was strange…If you watch carefully, you’ll see that it’s just trying to find a comfortable place to rest. It will change sides in a moment if that seems to help. And it doesn’t even quiet down when it finds out that it’s wrong. It simply adjusts its viewpoint and keeps on going. If you pay attention, these mental patterns will become obvious to you. It’s actually a shocking realization when you first notice that your mind is constantly talking…

~ Michael A. Singer, from “Chapter 1: the voice inside your head” in the Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself

Photo: Le bain ©️David McTanné (via Your Eyes Blaze Out)

45 thoughts on “it never shuts up (never)”

  2. i’ve read this and contemplated this, (more thoughts dancing), and it is a challenge at times when the old tapes are on loop. self-reflection, without judgement, (a delicate balance at best), taking the needle off the record, helps to stop the music, if even for a moment.

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  5. Never have truer words been spoken….
    I know, I realise, I even talk back to the voices in my mind, but hey, it’s called LIFE. At least my head’s inside is talking with somebody who likes to take part in discussions 😉

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      1. 🙂
        That’s the thing, I don’t make them shut up. They just do. I like it quiet up there…
        Just finished reading Black Milk by Turkish author Elif Shafak. I skipped the chapters where these 4 voices talk in her head, because this voice in my head wanted to start talking.

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        1. Dang. Was hoping for some tricks – besides drugs, that is 😉
          Ooohh… I can’t skip chapters. Or paragraphs. Or even sentences. I will be drawn back every single time!

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          3. LAUGHING…..
            I do not have the “nothing” box like men do. And I don’t want that nothing box. I have no voices in my head. The voices in my soul are another story. Those are the ones that don’t shut up. 🙂

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  7. I don’t even want to think of just how many thoughts are going on inside… they keep me up at night as it is. I suppose the alternative is that we are no longer of this earth so I shall try to make friends with them and observe just what they are trying to say…

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  8. Why do we believe that our thoughts are the voice of an OTHER? Are you having a thought or is a thought having you? Either answer YOU are in control. There is no OTHER. Remind yourself that your mind chatter is your construct, make it what you want.

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  11. I would like this far better if he owned his words instead of saying ‘you’ this and ‘you’ that. Because the first thing I found myself saying was, ‘not me.’ His points are well taken, but I do find it offensive when anyone tries to tell me how things are. For me. Aloha, David.

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  14. Love this and so true! I would like her timing to be a little better though – I.E. 4a.m. is not the time to start a “to-do” list that gets me spinning until 24 minutes before the alarm goes off ~ gah! 😉 MJ

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