Hey brain! Shut Up!

[Risu no Kairu]

"...or I'll stab you with a Q-tip!"

Man, Homer Simpson rocks...

[WalkerInTheWoods]

This can be very annoying. The only thing I know to help is to practice keeping your mind quiet throughout the day, not just when you want to meditate, project, etc. Try to keep your mind on what you are doing and be aware of what is going on around you. When you notice it wondering off or starting its own conversations immediately stop it and focus again on what you are doing. This can be hard at first, but after awhile it will become habit.

I am not sure how to describe this, but hopefully you will understand. You think much faster than you can form words. Unless you are writing or talking, try not to think in words. Try to keep your mind from "talking" to you with words but instead just think. I can feel a big difference when I think in words and when I silence the words and just think. Practicing this will help as well.

Something else that helps along with the other suggestions, is to cut back on the amount of TV and radio/CDs/music. Just try to cut back on all the noise. Don't listen to the radio/music/etc in the car or whenever. Get use to silence. You might be amazed at how much you have something on just for background noise. When I first started this practice I was.

[beavis]

Some people say you're crazy when the voices wont shut up []

Dont listen to that crap when you try obe.

[Amadeth]

Fallnangel thanks for mentioning thinking in words. I never realized, but always when I think I actually speak my thoughts word by word! Even my tongue moves to a degree.
I tried to stop it but I forget to control it after a few minutes. I guess it will take time to get used to it.

[xardas]

I think i've got a solution, you've a really creative and impulsive mind. I've the same problems, not when I tried OBE and stuff but just when I'm studying for example. I think the solution sounds kind of egocentric, but what you've to do is look in the mirror and keep thinking there's no world. Everything that exist is just you. If you can visualise properly, what i think you can is that you won't be able to see the rest of the things you see in the mirror. And you won't hear the music anymore, because it has no medium (space) to go through.

Btw. I think you won't notice not hearing something, but anyways i think you're problem is solved.

ps. I'm sorry if my English is bad or something, i'm from the Netherlands. i'm new here btw.

[Blue Giant]

Hey Squeek,
I got into drinking herbal tea a while back and haven't stopped to this day. The teas I drink liquify your body, releasing disharmonious tension and brings relaxation to your cells, body and mind. It slows things around you bringing together your center. I find that my thoughts slow down and relax...that is along with the bodies relaxation. I find the mind and body are hugely related to one another and if one is not rested neither is the other. I suggest you try some! Jasmine tea is very mellowing, good to intiate meditation and pure relaxation. Calming, tranquil and smooth. Very nice. Other teas you generally want to stray from are any caffeine containing ones because of the disharmonious twist of vibrations towards your cells in the body and mind. Some herbal teas do contain slight caffeine...slight. Other teas that are very good is Green tea, Chai and White. Green Tea is very earthy tasting a bit bitter, Chai is more towards cloves (cinnamon) and White tea is also earthy but subtle. All of them have there own specific kind of feel, but generally they relax your body and mind! White tea, however, relaxes the body but brings the mind into a more or less different state. It's interesting. Try it out. If you like than you can start to make your own!!
Hope that helps,
Rusty

[Hyperdimensional]

quote:So I was in the middle of gettin an OBE in (it'd have been my first!) and all the sudden I'm flooded with random thoughts. I was listening to some Whose Line is it Anyway mp3's hours before, and almost every single one re-entered my brain and set themselves to infinite loop. I'm like "No! You can't be here! Go lay down!"

Squeek,

I have a similar type of problem, I start playing a game WC3 (warcraft 3 the frozen throne) two weeks ago, and in 2 of 3 lucid dreams I see war scenes like the wc3 battle.net, well In my LD I prefer normal scenaries  but my mind was thinking in new strategies to use in WC3 while I'm sleeping..

Now I'm considering seriously to stop playing the game..

Best regards

[Centa Five]

It seems that most people have problems with these random thoughts and music loops where there is a constant repetition.  Sometimes I feel that making daily awareness training a pre-requisite for AP would be beneficial for all prospective projectors.  During the day we are constantly being bombarded with so many sounds and images that it is difficult to just shut them all out on demand when it is time to AP. Your mind needs to start getting used to shutting a lot of this stuff off during the day and forming the habit of doing so will enable you to quiet your mind when you practice.  Most people try to project at bedtime and that is when ones mind is still pretty much still flooded with all the thoughts and imagery from the day.  Try drinking a little water before bedtime and then when you go to bed just go to sleep and after you wake up for your bathroom visit go back to bed and try to AP then when you are more relaxed and your mind is quieter.

