Thought Chatter

What were you thinking about one second ago? Maybe you were internally voicing your thoughts or adding images or feelings to them. We all do this automatically throughout the day.

We spend a lot of time listening to ourselves talk inside our heads. Every time you read or decide or imagine something there’s an inner voice and 40% of the time we’re attending to that inner voice.

This kind of thought chatter is extremely normal for human beings__ thoughts about the future or past, songs, memories of friends or conversations. When silent talking gets stuck and starts spinning in a loop I call it ‘chatter’.

Our heads are noisy places and it’s not always a bad thing....when it’s daydreaming scientists actually see it as a sign of intelligence. But sometimes the chatter in our heads gets destructive and we may beat ourselves out of sensible risks that would really be good for us...or we get stuck in a loop of worry or shame. It’s called ‘ruminating’.

Our thought-chatter becomes the most vocal at night. Then we become the judge, jury and accused all at once and things in this court can get really unruly and out of control with constant criticism, opinions and self-blame.

The important thing to remember is that chatter originates in our conditioned mind....which is like a child. It wants what it wants and it wants it now! When you ignore it, it pulls on you, lashes out at times, all because it wants attention. It goes on and on with its endless chatter about how crappy life is, how awful the country is or how dare so and so do this or that etc.

So the first stage towards change is to become aware and identify it. Observe it, but don’t ignore or neglect it and don’t let it take over either. What really helps me is when I talk to my mind like a friend; “I understand you’re worried, I know what this means to you but I want you to know that we’ll get through this. Take it easy.”

The second step is to stay in the present...which is not easy!! What this means is to stay in the moment that IS, not the moment that IS’NT...not in the past or the future. Be here now. Take deep breaths because that’s your closest connection to the present....breath can only be in the present.

The truth is that thoughts are fuelled by the attention we give them. With meditation on breath or on a mantra or on a candle flame we can switch our attention to another focus and the chatter begins to fade and an inner stillness occurs. We can now feel calmer and in a sense more whole...and in time it may become permanently slower and quieter. With practice one loses interest in being at the mercy of the voices and gets good at becoming the observer.

Distancing yourself and having a detached perspective eventually frees us from being the ‘doer’ and we can learn to get our power back with conscious effort. The trick is to commit to a practice of awareness; to remind oneself of the ability to stay cantered more of the time...until it becomes the norm.

Cheers!

Until next time.....

Ritu Malhotra