What does your inner stream of consciousness sound and feel like?

[Sibley]

What happens when you read?

It’s hard to explain to someone who has a visual imagination, but basically nothing happens when I read. It’s like speaking, except silently, in my head. I don’t picture what characters look like or what they sound like. Despite my imaginative defect, I enjoy reading and it’s my primary hobby. I process text really quickly and easily.

^this.

[Sibley]

Those with some form of aphantasia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia), do you know if you see images or hear music when you dream, that you don't when awake?

I'm more on the brain-won't-shut-up side of things, and I'm surprised that @AerynLee seems to have the audio but not the visual in this always-on mode.

I've dreamed in languages I've studied, using more in the dream than I consciously know. Language and words will sometimes get stuck in my head the way music does. I've had the experience of taking a test where I know where on the textbook page the answer is, but not what the answer is. When I say nobody must move my piles, it's because I have a visual memory of where things are. Typos both look and sound wrong to me. It's useful sometimes, but some of this stuff is taking up space that would be better used some other way.

I don't remember my dreams/nightmares. I'll wake up happy or disturbed, but by the time I'm awake enough to think clearly about the dream the memory is gone. The emotions typically pass just as quickly. I will sometimes remember a "dream" from when I was dozing, ie not deeply asleep, and those have no images that I recall. Its a lot like reading for me.

[crocheted_stache]

I have all the tools out to install the two screws to mount a hook. I have the hook. And the screws. It's probably not getting done today, either, because it's going to involve remembering to bring objects upstairs from downstairs. Also, it requires sitting on the floor, and sitting on the floor bugs me more these days than I care to admit. Still, it's closer than it's been in a long time.

The hook is installed, at long last. (Tools have been out about a week. Hook has been around for months.) An afternoon nap helped immensely. So did having DH around for an extra pair of hands.

It's been in "Sharpie...Tape..." mode for a while now. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/t2aYxkrMVWQ

[twinstudy]

Another thing I do that sometimes makes me crazy is that I count.  Well, I just stirred my oatmeal 7 times.  Should I do an extra 3 stirs and make it an even 10, or is 7 stirs being edgy?  It took 12 steps to get to the kitchen.  Who cares?

Oh the counting. That has gone down for me as an adult, probably because my job title literally has counting in it (accounting), but I still do this too

I also count - usually in multiples of 6 or 8; avoiding prime numbers. And sometimes I blink to punctuate each count.

I also talk to myself and have a mental routine that I usually go through each day - a mental list or status check. "Health, work, eating, chores, social" - I cycle through the list at intervals in the day. 

Strange, I know. I'm pretty sure I have OCD or something like that.

[cupcakery]

Another thing I do that sometimes makes me crazy is that I count.  Well, I just stirred my oatmeal 7 times.  Should I do an extra 3 stirs and make it an even 10, or is 7 stirs being edgy?  It took 12 steps to get to the kitchen.  Who cares?

Oh the counting. That has gone down for me as an adult, probably because my job title literally has counting in it (accounting), but I still do this too

I also count - usually in multiples of 6 or 8; avoiding prime numbers. And sometimes I blink to punctuate each count.

I also talk to myself and have a mental routine that I usually go through each day - a mental list or status check. "Health, work, eating, chores, social" - I cycle through the list at intervals in the day. 

Strange, I know. I'm pretty sure I have OCD or something like that.

@AerynLee  Also an accountant!

[RetiredAt63]

What happens when you read?

It’s hard to explain to someone who has a visual imagination, but basically nothing happens when I read. It’s like speaking, except silently, in my head. I don’t picture what characters look like or what they sound like. Despite my imaginative defect, I enjoy reading and it’s my primary hobby. I process text really quickly and easily.

^this.

Same here.  And when I'm reading the voice in my head is reading, nothing else in the way of inner dialogue is happening.  Same when I'm writing,  like now.

[AerynLee]

Another thing I do that sometimes makes me crazy is that I count.  Well, I just stirred my oatmeal 7 times.  Should I do an extra 3 stirs and make it an even 10, or is 7 stirs being edgy?  It took 12 steps to get to the kitchen.  Who cares?

Oh the counting. That has gone down for me as an adult, probably because my job title literally has counting in it (accounting), but I still do this too

I also count - usually in multiples of 6 or 8; avoiding prime numbers. And sometimes I blink to punctuate each count.

I also talk to myself and have a mental routine that I usually go through each day - a mental list or status check. "Health, work, eating, chores, social" - I cycle through the list at intervals in the day. 

