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Mental Noise: The Silent Killer

I'd like to write about something that causes a fair amount of disturbance in my mind. I suspect that it does for everyone, not just me; but I think many people aren't even aware of it. So I'd like to hear some ideas and thoughts from the community on their experiences with this "menace" and how to combat it.

The culprit is "mental noise," also known as the inner monologue. It's a voice that ceaselessly runs in our heads from the time we wake up until we go to sleep at night. Often it even follows us to sleep! It's analyzing everything about our lives and surroundings. We actually have a voice in our head that's just talking to itself! It's like we're all loonies!

Although useful for problem solving, I think several things are troublesome about this mental noise when it's left uncontrolled:

1. Most of the thoughts are repetitive. "The same old tapes playing over and over again" as one of my favorite authors, Eckhart Tolle, once said. Often we relive negative situations or fantasize about things that will likely never happen. I think it makes us feel like our current lives are not good enough or causes us to re-experience pain from the past.

2. We're usually thinking about the past or future, which prevents us from enjoying the now. If we're doing this 99% of the time, which I am, we're missing out on life! Perhaps in a 100 year lifespan, we're only "here" for 1 of those years!

3. I think compulsive inner monologue disturbs our peace. I don't know why. Probably because it causes some kind of "anxiety gap" between the now and the future or past we're pondering. I notice that when I'm in moments of clarity or peace, like when I'm taking in a marvelous sunset or dropping in on a massive wave while surfing, I'm not thinking. I'm just aware. Just being aware without analyzing is the greatest peace I've ever experienced, but I can't hold it for long.

I think a good first step is for us to realize that often we're just not there. I learned about this from reading "The Power of Now" 5 years ago. I've made little progress in actually eliminating the background static of my mind though.

The challenge for me is that I'm always analyzing everything. I mostly analyze the future, things I need or want to do. I also analyze my day, yesterday, and the distant past. When I'm doing this, it's more like dreaming versus living. It's like I'm asleep and unable to fully appreciate that I'm alive, here and now.

Of course it wouldn't behoove us to totally stop thinking forever. Inner monologue is a critical tool. But I'd like to achieve a state where I can think when I need to, like solving an acute problem, and then after that I can just be. Just be in the moment, where I am. The Buddhists, who have some philosophies I admire, call the state of being in the present "mindfulness."

So far, I can do this for about 2-5 seconds on average. Then the voices start again. At rare times of great clarity where it all "makes sense," I can last for maybe 30 seconds to a minute.

These little glimpses of the peace of mental stillness leave me longing for more. But no matter how hard I try, it seems like life just sucks my brain back into analyzing everything, like a black hole of voices.

I've been practicing non-religious forms of meditation morning and night for about 4 years. That helps a lot, but I still haven't achieved the ability to just be as often as I'd like.

And don't get me wrong, I'm still a very happy person. In fact, I'm in awe of the rapture of life and grateful for everything I have. But like everyone, there are still things I can make better.

If anyone out there is having better luck with mental noise, I'd love to hear some tips. I'm sure many others would benefit too.

10/17/2007 5:47:55 PM

Written by Aaron M

My name is Aaron and I’m a business person, artist, musician, and writer. I am into improving my quality life through the choices I make. The values I hold above all others are fun, compassion, peace, reverence and awe for life, gratitude, truth, nature, and honesty. I believe "wellness" is a broad term that encomp...

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Comments

Its "something". I dont know how it works. But it does. Old people used to say, when you get angry count from 1 - 100. It was based on same principals. Some people say, count your breaths. Even chanting a God's name repeatedly is probably based on same principals. The pause between 2 chants, 2 breaths, 2 numbers, etc. is when our mind is silent and present.

Posted by Sandip Joshi

I had the same problem. You cannot solve the problem with the same mind that created it. - Albert Einstein. There is a trick for it which tricks left brain and it works. Count the numbers from 1-10. Slowly increase the pause between every numbers. You will notice that the pause period is when your mind is calm and present. Count the steps while walking.

