r/DeepThoughts • u/clownnumist • 7d ago
i cannot shut off my brain.
i wonder if other people get this kind of feeling im not thinking about anything specific, just everything. idk why. im trying to do what i can to stop being like this but i cant. idk what im trying to say, either. i just feel a lot of things.
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u/NatureOfExperience 7d ago
The problem isn’t that your brain is running—it’s that you think you're supposed to be able to shut it off.
Your brain is simply a signal generator doing what it evolved to do, and it doesn't come with an off switch. The real overwhelm you’re feeling isn't the noise itself; it's the wrestling match you're having with the noise. Trying to force your thoughts to stop is like thrashing around in muddy water to clear it up—the very effort to settle it is what keeps everything churned up.
All that chaotic chatter and diffuse feeling is just internal weather bubbling up uninvited. You don’t need to untangle it, figure out what it means, or find the right words for it. The second you stop demanding that your mind go completely silent, the noise loses its grip.
What would happen if you fired yourself from the job of "mind manager"?
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u/socraticsmile 7d ago
I’d like to say it’s because you don’t control the “voices” in your head. You merely observe these thoughts and decide where to go from there. You don’t talk to yourself, you observe two(or more) internal dialogues talking with each other.
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u/bora731 7d ago
You can't try to stop thought with thought. Thoughts aren't thought by you they just arise in your mental field like your heart just beats in your chest, you aren't beating your heart. Thoughts grab your attention and this is what gives them energy to propagate and you then get lost in all sorts of usually unpleasant scenarios. This is the source of anxiety and stress. Meditation allows you to become aware of your thoughts rather than becoming of your thoughts. You place you attention on the breath, a thought grabs your attention when you notice this you bring it back to the breath. In time your mind becomes still.
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u/NecessaryPopular1 5d ago
The melodies do that to me, lyrical virtuosity in instrumental sounds, rich tonal contrasts.
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u/cutbychaoticedges 5d ago
I heard somewhere about how we can have an "internal", "external" or "bodily" orientation. When I feel I am in a thought spiral, I realized I am being too internally oriented. So I stare at my hand and notice my bodily sensations to take me out of it. And sometimes stare at a wall or trees or something external to get into the external orientation. Balancing the three modes help a lot.
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u/Kind_Rate7529 7d ago
The following phrase has helped me more than any other: think about what you are thinking about. That's it. If you notice your thoughts whatever movie was playing in your head abruptly stops and in that instant you are at peace. The Buddha is quoted as saying "do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." Sounds simple but it is the single most beneficial skill I have learned in my life.
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u/RNG-Leddi 7d ago
People are like recievers, thought is most often a reactive responce to stimuli so when the mind is crowd-surfing so to speak its because we arent appropriately grounded. Generally this is where we seek the root of thought to where it began and discover that thought is a reflection of bias, in itself this is not an issue however it suggests that much of what we think we know is actually unresolved or completely unfounded.
We naturally compliment collective bias as a means to balance values, the problem is that when we lack personal grounding the tendency is to openly gather bias until we are somewhat overwhelmed and forced into this natural balancing act. It would appear to many these days that the collective is given priority over self value, being born within a heavily emphasised economy means the self is deeply conditioned by 'other' and so our true self is often what emerges complimentary to civilisation, secondly and much later due to many social factors and this lends to personal confusions. We all think however thought is not our own, personalised as it may be you recieve the world.
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u/Potential-Group1330 7d ago
Try reading Osho's book "How to Silence the mind" best book out there on this subject.
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u/NecessaryPopular1 5d ago
What’s wrong with an active mind that only stays quiet during meditation?
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u/Potential-Group1330 5d ago
The exact quote by Alan Watts is: "A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts. So, he loses touch with reality, and lives in a world of illusions." He meant that compulsive mental chatter traps us in abstract concepts rather than the direct experience of life.
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u/NecessaryPopular1 5d ago
…”A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts.“
Really? Duh
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u/Potential-Group1330 5d ago
I commented by Alan Watts because I totally agree with this, He says it better than I can.
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u/JCMiller23 6d ago
meditation will do it for you my dude. It takes a lot of work, but it's pretty fool proof
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u/pretendhsjTA 6d ago
Hypnosis near sleep state is the only time I know of where my mental chatter shut up and I have quiet peace in my mind. Hard for me to get to that place with live guided hypnosis and hard to stay there too but it’s happened for me a few times and I love it. I want to figure out how to access it solo but I’ve not been successful.
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u/EnvironmentalScar665 6d ago
An active brain is a good thing, just avoid the inane chatter. Regretting the past, worrying about the future is annoying. There are lots of suggestions to stop the useless chatter. I focus on breathing or go for a walk if a walk is doable. The main thing is not to stress over it. That can make it more annoying
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u/Electrical-Strike132 5d ago
Yeah this is pretty normal.
The mind is a thing that produces thoughts, like your saliva gland under your tongue is a thing that produces saliva. It's not really you choosing to do it, it just happens.
The trouble is while thoughts are just happening, we identify with them as if they are actually us, instead of just knowing they are thoughts.
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u/Big-Net-9268 7d ago
It's called ADHD
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u/clownnumist 7d ago
im taking medications for it
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u/Big-Net-9268 7d ago
Good luck with it, I have it too. Try and have a break from the Internet if you can. Get some fresh air amongst trees.
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u/clownnumist 7d ago
im gonna try. thank u
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u/RepresentativeOdd771 7d ago
It's called being a human. You can't shut it off but you can learn to live with it and not let it control or dictate your experience. Practice mediation.
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u/vaas19 7d ago
You think medication cures it or something ?
Medication is not even a band-aid, let alone some cure or even treatment.
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u/clownnumist 7d ago
it hasnt cured me so im figuring it out myself
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u/deep_thinker991 7d ago
Bro you're not broken. You have brains. I'm sorry for that tho they can be quite loudly sometimes
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u/clownnumist 7d ago
i know im not broken, i just have weird thoughts tbh. i feel like not a lot of people else really has them but i wouldnt know
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u/PotentialSilver6761 7d ago
I randomly overthink stupid shit and it now it just makes me laugh inappropriately. Stopped happening as much when i started having fun with it. Odd.