Everyone's always thinking except me...

[barnzy15]

I've read a lot of intp'ers who say they are always thinking/can't turn off their brain. I feel like I'm the exact opposite, where I usually have nothing on my mind and am always living in the moment. Maybe if I had a more stimulating life that gave me more experiences to ponder on it would be different, but frankly there aren't many things that come up in my day to day life where I have to scratch my head and begin analyzing. I know I am an INTP, maybe just differently wired than others, or can many of you identify with me? If not, would you mind listing SPECIFIC examples of something you've observed and the analysis that followed? Or just what are some things that are always on your mind and how do you think about them?

 

[Sinny91]

I've read a lot of intp'ers who say they are always thinking/can't turn off their brain. I feel like I'm the exact opposite, where I usually have nothing on my mind and am always living in the moment. Maybe if I had a more stimulating life that gave me more experiences to ponder on it would be different, but frankly there aren't many things that come up in my day to day life where I have to scratch my head and begin analyzing. I know I am an INTP, maybe just differently wired than others, or can many of you identify with me? If not, would you mind listing SPECIFIC examples of something you've observed and the analysis that followed? Or just what are some things that are always on your mind and how do you think about them?

Well, I just read that last sentence as "What scum things are on your mind"..

So I'll take a wild guess that I'm still subconsciously thinking about the 'scum' mafia game we just played on the forum.

Apart from that, I was also simultaneously ruminating on my cousins attachment style, and thinking about a post I was just about to construct, separate to this one.

In short, lots of random bullshit is always bouncing around in there, and constantly distracting me from my external surroundings.

What are you thinking about right now?

 

[Interdimensionist]

It depends really, at times my mind can be blank but I would say about 80% of the time I'm thinking about a conversation I've had with someone, something I've read recently, a project or tweaking an idea or theory in my mind. Sometimes this happens sub-consciously without my being aware of it and then all of a sudden some insight or idea will just pop into my head or I'll have what you might call a eureka moment and at other times I will be focusing intently on thinking something through, normally whilst pacing up and down smoking.

I've gotten better at making notes as previously I was a little over-confident in my ability to recall something and I realised this was leading to that state where you feel like your mind is racing simply because I was anxious about forgetting some detail and so would constantly turn things over in my mind to what most would consider an obsessive degree, now I just need to get better at organising and prioritising my notes.

To be completely honest I'd say that the majority of the time my thoughts can be quite random, for example, today I was watching some videos on youtube about some of the most gruesome scenes in video games and one of the games chosen was MGS 5 I think, it showed a scene where one of the female characters is being waterboarded and Soviet soldiers are attempting to rape her, she then kicks all their asses in spectacular fashion and escapes, later on in the game she however she is usually shown as being rather scantily clad and so I began thinking about the issue of female objectification and the male gaze in video games and whether or not the decision to include the rape scene and to make her a strong character was rooted in being able to later justify the fact that the character is basically eye candy throughout the rest of the game, it makes me question if the developer's actually identify with the feminist movement or if they just feel obliged to reference and address certain issues for marketing reasons.

 

[Happy]

I've read a lot of intp'ers who say they are always thinking/can't turn off their brain. I feel like I'm the exact opposite, where I usually have nothing on my mind and am always living in the moment. Maybe if I had a more stimulating life that gave me more experiences to ponder on it would be different, but frankly there aren't many things that come up in my day to day life where I have to scratch my head and begin analyzing. I know I am an INTP, maybe just differently wired than others, or can many of you identify with me? If not, would you mind listing SPECIFIC examples of something you've observed and the analysis that followed? Or just what are some things that are always on your mind and how do you think about them?

For me, it depends largely on how engaging my current lifestyle is.

For instance, when I was a university student, I'd feel engaged with a bunch of information during the second half of a semester, but when I was on break, my brain would shut off completely. Basically, when there was mental stimulus, I was on, and the more I had, the more 'on' I'd be. But without mental stimulus, my brain was happy to just conserve energy.

