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Today I Learned That Not Everyone Has an Internal Monologue and It Has Ruined My Day
I have wondered about this for some time now. I have a very detailed, almost constant internal monologue, which meditation is helping to break up and change the tone of. Some of that constant internal chatter is part of my anxiety and I'm trying to challenge it, but that's another post.
One time I took a women's studies lit class. One of the professors said, like she was stating a fact, that when people read, most people assume a male voice for the narrator. Like, in your head, the voice you hear speaking is a man's voice. At this point in my college career I knew better than to speak up, so I just kind of sat on it, but I asked some of my friends about their "internal narrator," and most of them just looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out my ears.
When I read, no matter who the narrator is, I hear my own voice. Harry Potter? Sounds like me. Stephen King novel? Also sounds like me. French art theory? C'est moi. Book written from the POV of an animal? Yeah, still sounds like my own voice.
I wonder what it's like to NOT have that. Like you just use an entirely different way of conceptualizing and relating to the world. Kind of cool.
I have wondered about this for some time now. I have a very detailed, almost constant internal monologue, which meditation is helping to break up and change the tone of. Some of that constant internal chatter is part of my anxiety and I'm trying to challenge it, but that's another post.
One time I took a women's studies lit class. One of the professors said, like she was stating a fact, that when people read, most people assume a male voice for the narrator. Like, in your head, the voice you hear speaking is a man's voice. At this point in my college career I knew better than to speak up, so I just kind of sat on it, but I asked some of my friends about their "internal narrator," and most of them just looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out my ears.
When I read, no matter who the narrator is, I hear my own voice. Harry Potter? Sounds like me. Stephen King novel? Also sounds like me. French art theory? C'est moi. Book written from the POV of an animal? Yeah, still sounds like my own voice.
I wonder what it's like to NOT have that. Like you just use an entirely different way of conceptualizing and relating to the world. Kind of cool.