[INFP] Am I the only one having imaginary conversations?

[Santosha]

I don't get it at all.

I will babble to myself at times, usually when under stress or talking my way through my own thought/feelings and such.. but conversations with other people? How does your mind understand what this other person would say? How do you seperate yourself from saying it and "other person?" I'm lost.

 

[skylights]

LOL you guys are funny!!

i don't so much hold imaginary conversations, but i do envision really in-depth scenarios. for instance, today i was walking down the street, and i imagined a car who i had to stop for - what if i hadn't stopped walking? what if they had hit me, and i dove enough to avoid getting killed but had my leg run over, and the woman would pop out of the car, and i'd already be calling 911, and the woman would be all "you weren't looking!", and then flash forward to the courthouse where i'm presenting my case and i argue, "it's of no consequence whether i was looking or not. it makes no difference, because i had the right of way, and you did not. you must legally yield to any pedestrian. the law does not specify an attentive pedestrian. any pedestrian. moreover, even if i had been looking, it's not like that would have facilitated me escaping your car barreling towards me at speeds which really were much too fast for the corner you were taking. the fact remains that you could not have slowed down in time to not hit me, and that, ma'am, constitutes reckless driving... but all that aside, the pure fact remains that you, in a car, illegally hit me, a law-abiding pedestrian, and as such i request a sum of money to cover all medical bills for now and regarding future treatment..." and then i win the case obviously, and get tons of money, and fame, and respect, and... yeah, that's about where it ends.

it's always bizarre scenarios where i get sort of hurt but come out on top, looking like a hero.

 

[Santosha]

LOL you guys are funny!!

i don't so much hold imaginary conversations, but i do envision really in-depth scenarios. for instance, today i was walking down the street, and i imagined a car who i had to stop for - what if i hadn't stopped walking? what if they had hit me, and i dove enough to avoid getting killed but had my leg run over, and the woman would pop out of the car, and i'd already be calling 911, and the woman would be all "you weren't looking!", and then flash forward to the courthouse where i'm presenting my case and i argue, "it's of no consequence whether i was looking or not. it makes no difference, because i had the right of way, and you did not. you must legally yield to any pedestrian. the law does not specify an attentive pedestrian. any pedestrian. moreover, even if i had been looking, it's not like that would have facilitated me escaping your car barreling towards me at speeds which really were much too fast for the corner you were taking. the fact remains that you could not have slowed down in time to not hit me, and that, ma'am, constitutes reckless driving... but all that aside, the pure fact remains that you, in a car, illegally hit me, a law-abiding pedestrian, and as such i request a sum of money to cover all medical bills for now and regarding future treatment..." and then i win the case obviously, and get tons of money, and fame, and respect, and... yeah, that's about where it ends.

it's always bizarre scenarios where i get sort of hurt but come out on top, looking like a hero.

I do this too. I think it's Ne on the loose. =P

 

[Arclight]

I don't get it at all.

I will babble to myself at times, usually when under stress or talking my way through my own thought/feelings and such.. but conversations with other people? How does your mind understand what this other person would say? How do you seperate yourself from saying it and "other person?" I'm lost.

Well really all voices are your own. But if you give them characteristics and voices pertinent to their perspectives.. Or sometimes in my case, the voices belong to the people who presented the perspective to me. You can better sort or keep track of the inner dialogue.
I mean I have full on conversations with people , even if I am just really talking to myself.
I also have conversations with myself, where the perspectives are just mine.. One side of me treats the other side very badly.
But the the abused side still rules.. it's a mess.

 

[Lien]

stop editing thoughts!

We all have self talk. Some of us have learnt to turn of the self talk and enter a state of ecstasy. But for most of us, we not only talk subliminally to ourselves, but we also listen.

But things are changing. Not only do we talk to ourselves but we talk to one another on Central. And talk on Central is very like self talk. It is almost as though we are talking to ourselves, but not quite. It's like self talk Jim, but not as we know it.

