How Aware Are You Of The Invisible Character Inside Your Head?
Inner voice’s tendencies & complexities
Have you given it a name? I call mine Ms. Hyde. She is my friend, critic, partner-in-crime, and the voice of my willpower. She lives inside me within a cloud, a chauffeur of several hats driving the vehicle of my life.
As a child, I used to relate to her as my invisible friend but with time her voice diminished. I almost disconnected from her until I started meditating at the age of 22 and boom she was back. No more the tuned-down subconscious background noise but a full-blown personality of its own.
I noticed that I don’t have one but two inner voices mostly caught in dialogues of contemplation. While the two voices are constant their characters are not. They vary from the compulsive thinker, assuring friend, impulsive lure, helpless child, to the wise old mother. The compulsive thinker, impulsive lure, and helpless child are usually the loudest in stressful situations followed by the assuring friend and wise old mother. However, the modulus of their appearance changes based on my energy. For instance, on a high-vibe day, the assuring friend and wise old mother often take the lead. In general, their prominence in my life depends on the kind of support my conscious self requires in dealing with life.
The aim of this article is to address the nature of the inner voice, explore materials from its latest research, and discuss ways in which we can become aware and ascertain a healthy relationship with it.
Do we all have an inner voice?
Contrary to the common belief, not all of us have an inner voice and not all of us experience it the same way.
According to a study published in the journal — Frontiers in Psychology, 2021, it was found that some individuals lacked imagery in both visual and auditory sensory modalities. They have a condition called aphantasia and anaduralia respectively. Quoting from the study, “Both personal accounts and survey studies have shown that at least some aphantasics report an inner mental life that is not only “blind”, but also completely silent.”
However, that does not mean that they do not possess an inner voice according to Ethan Kross, a psychologist at the University of Michigan and author of Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It. Given that everyone has a working memory to store information, it is reasonable to assume that we all have some sort of inner voice.
The question is what is your relationship with it?
Let’s explore some unique relationships people have with their invisible friends.
Claudia, a sailor from Lichfield, not an Italian herself has the inner voice of an Italian couple, and she has no idea how they’ve taken over her life! The couple passionately argues over important life decisions and has in fact encouraged Claudia to start a new life by quitting her job as a scientist and pursuing her dream job as a sailor. Though they are benevolent, she had to calm them down with sessions of neuro-linguistic program. “They’re quieter now,” Claudia says with relief. “Less shouting. They just bicker.”
Author Hannah Begbie has the English journalist Jenni Murray live inside her head or at least a similar persona with the same kind of voice and the scarf characteristically flung over her shoulder. She says, “My inner voice is a duologue, like I am in a constant state of interviewing myself. The interviewing always happens in a plush radio studio. There’s a warmth and a color to it.” She seems to be in an interrogative relationship with her inner voice.
Justin Hopkins, 59 who works for a social enterprise in London, doesn’t have an inner voice. He describes his brain as a conscious island surrounded by the unconscious ocean, totally inaccessible to him.
Dr. Helene Loevenbruck a neuroscientist from Grenoble Alpes University’s Laboratory of Psychology and Neurocognition explains this concept in the most straightforward way. She says,
“People may experience them as abstract representations of language, without sound … some people say their inner voice is like a radio that’s on all day long. Other people don’t have a voice at all, or they speak in abstract symbols that don’t involve language.”
Russell Hurlburt, a professor of psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas is a pioneer in inner voice research. In his years of work since the 1970s, he has come up with four categories of inner experiences:
- Inner Seeing — Individuals visualize the images in their mind of things real or imaginary
- Inner Feeling — Individuals feel the emotions, such as aggression or joy instead of visualizing the images in their mind
- Sensory Awareness — Individuals feel tactile objects in their minds as if they are real. Like being aware of the exact taste and smell of their favorite dish
- Unsymbolised Thinking — Individuals experience their thoughts as sensations present in their minds but it doesn’t manifest as words or images
How to become aware of your inner voice?
It can be a bit tricky to catch your inner voice as it can interfere with your act of measuring it. It’s much like trying to catch the exact moment you drift off into sleep. Try it and you can’t help but stay up all night.
One of the challenges with Hurlburt’s Descriptive Emotions Sampling (DES) was the fact that you could never ascertain for sure whether the participant’s thoughts were real or an effect of the experimental conditions. For this, they had to ensure that the beeper worn by participants to document their thoughts buzzed only a few times each day so that there was enough time between beeps to forget that it was there. This was key to ensuring a neutral temperament of participants so they could capture their thoughts in their most natural setting.
One group that particularly excelled at this was none other than the skilled meditators.
That brings me to the first modality of reconnecting with your inner voice -
- Meditation
Meditation is the process of calming your mind. Meditating for even 20 mins a day will allow you to catch the repetitive chain of thought that constitutes your inner dialogue.
The aim of meditation, however, is not limited to being aware of your thoughts. The idea is to regulate them in a manner so they don’t interfere with your conscious life and instead support you in making meaningful decisions.
Try to observe your thoughts from a neutral vantage point instead of flowing with them. Observe the contents of its chatter. Does it come from a space of love or fear?
To stop yourself from consciously flowing with your thoughts, focus on your breath, and bring your attention to the space between your brows. The latter helps in relaxing your mind as it shifts the focus from your restless thoughts into a space of calmness. Repeat this every time your mind wanders off even when you are not meditating.
2. Journaling
Journaling is one of the most powerful tools to access your inner voice. Writing gives you the space to document your thoughts as they are. When you read your entries later, perhaps after a month or even a year, you’ll notice the difference in your emotions or not.
With journaling you can document your inner talk on a regular basis creating a whole database of inner knowledge for you. You can identify various intricacies w.r.t the different themes and mental patterns in your life and how they have been influencing you.
3. Be Present
Try to be present in the moment. Most of the inner chatter is either about correcting the past or contemplating the future. When you are present, you can focus on the best you can do at this moment instead of examining what it could or would be.
When you are present, your mind is focused on the job at hand. You get things done, and you feel happy and content instead of being self-deprecating and guilty for spending your time on things you can’t change. Over time you create a happy life for yourself.
“Be original and find your inner voice. The rest will follow.” — A R Rahman