Furthermore, in times of high stimulus, I'd be thinking more often and be lured in by off topic ideas quite easily and soon I'd have a whole lot of parallel thought processes running simultaneously.

Nowadays, I need to be 'on' all the time because I have a job where I spend my day solving problems relating to multiple projects. All the side thoughts tend to be put on the backburner during the week, then I keep the engine running over the weekend by processing all the other things I've wanted to deal with during the week.

However, earlier this year I was temporarily out of work, and during that time I was completely 'off'. Since there was barely any thought that needed to be processed, my brain was happy to just lose all momentum entirely.

It depends really, at times my mind can be blank but I would say about 80% of the time I'm thinking about a conversation I've had with someone, something I've read recently, a project or tweaking an idea or theory in my mind. Sometimes this happens sub-consciously without my being aware of it and then all of a sudden some insight or idea will just pop into my head or I'll have what you might call a eureka moment and at other times I will be focusing intently on thinking something through, normally whilst pacing up and down smoking.

I've gotten better at making notes as previously I was a little over-confident in my ability to recall something and I realised this was leading to that state where you feel like your mind is racing simply because I was anxious about forgetting some detail and so would constantly turn things over in my mind to what most would consider an obsessive degree, now I just need to get better at organising and prioritising my notes.

To be completely honest I'd say that the majority of the time my thoughts can be quite random, for example, today I was watching some videos on youtube about some of the most gruesome scenes in video games and one of the games chosen was MGS 5 I think, it showed a scene where one of the female characters is being waterboarded and Soviet soldiers are attempting to rape her, she then kicks all their asses in spectacular fashion and escapes, later on in the game she however she is usually shown as being rather scantily clad and so I began thinking about the issue of female objectification and the male gaze in video games and whether or not the decision to include the rape scene and to make her a strong character was rooted in being able to later justify the fact that the character is basically eye candy throughout the rest of the game, it makes me question if the developer's actually identify with the feminist movement or if they just feel obliged to reference and address certain issues for marketing reasons.

In relation to the thinking/smoking thing, I used to smoke. A lot. Around 30 rolled cigarettes a day. I thought I was solving problems when I smoked and was deluded into thinking that they were beneficial to my thinking. Really, it was just a distraction and in quitting smoking I learned to maintain momentum and multitask between working and thinking. These days, when I'm doing something, I don't stop for breaks, and in changing these habits, I've learned that I can do all the thinking that smoke breaks afforded me, while accomplishing real work.

Stupid me and my filthy habit.

 

[Interdimensionist]

In my current job, which requires zero mental capacity, I need those cigarette breaks just to get out of the office and away from it all for a short while. I sneak in a few minutes of daydreaming doing this, the stolen moments that get me through the working day.

I prefer weed if I really want to let my mind open up and wander from one idea to the next, the only drawbacks are lethargy, paranoia & forgetfulness so I've learned to cut back and only smoke every once in a while, not everyday as I have done previously, too draining on finances as well, same for cigarettes.

 

[Yellow]

@OP - I am always thinking, and it can't be stopped. However, I'm not always undergoing purpose-driven analysis. Actually, I'm almost never doing that. It's more like nonstop mind-babble that I can tune in and out of (not to be confused with obsessive rumination, which I luckily experience only rarely). Sometimes, if I really try hard enough, I can direct the mind-babble, but it's generally useless. It flares up the worst when I'm doing some mindless task or sitting in meetings.

There are also times when there is absolutely no mind-babble, and that's when I really am focused on something. When I get into the zone, nothing short of a forceful interruption can snap me out of it.

Anyway, maybe you have the mind-babble too and aren't recognizing it as "thinking".

 

[Hadoblado]

I can't not think. I try to meditate etc. to stop, with mixed results. It feels bad to not be thinking, even if it is relaxing. Also if I'm utterly exhausted I can not have a conscious monologue happening.

In order to get myself out of bed everyday, I have a routine of thinking "so if...", "how am I going to X?", "if X were the case...". Not with anything in mind when I start the train, but the question will find a direction by the time I've finished framing it a second later, and from that point onward, I will be thinking consciously and explicitly until I fall asleep again that night.