Posted by Sandip

remezsa - Thanks for you comments and advice. While I agree with much of what you say, I also don't agree with everything. Not every person is the same. Maybe what works for you doesn't work with someone else. Or maybe what works for one person won't work for you. I used to never read and most of my leisure time was watching tv and movies or listening to music. For the last 3 months, I've been reading everyday. At first, it was very difficult to shut my mind off and focus on what I was reading. My mind wandered endlessly on many different things. And I would have to go back to where my mind lost concentration and start over. Just as you said that the more you exercise the easier it becomes. Since I've been reading everyday it's become easier to focus and concentrate. When I read this morning, I didn't have to go back and start over. I was able to focus on every word and sentance and understood everything that I read. My ablility to concentrate has improved by leaps and bounds. Of course, I still have much more room to improve. I can understand why you wouldn't want to meditate using words but without thinking? How could you meditate and not think? I used meditation (relaxation and visualization) to improve my swimming time when I was in High school. About 2 or 3 times a week, I would play some new age music (Enya was what I preferred). I would then contract different muscle groups and release them while slowly and deeply breathing. When I reached a certain level of relaxation, I would visualize a nature scene that was very peaceful. For me, it was a lake that had trees and grass and was next to a waterfall something you might see in South America. I would visualize myself swimming in that water and then would change to visualizing about my race that I was going to swim. I would picture myself there. I would use all the senses. I would imagine the smell, the sounds, how things felt and what I would see. I would then picture myself going through my race with the perfect technique and with a very quick speed. Then at the end of the race I would visualize looking up at the time and seeing my goal time. When the day of my race actually came, I improved so much that I shocked everyone on my team. My coaches said that I didn't even look like the same person swimming because my stroke had improved so much. So I don't really understand how you could meditate and not think of anything. What would be the purpose of meditating if you didn't think about anything? Seems more like veggitating. You gave some good exercises on how to develop concentration but you didn't say anything about how to meditate. All the books I've read about meditating use visualization.

Posted by daren_h

Shutting down the mental noise is not achieved by reading books. It comes gradually, and over a long period of training the mind through concentration exercises and meditation. People often say that they meditate, but yet, cannot calm down their mind. If the concentration power is weak, and the mind easily wanders from one thought to another, how can one meditate? Sitting down to meditate, but letting the mind run where it wills, thinking and visualizing all kinds of things, is not meditation. This is why it so important to develop at least some degree of concentration before starting to meditate. When the power of concentration increases, you will be able to meditate without words, without thinking. Then, the inner peace would gradually increase and deepen, First while meditating, and then in your daily life, while working, reading, talking, etc. It is a state of inner silence, yet at the same time being fully awake and alert. The mental noise would cease in a natural way, without effort. This condition will not make you unable to think. On the contrary, when you need to think, you will be able think very clearly. Your mind will become more alert, focused and powerful, but you will be able to shut it down when you don't need it or when you have finished thinking or analyzing or planning Here are two articles about the power of concentration, which also offer a few exercises: <url removed> <url removed>

Posted by remezsa

I've struggled all my life to control my "mental noise". I have a lot of anxiety and sometimes I just can't shut off my mind. Sometimes it's extremely hard to concentrate. Plus the thoughts that I get are negative and get into a downward spiral. I've been reading books and have taken up meditation. One book that I read about coping with anxiety is "10 Simple Solutions To Worry" by Kevin Gyoerkoe and Pamela Wiegartz. Even if you don't have anxiety and just want to control your mental noise, I think this would be a good book for you to read. They state that the mind has two ways of thinking. We think in terms of words or images. I think if you are thinking in terms of words, then the inner monologue will be used. If you are using your imagination to think then the voice will be shut off. I'm going to try thinking by using images instead of words. That might help to shut off the noise and what you could do is visualize yourself being in the moment and enjoying it. I don't think it's possible to shut off your mind but if you use images instead of words, I think you'd have a better chance of obtaining your goal.