It is as though our minds no longer live just inside our heads, but also now live on Central. And living on Central is living in public. It is as though our central nervous system is no longer just on the inside, but is on the outside as well. And all we have to do is reach out and touch one another.

on the net, sometimes i can't help it, that i don't mean to do it - it's that my keyboard is hot-wired to my brain. like an extension of my mind.

i type and then my mind wanders. then the next thing you know, my unedited, spontaneous thoughts broadcast live. Opps! please excuse me for sounding a little "out of touch". but i lied.

what i really want to say is, won't you tell me what's on your mind?

but they say, "everyone expresses themselves, just a matter of medium!"

so i think, i'm like a hedge that sticks higher than the others and i want to trim myself down. too talkative, expressive.

i try to keep my mouth closed.
but i can't help it. as i get distracted, my jaw falls, and as i try to seal my lips, a waterfall gushes through.

Opps! nash my teeth and stomp. no good, totally embarrassing! if only they didn't look so bewildered.

 

[Mole]

on the net, sometimes i can't help it, that i don't mean to do it - it's that my keyboard is hot-wired to my brain. like an extension of my mind.

i type and then my mind wanders. then the next thing you know, my unedited, spontaneous thoughts broadcast live. Opps! please excuse me for sounding a little "out of touch". but i lied.

what i really want to say is, won't you tell me what's on your mind?

but they say, "everyone expresses themselves, just a matter of medium!"

so i think, i'm like a hedge that sticks higher than the others and i want to trim myself down. too talkative, expressive.

i try to keep my mouth closed.
but i can't help it. as i get distracted, my jaw falls, and as i try to seal my lips, a waterfall gushes through.

Opps! nash my teeth and stomp. no good, totally embarrassing! if only they didn't look so bewildered.

Lien, we love the way you write.

 

[Emectar]

I have at least 5 imaginary conversations a day.

Today i had one with my best friend who moved to virgina, one with forrest gump, and a third with the son of my science teacher who i've never met in my life.

 

[Lien]

it's okay to have conversations with each other

Lien, we love the way you write.

i write with the ideas of yesterday, but with things i've been holding in since childhood. so although i didn't intend to make that post about me, but with the idea of a person in mind, it is.

if people edit their thoughts, the whole point of speaking your mind and real communication is lost. so i wonder if imaginary friends comes from fear of lack of reaction, or that that everyone will just respond with bewilderment, if you speak your mind.

 

[funkadelik]

When I was little my mum would take me to the water park and I'd go on the lazy river ride and just go around and around for hours conducting interviews (out loud) with historical figures like Einstein and George Washington.

Nowadays I don't talk out loud in public AS much, but sometimes it's fun to pretend I'm having a conversation on my phone with someone as I'm walking around.

 

[Red Herring]

Well, the conversations are in my head, it's not the same as talking to yourself out loud when you are angry or trying to solve a puzzle.

As others have said, the other person in the conversation will usually represent an idea or a cencept and serves as a mental white board to help you look at your own thoughts from a certain semi-detached distance. But it isn't a conscious process, I don't decide to talk to, say, Bill Gates about Windows, he just pops up in my head and I am talking to him until the metalevel sets in and I notice: Hey, you are talking to Bill Gates, you are doing it again, weirdo!

It also happens with people I know and interact with when I am discussing more personal things (like mentally talking to my parents about my childhood or an ex about a previous relationship or a friend about something we recently discussed in real life).

My guess is that it is an unconscious mechanism to sort out your thoughts, but I have no control over it.

As for the scenario with the traffic accident that skylights described, this is something quite different, I think. But I do that as well...all the time. Might be hyperactive Ne. It sure is a lot of fun...Ne rocks!

 

[Mole]

Translating Heidegger

Well, the conversations are in my head, it's not the same as talking to yourself out loud when you are angry or trying to solve a puzzle.

As others have said, the other person in the conversation will usually represent an idea or a cencept and serves as a mental white board to help you look at your own thoughts from a certain semi-detached distance. But it isn't a conscious process, I don't decide to talk to, say, Bill Gates about Windows, he just pops up in my head and I am talking to him until the metalevel sets in and I notice: Hey, you are talking to Bill Gates, you are doing it again, weirdo!