[jc84corvette]

Man I Would be so ticked if that happend to me! You gotta practice ignoring it as Bruce says.

[breezeman]

Really relaxing your tongue muscles helps. When thinking or talking to yourself your tongue is kinda tensed and even can move a little. Try to relax your tongue, make it feel relaxed and thick.

[Fat_Turkey]

Corvette is, in a way, absolutely right. IGNORE IT. Thoughts are thoughts. I think, therefore I am. So, if I tried to stop thinking...would I cease to exist?

Okay, enough of the rhetorical questions. The simple truth is, you can NOT shut up your thoughts. It is NOT possible. You can fine tune them and make things such as the internal dialogue become silenced, while other thought streams get more attention.

The trick is not to actually try and shut up any part of your thoughts or your mind. If random things happen, let them be random. Just don't give it any energy. That includes trying to shut it up.

Ever had one of those pushy little twerps hang around you because they want to date you? Every single time you tell them to phack off they think you're playing "hard to get" (the logic of some women...O_o) and will not lay off. The same goes for thoughts. Think of it as that little annoying girl who will NOT go away. Just don't give any energy or attention to it whatsoever, no matter how much the dweeb gossips and lies about you two being together....O_o

Thoughts, like everything else, have energy. So, no energy = no point to continue. Energy flows to where attention is. So, no attention = no energy = no thoughts.

All this crazy crap about "entering the silence" is actually really difficult and I don't think it is very productive towards any goal such as lucid dreaming or OBE.

My two cents
~FT

[Kenneth]

Hi Squeek!

I have the exact same problem. I am a muscisian, and when I get a tune playing in my head, I have the same trouble.

What I found helps is not so much trying to "shut it out", but using another concept that also works with Thoughts and Emotions.

(This is also a reply to Fat_Turkey's comment about "I Think, therefore I am...")

Have you ever tried to be really angry, and then suddenly sort of "observing" yourself being angry, instead of BEING the anger? ... (Or sad, or any other feeling...)

If you have, then you allready know the technique. Awareness, and the ability to sort of "Observe" your self.

This is actually one of many "paths" to enlightenment that exists, but it is also extremely effective when it comes to emotions and thoughts.

There are a lot of elements linked to this technique. Once you have tried it with your thoughts, you KNOW without any doubt, that you are NOT your thoughts (!) ... (How can YOU observe your thoughts, if you ARE them ?? [])

Your mind (and and thereby your thoughts) a merely a very powerfull "tool" that YOU can choose to use. (But like any powerfull tool, if you are not very carefull, and very alert / aware about what you are doing, it will be the tool that are using you, instead of You using the tool [])

This is actually one of the biggest "errors" we as humans do - we IDENTIFY ourselves with our Thoughts and Emotions(!) ...

But - back to the task of getting the Thoughts to stop ... try to be as ALERT and AWARE as you can - a little bit like a Cat that is waiting in front of the Mouses home, ready to jump into action ... The same "feeling" of alertnes (You=The cat) will be extremely effective against this repetitive song (Mouse).

Hope this helps you a little bit []

[jc84corvette]

I imagine a tunnel and the thoughts are on the walls wizzing by.

[Squeek]

So I was in the middle of gettin an OBE in (it'd have been my first!)  and all the sudden I'm flooded with random thoughts.  I was listening to some Whose Line is it Anyway mp3's hours before, and almost every single one re-entered my brain and set themselves to infinite loop.  I'm like "No! You can't be here! Go lay down!"

Of course they don't listen.  I try to rid them one by one...  it aint working.  I tried adding them to the attempt with no avail.  Stupid songs.

It ain't just the songs.  I mean like on that day I did nothing.  I sat here and watched the forums refresh with no posts...  Was actually kinda sad []  My brain doesn't shut up.  Grr.

Assistance required?  [|)]

~Squeek