Does this happen to you?

[CathyA]

I wasn't quite sure where to put this post.

Maybe its because of my ADD, but my brain is constantly working, working, working. I might be doing dishes, or driving, or whatever, and scenes from my past show themselves to me. they have nothing to do with what I'm thinking about. Like maybe standing in my grandmother's back yard, sitting in a tree behind our old house (when I was 8), standing outside my dorm 40 years ago, running the cash register at a drug store 45 years ago, etc., etc. This goes on constantly.
Does this happen with you? Its like my brain is constantly scanning my life.....constantly. It doesn't bother me. I just find it curious.

[Sad Eyed Lady]

Wow, that is curious! In a good way though. I would love to be able to recall complete scenes from my past like that (provided they were good memories, not bad). I don't do this type of thing, but I do have what I think is a "monkey mind" - can't seem to wind it down as much as I would like to, especially when going to sleep at times.

[Marianne]

I have 'monkey mind' at bedtime, too. Often times I'm turning on the tube just for the noise to help distract the ol' brain enough that I can fall asleep.
Are you pretty creative? I always thought my constant random thoughts were just a creative thing. ;)

[CathyA]

It probably has something to do with my ADD.
Here's another weird thing. One of the things that pops into my mind is various peoples' homes I've been in throughout my life. I could probably draw up blueprints of every house. I just remember so much about them. But my memory is non-existent for many other things!

[CathyA]

Thanks for mentioning "monkey mind". I had never heard of that. I googled it and there's several sites with suggestions on how to calm it down. Thanks!

[Mrs-M]

100% yes! Round the clock if I allow it. Like the second hand on a clock, my brain never stops ticking... I reap both frustration and jubilation over it.

[jania]

Left on it's own the mind just loves to go from one thought to the next, from one point of stimulation to the next. It's great that Marianne mentioned the concept of "monkey mind" and you took the time to check it out, realizing now there are ways of calming the mind if you want to.

[loosechickens]

I tend to do this, and it's one reason why, years ago, I began to meditate, because there is nothing better than a long term meditation practice to calm and quiet the mind.

It has a positive side, though, because I think sometimes that if I am very old (but hopefully still have my mind), and find myself confined in some nursing home, I will have a rich and full scrapbook of vivid memories to mull over in just that way.

It's always fascinated me that so many of those vivid memories are of perfectly ordinary moments in life. All of us, I guess, have vivid memories of just where we were when 9/11 happened, and such things, because intense events tend to imprint memories on the mind with most people. But.....why do I have a vivid memory of "riding" a bar stool horse in our basement recreation room at age eight, or standing by the ball diamond plucking honeysuckle flowers and tasting the sweetness? I have literally thousands of those "ordinary moment" memories, still vivid, even can almost put myself back in that moment, yet none of them have any apparent reason why THEY should be the moments remembered and not others, perhaps from that same day or week, etc.

it's occurred to me, over the years as I've meditated seriously, that they have a certain similarity to some moments in meditation, when for a few seconds or minutes you are actually AWAKE, and experience the present moment. I wonder if those memories don't consist of moments when we were alive to what was around us, in that very moment, and that is why they are so persistent.

Is that how life is for greatly realized meditators, Zen masters, people like the Dalai Lama, some Christian monks, etc.? That they have learned through meditation, prayer, practice, to experience that present moment, so that life proceeds from moment to moment, with them being alive and aware of all the moments as they happen?

At any rate....it's entertaining to look through those everyday "slice of life" moments in the mind. But nice to meditate and learn to quiet them when you desire calm, too.

[CathyA]

LOL LC, I've thought the very same thing about being old in a nursing home and having so much to think about! :)

[pinkytoe]

I have often wished for a switch on the side of my head that would turn off the thoughts when needed. Meditation helps but still requires great focus on my part so hard to do. It is very curious how we recall those ordinary moments and others are lost forever.

[Aqua Blue]

Last year I tried Savella for fibromyalgia and I stopped having all of that background stuff. Really I stopped having all extra thought. You know how you might be talking to someone but at the same time you think, Oh I need to buy a loaf of bread on my way home...The same thing happened to me on another similar med. So, if you want it gone they might help. I personally found it scary enough that I stopped it immediately and will never try another one.

[CathyA]

So Aqua Blue, are you saying that you didn't like having all those thoughts taken away by the med?

[CathyA]

pinkytoe........I agree.......why are some seemingly insignificant moments in our minds forever, but so many others aren't? I haven't a clue. I sometimes yearn for some new subject matter! :) Maybe it is like Loosechickens said, and for some reason, we were just very receptive at those moments.

I've embarrassed myself a few times by meeting up with very old friends and bringing up moments that I remember like they were yesterday and they had no clue what I was talking about.
Sometimes I wonder if our present thoughts are close to where certain other thoughts are stored in our brains, and when we have a present thought, maybe it includes a thought that's nearby?
I don't dislike these thoughts.......I was just curious why they pop up into my consciousness constantly. For many of them, I am truly transported back in time, and that's cool!

[frugal-one]

I used to have a hard time falling asleep with all the things running through my mind. Now that I am retired, I find I am much more relaxed and the mind has calmed down. THANKFULLY!

[CathyA]

Okay, here's another weird thing I have.......I go through spells where when I close my eyes, its like tons of motion. I don't mean dizziness, but things flying past my vision........like several TV stations mixed together on fast forward! Yep......I'm weird! haha

[Aqua Blue]

So Aqua Blue, are you saying that you didn't like having all those thoughts taken away by the med?

Yes

[CathyA]

Ok. I understand.