Strange, I know. I'm pretty sure I have OCD or something like that.

@AerynLee  Also an accountant!

lol. We had to put that number compulsion to good use!

[RetiredAt63]

Another thing I do that sometimes makes me crazy is that I count.  Well, I just stirred my oatmeal 7 times.  Should I do an extra 3 stirs and make it an even 10, or is 7 stirs being edgy?  It took 12 steps to get to the kitchen.  Who cares?

Oh the counting. That has gone down for me as an adult, probably because my job title literally has counting in it (accounting), but I still do this too

I also count - usually in multiples of 6 or 8; avoiding prime numbers. And sometimes I blink to punctuate each count.

I also talk to myself and have a mental routine that I usually go through each day - a mental list or status check. "Health, work, eating, chores, social" - I cycle through the list at intervals in the day. 

Strange, I know. I'm pretty sure I have OCD or something like that.

@AerynLee  Also an accountant!

lol. We had to put that number compulsion to good use!

Biostatistics and life tables.     ;-)

[iris lily]

Another thing I do that sometimes makes me crazy is that I count.  Well, I just stirred my oatmeal 7 times.  Should I do an extra 3 stirs and make it an even 10, or is 7 stirs being edgy?  It took 12 steps to get to the kitchen.  Who cares?

Oh the counting. That has gone down for me as an adult, probably because my job title literally has counting in it (accounting), but I still do this too

I also count - usually in multiples of 6 or 8; avoiding prime numbers. And sometimes I blink to punctuate each count.

I also talk to myself and have a mental routine that I usually go through each day - a mental list or status check. "Health, work, eating, chores, social" - I cycle through the list at intervals in the day. 

Strange, I know. I'm pretty sure I have OCD or something like that.

@AerynLee  Also an accountant!

lol. We had to put that number compulsion to good use!

Biostatistics and life tables.     ;-)

DH is a counter, but he doesn’t use patterns. He and his 4 siblings were standing around their mother’s death bed, chatting, and one of them brought up “counting.” All but one nodded, and that one said “what is counting.” They all shouted at her “you aren’t a counter then!”

Dh has very mild OCD and takes a drug each night for sleep. He has been taking it for decades, no harm and no side effects.

[simonsez]

Topics like this make me wish Vulcan mind-melding was real because any attempt to use only words is laughably ..., wait, did people really not say "Merry Christmas" en masse until the mid 19th Century? ...  I wonder if my uncle liked his gifts from me this year... do I explain how my one side of the family does gifts to an anonymous forum thread ... need to do squats and pushups ... how does that number go again? 10213223 - one zero, two one(s), three two(s), two three(s), self descriptive numbers are tricky, what was that book my wife was reading, oh right "Cutting for Stone", time to pee <starts counting>, hmm 36 seconds and a little too yellow, that's probably 70th percentile and I need to drink more water today ... I wonder if my daughter will be able to walk next Christmas ... I really need to get a move on painting the constellations on the ceiling in her room ...  I really liked those hot chocolate cookies with marshmallows on top, those were dangerously good! ...

[Fru-Gal]

I count too. That’s why goal streaks work extremely well on me. But then sometimes I have to remind myself that it’s OK to stop counting, these numbers are only for my own entertainment!

[Villanelle]

When I'm intoxicated, I count, especially when I pee.  And always in 3/4 time.  ONE two three, TWO two three, THREE two three... or sometimes ONE two three, FOUR five six...

[Sailor Sam]

What happens when you read?

It’s hard to explain to someone who has a visual imagination, but basically nothing happens when I read. It’s like speaking, except silently, in my head. I don’t picture what characters look like or what they sound like. Despite my imaginative defect, I enjoy reading and it’s my primary hobby. I process text really quickly and easily.

^this.

This is how I read too, but I don’t have aphantasia. I spend so much time staring out into the ocean, trying to be an actual lookout instead of sinking into my own mind.

[crocheted_stache]

I must have slept a little inconsistently through the morning, and I remember this snippet of a longer, more detailed dream.  The team that did such stuff had had their meeting and were springing into action, starting the process of cutting blanks and making molds for letters for a sign of some sort. I don't recall what they were trying to spell, but I noticed and brought it to their attention that they needed a lower case 'd' and seemed to be working on every letter but that.

"The team" were NPCs and nobody I know. Sign making is not my profession, so I think I had to figure out what they were doing as I watched. I think they were a little surprised that I'd caught on and grateful that I'd caught the omission while they could still make the missing letter and start the process without starting over.

As best I can tell, my dreams are full color plus language(s) and music, among other details.