It also happens with people I know and interact with when I am discussing more personal things (like mentally talking to my parents about my childhood or an ex about a previous relationship or a friend about something we recently discussed in real life).

My guess is that it is an unconscious mechanism to sort out your thoughts, but I have no control over it.

As for the scenario with the traffic accident that skylights described, this is something quite different, I think. But I do that as well...all the time. Might be hyperactive Ne. It sure is a lot of fun...Ne rocks!

I dunno Red, we just want you to have conversations with us. We want you to be our women in Germany.

What does she do?, they ask.

She's a translator, I say.

Ooo, they reply, what's that?

You'll have to ask her, I say, but she does talk to herself a lot, I say.

Perhaps she is talking to famous people, they say.

Well, I was talking to Heidegger the other day and he has gone right off being, I said.

No, they said, gone right off being? Perhaps you can get Red to talk to him, she could even speak to him in German.

Well he's dead, deceased, left our mortal coil, I said.

Well, perhaps she could imagine talking to him, you know have an imaginary conversation, they said.

OK, I'll ask her, I said.

So dear Red Herring, would you be kind enough to have an imaginary conversation with Martin Heidegger and subtley and quietly ask him why and how he has gone off being?

We await your reply.

 

[Captain Howdy]

My mother thinks I have imaginary conversations when I play with my Ouija Board. Silly mom!

 

[Patches]

Anyone else doing this?

I have monologues with my pets while they stare at me, probably wondering why the fuck I'm talking to myself.

 

[Mysterious15]

Well I do have imaginary talks with myself most of the time, and when I am observing people, I accidentally start making jokes in my head which causes me to smile, then people (my family) ask 'whats so funny?' . If I tell them its me making jokes myself they will think I am crazy,(not that they don't right now) but I have had talks with famous people before, when I was a kid I used to do it with my favorite authors .....never mind I don't know one thing about them XD

 

[fragrance]

Anyone else doing this?

INTJ here. Yes, I do this often! It's a sort of "film creation" for me. I usually imagine funny conversations, comedy-like... and also amuse myself with these imaginations. An ISTP I know recently punched me because she thought I was making fun of her.

I think I do this because I don't want to waste "imagination capacity". I never understood those people who entertain themselves by playing simple games on their phone.

 

[iwakar]

Hi NFs!

As i walked home from the supermarket yesterday I had a long talk with Mark Twain (well actually it was more of a monologue, I´m afraid) about the changes the 20th century brought us and what he would have liked and what he wouldn´t have liked. I tried to explain the magnitude of some events and developements and it suddenly struck me that I had no clue whether doing this is relatively normal or if I have gone mad some time ago.

I should add that I have had imaginary conversations with both fictional and real people, dead and alive, people I know and people I never met, since my teens.

Anyone else doing this?

I do this a lot, when I'm alone of course. I also carry on conversations with my dog and the television.

 

[King sns]

OP: Everyone here is doing that. We're just on this site to make it look like we're talking to someone else.

 

[Mole]

The Typology of Conversations

OP: Everyone here is doing that. We're just on this site to make it look like we're talking to someone else.

Of course, we are all having imaginary conversations right here. Look! I am having an imaginary conversation with Shortnsweet. I secretly like her but would not dare to say so, except in an imaginary conversation.

Normally I say a relationship consists of three parts. Face to face, talking about the person to others, and the conversation we have with them in our imaginations.

But the relationships we have here are not face to face, sometimes we talk about the person to others, but mostly our conversations are in our imaginations.

So we can say we share our imaginations.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

haha...all these years I thought I was batshit crazy! I suppose I still could be but at least I am in good company.

I monologue as though I am speaking to another person. I have always had difficulty conveying ideas, thoughts, theories, etc... because each one encompasses so much and is linked to so many other points! I habitually think and speak in tangents. I think I may have started doing this as a way to practice talking to people and being understood.

 

[Elfboy]

I have monologues with my pets while they stare at me, probably wondering why the fuck I'm talking to myself.

I was under the impression imaginary conversations were kind of an N thing, but I guess not