I can make my thoughts become almost silent

Ok like a lot of people I think a lot and it bugs me. Some how I have managed to make myself think but at such a low volume that I wonder whether I am thinking at all. If this makes any sense. I also shhhhh my self when my thoughts become too loud.

It is a state of almost emptiness, not similar to anything else. It's no day dreaming, or hypnagogic images/sounds or what.

Obviously I am going to proceed this and see where it gets me.

Maybe this very normal for other people, this off mode, but for me it isn't.

Let me know if you recognize what I mean.

EDIT AND EXTRA INFO. This whole thing started when I read a book by a psycho-motoric therapist. The exercise were you focus on the space between thoughts. It's something from Tibetan tradition. I could find these spaces easily and that has become the capability to make the space longer and longer. While knowing that there is me and that void.

reply to post by QueenofWeird


I do it to go to sleep sometimes.

I think of a chalkboard with scribbles all over it, the scribbles being my thoughts, then I erase everything on it and clean it off. Then I focus on a constant sound (the AC, Fan, hum of the refrigerator, etc) and shut off anything else I think about.

reply to post by QueenofWeird


Welcome to the present moment.

Listen to this man. He speaks of what youve noticed.

Originally posted by Mr Headshot
reply to post by QueenofWeird

 

I do it to go to sleep sometimes.

I think of a chalkboard with scribbles all over it, the scribbles being my thoughts, then I erase everything on it and clean it off. Then I focus on a constant sound (the AC, Fan, hum of the refrigerator, etc) and shut off anything else I think about.

Yes! Only I don't focus on anything but the void. It is very strange and yesterday I scared my self because it felt like a form of death. Anyways, I am delving deeper into this and see where I get. Probably totally zombied out

Wish they could monitor my brain and see what happens in that grey blubber.

reply to post by QueenofWeird


Could you explain how you achieved this? I'd be interested in practicing this as I find it very hard to not think when trying to sleep. Even being able to do it during the day for 5 minutes or so would be very relaxing I think!

reply to post by Shadow Herder


Thanks, listen to it in a while. I am now listening to www.youtube.com...

your thoughts are 'almost' silent?!

That's what the rest of us know as 'talking', or 'thinking out loud'

when your thoughts are actually silent and nobody can hear them - that's called 'thinking'

That's gotta be a wonderful feeling. I've had it happen once or twice but every time I try to shut my thoughts down, my mind races the most!

One of the most significant times it happened it felt like an almost out of body experience. I felt myself, beside myself? If that makes sense to anyone...

could you please think a little louder, I can't hear you.

reply to post by QueenofWeird

What you are describing, the buddhist monks have known about. It is a state, where your mind is silent, clear, and you should be able to focus in on most topics, coming out with the answers to most problems.

The way I was taught, was to sit and concentrate on the breath, and breathing, then to let it go and the thoughts in the mind to go. Some would say it is the first step towards enlightenment and generating great compassion in your life. What you do with such will be up to you, and how you use it.

reply to post by QueenofWeird


I used to think constantly. Caused me to be an insomniac..

Then I too learned how to shut them off..

Problem is I don't know how to turn them back on..

Almost all of my thoughts have to be on purpose now. I have to try to think. Plus I don't think in words anymore, so it's hard to say what I am thinking, because I have to think it, and then try and figure out what the words are to the movie I just played..

I'm not sure I recommend this way of being.

reply to post by Dustytoad


Oh sweetie, that's my fear too. But you can yank your self back by sensory activation. Just bite on a lemon. Try it.

wondering if you are thinking at all, is a thought all in itself lol


However, you are on the right track. Keep practicing this, and remember to lay down on your back when you sleep, and when you start waking up in the morning or middle of the night, stop yourself and clear your mind. If you do it quick enough, without moving your body, you will find yourself in sleep paralysis, which is the first step of astral projection.

Originally posted by clairvoyantrose
That's gotta be a wonderful feeling. I've had it happen once or twice but every time I try to shut my thoughts down, my mind races the most!

One of the most significant times it happened it felt like an almost out of body experience. I felt myself, beside myself? If that makes sense to anyone...

OK, this is for all people asking how I do it. First of all I noticed that racing happens where my brow is. I simply concentrate on the back of my head, that's where I want to be. When those pesky thoughts want to come, I immediately refocus on the back of my head. Actually it is a bit inside my head. Also, a relaxed belly is very important.

Maybe this is also why the Japanese used to place something cold on their brow and a book underneath their heads to combat insomnia.

Originally posted by xxshadowfaxx
wondering if you are thinking at all, is a thought all in itself lol


However, you are on the right track. Keep practicing this, and remember to lay down on your back when you sleep, and when you start waking up in the morning or middle of the night, stop yourself and clear your mind. If you do it quick enough, without moving your body, you will find yourself in sleep paralysis, which is the first step of astral projection.

I have had sleep paralysis twice and I don't really like it. Astral travel only during dreaming.

Originally posted by QueenofWeird
Ok like a lot of people I think a lot and it bugs me. Some how I have managed to make myself think but at such a low volume that I wonder whether I am thinking at all. If this makes any sense. I also shhhhh my self when my thoughts become too loud.

It is a state of almost emptiness, not similar to anything else. It's no day dreaming, or hypnagogic images/sounds or what.

Obviously I am going to proceed this and see where it gets me.

Maybe this very normal for other people, this off mode, but for me it isn't.

Let me know if you recognize what I mean.

Out of curiosity, why does thinking bother you?

reply to post by NiNjABackflip


Because it is exhausting and most of the time BS

Originally posted by Swizzy
reply to post by QueenofWeird

 

Could you explain how you achieved this? I'd be interested in practicing this as I find it very hard to not think when trying to sleep. Even being able to do it during the day for 5 minutes or so would be very relaxing I think!

For me this doesn't work to get to sleep, because it's still being focused.

Jokes aside, yes, I can do this. I tend to have racing thoughts which keep me awake. I meditate and focus on one thought. The word "nothing". I say that over and over in my head and eventually, even that one word stops going through my head and my brain is "silent", so to speak ( Come on, guys, you know what the OP means )

It's a very pleasant and relaxed feeling/state to be in.

Originally posted by DirtyLiberalHippie
Jokes aside, yes, I can do this. I tend to have racing thoughts which keep me awake. I meditate and focus on one thought. The word "nothing". I say that over and over in my head and eventually, even that one word stops going through my head and my brain is "silent", so to speak ( Come on, guys, you know what the OP means

)

It's a very pleasant and relaxed feeling/state to be in.

edit on 30-11-2012 by DirtyLiberalHippie because: (no reason given)

I don't know if this is relaxing, it is more like being sucked into the void. Adventurer I am, I want to use this to see what my brain/mind or what ever it is can do in this state.

By the way, I can do it in more situations. Like when reading the comments in this thread. No joke