POLL: Can you turn your mind off? (page 6)

ziddina

As a woman, I can say that I am able to turn my mind off, too...

Jes' depends on how much chocolate/candy I can eat...

A decent sugar-buzz will kill most intelligent thoughts!!

Zid

TD

Now I'm curious too.

Do women ever just lay on their backs on a summer day and stare up at the clouds to the point where unbidden patterns start popping into your head?

It's incredibly restful

I can get into a meditation state but it requires a lot of effort. I once was in a group guided mediation and they said the usual things like " see yourself in a happy place". I don't have a happy place and when I finally decided on a river or lake I thought about sharks or biting fish. It is really hard to turn it off. I have done it though. I can do it when I am getting a MRI. Just use fantasy and I can take myself away. I can't go blank , however.

Ilovebirthdays

I'm not able to turn it off. I am able to think about something else, and tune back in (with a slight delay) and respond to the important stuff going on around me/or when someone starts talking to me and I need to respond.

Can you tell I'm an ex-JW who has small children?

Judge Dread

Thinking of nothing is still thinking of something.

JDW

dinah

Lee, I've noticed this too. My mind RACES most of the time. It depends on what's going on, if it's not a stressful time I can just daydream, but I'm ALWAYS thinking if I'm conscious.

I'm always thinking something. Sometimes I get so deep in my thinking that I don't even hear what's going on around me. Mr. Dinah calls that "dingy" I call it "selective hearing"

poppers

My mind is usually completely quiet unless it's needed for something useful. It's truly amazing how few thoughts are actually needed each day, so the ability to "short-circuit" useless/non-productive thinking when it arises is a real blessing. Silence truly is golden. Seeing the world without intrusive thoughts getting in the way is seeing the world freshly "as it is" rather than through a filter of previously conditioned thought patterns that turn "what is" into "what I think it is", and that is a huge difference.

FifthOfNovember

Hmm...not sure if this will help, but when I was at the gym today I completely zoned out while sitting at a tricep machine, staring at the floor, no idea of what was going on around me. I didn't snap out of it until my friend said something to me. I don't really remember thinking about anything, I could have been, I just don't remember. I'm a guy. Hope that helps.

LisaRose

I cannot turn my mind off. The closest I've come has been to meditate, and I really have to work at it. And even then, I'm not thinking about "nothing", just focusing on some very simple visualization. I daydream, where I am not thinking about what's going on around me (like I used to do at the meeting), and my mind is skipping around on pleasant subjests, but I wouldn't call that nothing.

POLL: Can you turn your mind off?