Posted by daren_h

I've heard of those biofeedback machines too. I almost bought "Stress Eraser" a while back (www.stresseraser.com) because it got good reviews and is rooted in science (not pseudoscience). It helps you regulate your breaths to maximize the relaxation response. It was $300 so I opted not to buy it. Dr Markham, thanks for the comments. I think meditation helps improve my intuition as well. By intuition, I don't mean anything metaphysical, but just a "wiser" higher perspective. Some scientists believe most of our actions may be governed by the "unconscious" parts of our brain. Part's we're not aware of. Perhaps that part of us is smarter than the superficial "what have you done for me lately, life?" part of our brain. The bottom line for me, is that one thing I'd like to improve is to be able to be in the moment when driving to work, home from work, doing chores, or running errands, etc. So many moments of joy go unnoticed when we're off in fantasy land in our minds.

Posted by Aaron M

CET- I highly recommend Stephen Levine's classic book on meditation, "A Gradual Awakening." I also highly recommend the Emwave biofeedback machine by Heartmath. I'm hesitant to mention this because I generally don't promote products and of course you don't need a biofeedback machine to learn to meditate. And I have nothing to do with the Heartmath company. I mention it because after years of meditating, I stumbled on this this little biofeedback machine (it is smaller than a cellphone) last year and found that it really deepened my meditation. It makes it very easy to enter a deep meditation state, without those frustrating times that meditators sometimes encounter, where you sit and your mind races. Even without the emwave, now when I sit down to meditate, I very quickly find myself in a "zen" state. I should add that I had done a lot of meditation before this, so that might be a factor, but If I were starting out as a meditator today, I would definitely use the Emwave. Laura Dr. Laura Markham ">Your Parenting <url removed> offering

Posted by Dr. Laura Markham

Amac, I feel that if you claim to be always analyzing everything, Maybe you might also find the need to always be right. Also when you always need to be right, you may not really want to understand the other person's point of view, because you are always stuck on your own view, which takes us right back to "The Slient Killer". Sometimes if you will just let down the guard to always wanting to be right, always wanting it to go your way, only then thru practice you can achieve this. I feel thru all your post's you seem to be a person who is very much in controll, and that you can put it all out on the table, but you just pretend that you want to control this, when I truely feel you just want to educate other's on what you already know and do... For someone who is trying to control this, you sure have alot of information on it....

Posted by Julie Elder

Wow! If that is true, then I'm DEFINITELY going to step up my practice! Do you have any resources that I can read to learn more about the effects you're describing?

Posted by CET

Amac, I'm really enjoying this thread. I do meditate, almost daily. It has changed my life. Just sitting, without thought, allows waves of delicious presence to sweep over me. God? Well-being? Who knows? But I do find I have to sidestep the usual chatter of my mind to feel it. These waves of "beyond thought" do have some kind of nonverbal content, though; a deeper knowing and intuition that guides me not only during meditation but now in much of my life. I find that this awareness beyond thought allows me to have some perspective if something upsets me. For instance, if my child gets upset and I start to get upset in response, there is a wiser, deeper part of me, watching with compassion for everyone involved, that keeps me calm. It's true that I am a psychologist, but I think that meditation is the real secret of why I am such a good mother. Buddha says that meditation creates "unconditional friendliness to the self." As a therapist, I notice that most people spend their whole lives learning to love themselves more. I've seen meditation be a shortcut to love for many people. If I had to sum up what meditation does, I would say it increases love, for the self and for others. In my own blog today, I talk about the hormone oxytocin, which is increased in our body when we meditate. It is also increased, though, by connecting with other humans, and doing anything else that makes us feel love (singing, dancing, yoga, nursing a baby.) Both men and women make oxytocin, which researchers call the "Love Hormone." The great thing is that the more oxytocin we make, the more receptors our body makes, so the more love we feel. So people who don't relate to meditation can increase their happiness and love quotients with activities that work for them. My own experience has been that meditation is a shortcut, but that's just me. warm regards, Laura Dr. Laura Markham <url removed>

Posted by Dr. Laura Markham

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