Why you don't talk to yourself and why you should | Part 2: Consulting the Inner Expert(s)

in #logic6 years ago (edited)

Continuing the dive into the taboo of talking to ourselves and how to use it as a strategy to further our understanding through asking the multitude of "experts" within us.

To use your voice in order to get in touch with your intuition, catch up on part 1:
Why you don't talk to yourself and why you should | Part 1: Intuition Gateway

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Working within the net of thoughts


Verbalizing intuitive responses to the questions in our lives is not the only use of talking to ourselves. We can specifically use the verbal apparatus to sort thoughts, concepts and ideas on the rational level more neatly and get some well-needed clarity as to what is going on inside our mind when many logical arguments are involved.

The strategy works similar to the one we already explored, the difference is this time we will verbalize thoughts and to get closer to a rational understanding that lies dormant in us.

Getting the intuitive answer before diving into the rational analysis is still highly recommended, as this is really difficult if you have already thought about a question for too long.

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A multitude of voices


It may seem odd in the beginning but verbalizing inner thoughts through one voice can often shine some clarity on different aspects in our minds we didn't quite notice when they were "mere" thoughts. After a while we become keenly aware that different aspects of us are building contradictory cases at the same time. Verbalizing them all as they arise can give us great clarity as to why a choice seems difficult.

We will go for a mundane example. Let's say we wanted to decide whether to spend our holiday in Italy or Sweden this summer.

We would get our intuitive answer and save it, and then start easing into the exploration of the pro's and con's that are bubbling up in the mind. Don't worry about sorting the voices yet, just let it roll ;)

"I love Italian food, could finally eat some genuine pizza and pasta again. The mediterranean sea comes to mind. Warm weather into the night - awesome. Meeting Italians would be something new. Yeah but Sweden has good food as well and is probably less touristy. No Vatican around either. Yeah but Sweden doesn't seem like a real summer vacation. Oh it can get hot in Sweden in summer, just have to pick the right time! I want my Pasta. Come on that can't be the main reason, we'll visit some Italian friends before the festivals and get genuine pasta that way, but make the vacation in Sweden. Just because the food in Italy is not the main reason doesn't automatically mean Sweden has to be the answer now. But the food, the flair, the warmth and atmosphere - I really miss Italy. Well actually I don't feel that romantic about Sweden yet, just wanted to not exclude it. Maybe Italy first, then Sweden next year? Almost sounds like a deal already!"

As you might have heard, I simply wrote down my inner dialogue here as if verbalizing it. If we imagine this dialogue to be a conversation between several people we can clearly hear that there are... certain positions. One "person" seems to be a hopeless Italy romantic and dreams of the food. Another one just wants good reasons and doesn't want the decision to be blinded by said romanticism. There seems to be a diplomat in there, kinda keeping score and neutrality like a referee.

Now that we have laid out the dialogue we can easily discern that there are good arguments on both sides but that there may be a certain preference already. We may also stumble upon some inner motivations within our thoughts that come to the surface if we keep verbalizing. Never knew food was so damn important for my Italy experience ;) At least for an aspect in me.

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Sorting through the patterns


After a while we will notice certain trends that appear over and over again, like the food romanticist. You may also encounter a voice that sounds rather harsh and unfriendly all the time - let's call it the reckless critic. We may hear from an aspect that seeks out fairness and neutrality in all considerations. We may hear from a radical optimist seeing the potential of every choice in the most positive light...

Depending on who you are different points of emphasis may reappear in the long run, giving you a clearer picture of how your mind reasons and operates from different viewpoints. The more we hear about that angle the more we can be sure that it's the same "need" or "preference" talking, and assign all its arguments to that origin when new questions are explored.

In a way we want to examine our thoughts and try to find out who said what, thereby getting an overview for the "participants" in the discussion and their underlying aspects. They may all be thoughts, but pretending they are all different people clears up the conversation so much, precisely because all come out verbalized through the same apparatus and on first glance there is no easy way to tell them apart. But their motivations and reasoning give the show away if we just listen as a neutral observer.

Verbalizing our inner monologue into a dialogue then becomes a helpful tool to sort the arguments in our thoughts and to better estimate the arguments for and against a given choice. Before uttering the words, all these reasons may appear like a giant mess in our minds, becausethey are a mess. But once we have laid them out verbally we can see that it's not so complicated after all, but simply that your mind is trying to rationalize several different positions at once, which can be very hard to see through if it all happens silently inside the mind and we try to make sense of it all.

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Auditory feedback


Often when I discern questions in this way I become aware of more intuitive answers. I would still finish the sentence about the pasta and another part in me almost "jumps in" - interrupting the pasta idea with some other argument. After a few times it is actually amazing to witness how a rational case is trying to get formed by an aspect of the mind while other parts of the mind or our intuition may already want to shoot down that case.

Listening to our own mouth verbalize these ideas then makes them easily graspable and criticizable because they are no longer obscure. Merely uttering the sentence and hearing me utter it is often enough to realize that my reasoning was off, or that I really don't believe in the reason I just uttered as strongly as I had thought.

Listening to our inner monologue (and dialogue) then acts as a type of quality check for the arguments and rationalizations that bubble up in us.

It's similar to when you talk something over with a good friend. Sometimes just hearing our own arguments laid out in language is enough to make us feel better, even when our friend hasn't responded yet.

Talking then acts as a catalyst for catching the arguments of our mind in action and to test them for their validity as they reappear.

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No longer confusing thoughts with who we are


Since each aspect can now speak for itself we can see that there is no need to confuse any one voice inside of us with ourselves or with what we want. Rather, there seem to be competing narratives before we make a choice, and listening to all proponents and critics in an open exchange can bring great clarity as to what factors are actually important for the decision.

If you let all the voices do their thing and just pretend to be an observer you will notice trends that go utterly unnoticed if the thoughts stay all intertwined, bottled up and non-verbalized inside of our minds. Laying them out will make your ego feel heard and pay reverence to the complicated nature of discernment on the logical level.

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No need to get angry, it's just one of the many voices and it has its merit. Listen to it, but don't confuse it with yourself. Other voices will come forward if they get a chance to express themselves.



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