There are multiple times a day where I'll be utterly unfocused and confused, but these times are more of a 'between thoughts' period, where I'm finished thinking about one thing and I'm in the middle of deciding what next to dedicate my thoughts to.

This makes me pretty aloof and disengaged, makes socialisation a real challenge, and makes it difficult to function. Whenever I'm doing something I'm half-arsing it, as most of my thoughts are elsewhere.

The most miserable I can be is when I'm stuck doing something that requires attention, but isn't interesting enough to warrant thinking about.

Examples?

I got on the bus the other day. In the storage area were two skateboards. The bus was crowded but I didn't see any 17yo boys. From where did the skateboards come? I then went through each face on the bus. I can't remember the exact thoughts but something along the lines of:
- "You're around 25, are you the type to still skate? No... You're sitting next to a 40yo woman and there's two skateboards".
- "You're in the right age group, but you're with your girlfriend, and both of you look like private schoolers".
- "You're the right age to have kids in this age range, but I doubt you'd be carting two worn out skateboards around town for them. If they were new skateboards maybe you were buying them as a present, but they're not".
- "You're around 25, which is plausible, but if you skated you'd likely be fitter. Skateboarding is largely exhibitionism and people who aren't fit don't feel the need to make a spectacle of themselves"

...etc.

Eventually a large man got up and revealed behind him a pair of 17-20yo guys with tatts, piercings, and suitable skate attire. I got off the bus before them, so I don't know if they were the skateboarders for certain, but I no longer had a reason to think about it since there was an explanation.
My thoughts aren't usually this sherlockian though. I didn't care about who owned the skateboard, and I wouldn't have been surprised if someone was just carrying one for his mate or something. I just needed to be thinking about something and this presented suitable mystery.

I then launched into a line of thought about why it was that I was confident I could tell who was the owner of a skateboard or not. On paper all this cultural and age range stuff sounds like bullshit, and yet I'd be confident picking people that didn't skate with a 75%+ success rate. If it's not me being over-confident, then how is it that skating only appeals to particular demographics? This went on for maybe half hour while I idly went about my business until I found something else. Not useful thoughts, but I can't stop.

 

[Architect]

My family knows not to talk to me a half hour to an hour before I go to bed, as I'm trying to shut the brain down. I have to read something entertaining - old Sci Fi usually - just to slow down the mental processes. I've learned that when I wake up at night not to start thinking either, just think about sleep if anything.*

Thinking is a pleasure and a privilege. People are surprised at the weird interests and projects I'll pick up - like HVAC house design, just because it's something to new to think about.

* Interestingly Ray Kurzweil - who I think is an INTJ - has a technique where he thinks about an idea he needs to solve before he goes to bed, just to let his brain solve it overnight. The technique does work and I've wondered why I don't do it. I suspect it's because I don't need to, being a Ti dominant INTP I'll happily solve it and would rather not rob myself of the pleasure by having my brain do it at night. Whereas if Kurzweil is a Ni dominant INTJ then he might need that help.

 

[PmjPmj]

* Interestingly Ray Kurzweil - who I think is an INTJ - has a technique where he thinks about an idea he needs to solve before he goes to bed, just to let his brain solve it overnight. The technique does work and I've wondered why I don't do it. I suspect it's because I don't need to, being a Ti dominant INTP I'll happily solve it and would rather not rob myself of the pleasure by having my brain do it at night. Whereas if Kurzweil is a Ni dominant INTJ then he might need that help.

Figuring out a problem by not thinking about it is an Ni tactic, definitely. If something is really bothering me and I can't work it out, I'll very consciously ask my brain to contemplate the issue and 'get back to me'. I'll then put everything out of my mind entirely by taking a powernap.

When I awake, I most often have a great deal more clarity surrounding the issue.

 

[roguedoll]

My mind is quiet unless I have something in particular nawing at me to think about...and then I won't let it rest until I'm satisfied. I also have aphantasia, but I don't know how much that might play into it. I have a feeling my mind might be a lot "noisier" if images were constantly popping up.