Trapped in your own thoughts

[Odyne]

Hi all,

I wanted to know if there are INFJ's (or anybody else for that matter) who, like me, feel trapped in their own thoughts. I mean, you're stuck in a certain train of thoughts, or you keep having scenarios playing out in your head, and you can't snap out of it until it ends or whatever you've been thinking about reaches some sort of resolution.

Sometimes it gets in the way of paying attention to whats really infront of me. And, it's nothing important. It's not like I have an issue or a problem that i'm constantly thinking about and I can't concentrate. My mind just goes astray somewhere lost in thought.

Had any one experienced this? How do you control it or snap out of it? I mean, not that i hate it, it can be relaxing sometimes especially when i'm stressed or in emotional distress, but i need to know how to be able to focus when real life becomes demanding (especially of late, *sigh*).

Any advice or personal experience will be much appreciated.

 

[Kgal]

I'm an INFJ and I too experience that type of daydreaming (I call it). I've been practicing meditation from a Mayahana Buddhist perspective for a couple of years now and have developed a "trick" to redirect my mind from doing that. I've learned the brain is divided into 2 general regions - left brain for analytical analysis and thinking - right brain for creativity, music and speech. I watch my mind during meditation as it comes up with all sorts of things to think about - what I need to do later - did I offend someone earlier - how much I liked that song - and so on. Sometimes the same "story" pops up over and over again. During those times I purposefully shift my eyes towards the right side of my brain and I "look there". I know that may sound idiotic - but it literally stops the endless stream of thoughts running through my mind. Once the story is stopped (for the moment) I try to "hear" the sounds around me - and "feel" the sensations ocurring in my body as I sit. More and more I've noticed it is getting easier for me stop the story and just sit and be with me.
On another note - Buddhist teachings would suggest you need to spend time with that scenario and discover the underlying motives as to why you keep coming back to that story. What do you get from it? What is your fear?
Good luck.

 

[Entyqua]

OH i do this all the time!
Sometimes I love it...Sometimes I hate it!

 

[Wyst]

I do this a lot with bad lines of thinking. Very easy to develop a defeatist mentality.

 

[sumone]

The trouble with me is I don't see it coming. I drift into it so easily. Today at lunch I was eating and suddenly I was jolted by raised voices with one woman telling another to just shut up! I missed the entire buildup! One of the angry women looked at me and said, "See? See what I put up with?" I just burst out laughing because I had no idea what was going on. The whole thing struck me so funny. A couple of other girls started giggling and then everybody laughed so it turned out ok.
And I have no idea what I was so deep in thought about either.

 

[Puck]

Yes. I daydream often as well as getting lost in mundane thoughts and those 'what if' imaginary film-reels - nightmarish or otherwise. Mostly it's when my own world is more appealing/exciting than the real world, and my subconscious likes to decide that for me. A semi-effective tool to combat this is simply to get in touch with the senses. When you feel the drift, then focus on the real things around you - people, objects, sounds, scents, tastes, touch and the other kind of feeling(warmth, wet, etc). It helps, although in my case, by the time I remember to do this, someone is already asking me a question, so I must appear a little drunk to them. :lol:

 

[INFJsupergirl]

Hi all,

I wanted to know if there are INFJ's (or anybody else for that matter) who, like me, feel trapped in their own thoughts. I mean, you're stuck in a certain train of thoughts, or you keep having scenarios playing out in your head, and you can't snap out of it until it ends or whatever you've been thinking about reaches some sort of resolution.

Sometimes it gets in the way of paying attention to whats really infront of me. And, it's nothing important. It's not like I have an issue or a problem that i'm constantly thinking about and I can't concentrate. My mind just goes astray somewhere lost in thought.

Had any one experienced this? How do you control it or snap out of it? I mean, not that i hate it, it can be relaxing sometimes especially when i'm stressed or in emotional distress, but i need to know how to be able to focus when real life becomes demanding (especially of late, *sigh*).

