Venting Do you feel like you generate your thoughts or do they simply appear in your mind?

[KillingPain267]

I can't control my thoughts. It feels like I am just an experiencer. Thoughts just pop into my consciousness.

 

[identity0]

I feel the same. I am just an observer, even when it comes to my body's actions

 

[Anonymousa]

I would say for me both of these things happen. Sometimes random thoughts can just appear from an emotion or something i am doing or seeing. When it comes to figuring out problems and planning what to do I would say I am generating thoughts associated with the problem or plan. Some thoughts can be controlled but others are harder to do that with.

 

[Karrikin]

I deal with some thoughts which haunt me constantly. I would like to think they aren't mine and that they are simply some side effect of some condition I'm unaware of ,but it's like I have someone else deciding on what I want to do. Since I've never really had any personal goals, just following what people tell me I don't know at this point, it's probably just my mind coming up with stuff.

 

[Forever Sleep]

Both. I have to think quite intently sometimes to do my job but even then, thoughts pop in. Some are intrusive too. I don't like remembering bits of my childhood.

I imagine most people have a bit of both going on: Think of a yellow elephant with pink spots running down your road... Did it work?

Do you want your mind to be less chaotic? Can you find things to set it on? Reading? Puzzles? Games? I guess you need to be somewhat relaxed though.

 

[GlassMoon]

I feel the same way sometimes. But the realization that some thoughts are simply generated by the mind at random allows me to discard them easier, especially if they come from the inner critic.

One way to learn to deal with them is to practice mindfulness, which teaches to observe them without judgement, and just let them go without trying to push them away. Trying to be in that observant state has helped me reach a state where the thoughts seem to rest a bit, or they fade into a kind of background murmur, which can be really comforting. Sometimes just listening to the leaves of the trees while I stand at the bus stop allows me to remember to go into this state, at least for a short while.

 

[KillingPain267]

Both. I have to think quite intently sometimes to do my job but even then, thoughts pop in. Some are intrusive too. I don't like remembering bits of my childhood.

I imagine most people have a bit of both going on: Think of a yellow elephant with pink spots running down your road... Did it work?

Do you want your mind to be less chaotic? Can you find things to set it on? Reading? Puzzles? Games? I guess you need to be somewhat relaxed though.

No, I can't concentrate at all. I do and think whatever the thoughts want.

I feel the same way sometimes. But the realization that some thoughts are simply generated by the mind at random allows me to discard them easier, especially if they come from the inner critic.

One way to learn to deal with them is to practice mindfulness, which teaches to observe them without judgement, and just let them go without trying to push them away. Trying to be in that observant state has helped me reach a state where the thoughts seem to rest a bit, or they fade into a kind of background murmur, which can be really comforting. Sometimes just listening to the leaves of the trees while I stand at the bus stop allows me to remember to go into this state, at least for a short while.

I don't feel like I have free will. When I let the thoughts come, they get even more intense.

 

[LostLily]

I feel like it a swarm of thoughts like sitting in a busy and loud lunch room.just an endless loop of my fear, anxiety and all the failure in my life