I think this generally takes practice, i.e. meditation. The Buddhist lore from the ages is that people can only do this for a few seconds naturally, slowly extending the amount of time, unless they are in a flow state of an activity - like driving a racecar or dancing. But yes it is a superpower, being able to control your mind and emotions, and shut them off

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I can do it but I've never trained in meditation. The yapping stops but then I feel weird not thinking thoughts "outloud". It makes be feel like an animal, tbh. Lol

[–] harmbugler@piefed.social 2 points 3 days ago

That's a good way to put it, like an animal. Aware but without reflection, chatter, analysis etc.

[–] lung@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Is it all the way silent or are there a different layer of kinda quieter meta-thoughts about how you're not thinking thoughts rn?

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Oh yeah, it's complete silence unless I accidentally read something or a thought slips through.

[–] lung@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That's great! Not that you asked for advice, but the other pieces of enlightenment are (1) work on really broad awareness at the edges of your senses - distant sounds, the weight of your clothes, edges of your vision (2) a joyful gratitude for everything you see / experience. Try doing all of that at once, while on a walk or whatever

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Will try it, thanks! Definitely need that today. 🙏

[–] HurricaneLiz@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

To me this sounds more like using your intuition or something to "think" faster than you could say the words in your head. I do it sometimes and saying the thoughts afterwards in English is like the slo-mo repeat version

[–] Atherel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I don't think that this is what the person in the picture means, but the ability to focus on one thing while ignoring/put aside all the noise in your head. With ADHD the inside of your head sounds like being in the center of a fun fair, where it's almost impossible to hear your "own" thoughts.

[–] lung@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Pretty sure they are all your own thoughts, or none of them are. I'm unclear where thoughts come from. Either way, a big part of meditation is focus training, and while people differ in this ability, everyone can improve - like exercise

[–] Atherel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 days ago

Of course they are your own thoughs, well at least I hope so. It's just not the thoughts you want to follow now, and that takes a huge amount of energy to do so. Because they are all the same "volume". Not only that, the thoughts get mashed together and it can be impossible to distinguish between them.

So you sooner or later inevitably start following the wrong thought which spawns a dozen other seemingly random thoughts (but they are not random for you) and then you get yelled at because you're slow and made a lot of errors and hear once again "just focus on the task" or "why don't you just concentrate on what you're doing".

So if neurotypicals can simply focus by ignoring or by putting aside other thoughts, for neurodiverse this is "silence". Not in the meditative "empty your head, let all thoughts go" way, that's another huge step.