Any advice or personal experience will be much appreciated.

Oh yes, I do. I'm learning to overcome my thoughts, it can be really depression. The best thing that I do is pray & make up in my mind that everything will be okay & I replace a thought with another one.

 

[tfg345i4u5lw]

I think this is characteristic of most INFJ's. Its like we take a little vacation from reality. I have always thought I would be a good actor because of this trait. I have no advise on how to overcome it tho since I can't myself. I just accept it and try to see it as an intellectual asset.

 

[Norton]

I live in my mind so much that it is my normal state to miss much external detail. What I do see is abstracted and becomes integrated into a virtual mental model. Weird, I know, but that's me. It's actually quite nice and pleasant. I have often heard: "Earth to Norton!"

I snap back into the real world under the influence of adrenaline, anxiety, deadlines, and, here in the U.S., April 15 (our tax day).

 

[Vulcan]

I would say getting lost in thought or daydreaming is a very iNtuition thing to do. I do those sort of things quite often and get jolted back into reality by some sort of gross external stimuli, such as sumone mentioned. Probably the best resolution to such a problem would be to develop the Se function. The Buddhist concept of living in the moment may be of particular interest here.

 

[Norton]

The trouble with me is I don't see it coming. I drift into it so easily. Today at lunch I was eating and suddenly I was jolted by raised voices with one woman telling another to just shut up! I missed the entire buildup! One of the angry women looked at me and said, "See? See what I put up with?" I just burst out laughing because I had no idea what was going on. The whole thing struck me so funny. A couple of other girls started giggling and then everybody laughed so it turned out ok.
And I have no idea what I was so deep in thought about either.

I have been deep in thought, working on something really interesting in my head, and someone sees what appears to be a scowl on my face. Then they tell me to smile because it's healthier than a scowl. Such a stupid, insipid comment. It demands a smart, cutting remark, which I can only come up with an hour later. Drives me nuts. I don't mean to be misanthropic, but the intrusions of the extroverted world can really be annoying.

 

[Vulcan]

I have been deep in thought, working on something really interesting in my head, and someone sees what appears to be a scowl on my face. Then they tell me to smile because it's healthier than a scowl. Such a stupid, insipid comment. It demands a smart, cutting remark, which I can only come up with an hour later. Drives me nuts. I don't mean to be misanthropic, but the intrusions of the extroverted world can really be annoying.

Stuff like that irks me too, yet wisdom can be found even in the most naive comments. When you exhibit facial expressions for a long enough period, they can positively or negatively affect your state of mind by releasing certain brain chemicals. So, when you smile for long enough, you can't help but feel a bit happier.

 

[IndigoSensor]

I ruminate every thought I have. A lot of it is actually because I have trained myself to do this. I have found use in milling over thoughts and ideas because it gives further insight and knowledge to things. It's a doubled edged sword. Because I have gotten so used to doing this, it has become autonomic. Again, in some ways a good thing. The bad thing is I can never turn off my mind, or when I do it takes a high level of effort to do so. I do in essence become trapped in my own thoughts, because I end up ruminating everything. Even if I end up only processing one thing for a few minutes, it gets replaced by something else. So it could even be just one big thing, or it could be a lot of small thing. In the end the weight is the same.

 

[sumone]

I ruminate every thought I have. A lot of it is actually because I have trained myself to do this. I have found use in milling over thoughts and ideas because it gives further insight and knowledge to things. It's a doubled edged sword. Because I have gotten so used to doing this, it has become autonomic. Again, in some ways a good thing. The bad thing is I can never turn off my mind, or when I do it takes a high level of effort to do so. I do in essence become trapped in my own thoughts, because I end up ruminating everything. Even if I end up only processing one thing for a few minutes, it gets replaced by something else. So it could even be just one big thing, or it could be a lot of small thing. In the end the weight is the same.

Oh yes, ruminating, I know it well.