Do you have thoughts and mental noise consistantly? Or no?

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I posted this initially as a reply to someone but I want to hear everyone`s experience on the topic...

I don't have a voice in my head, I rarely have thoughts in my mind, it is usually peaceful and quite yet I know very well I am smart... I have talked to my girlfriend and friends and family and all the NTs in my life say they have a constant flow of mental noise and thoughts...I don't. Hence the saying ``Lost in thought`` which never happens to me. So is this normal with anyone else?
I am able to think and problem solve when needed, most of the time, and think about things I need to do but when I AM not thinking, there are no thoughts or mental noise. I am usually very alert and observant but I know my consciousness and who I am.

Any similar experiences?

Wow; I would have to say I'm almost the exact opposite-- my mind is very "noisy" most of the time. It must be nice to have the peace and quiet.

Well, Cheeba, I am NT and I experience the same you do. Sometimes my mind is just blank. My Aspie husband sometimes asks me "what's in your mind" and I say "nothing" and he just does not believe me. He says he is constantly thinking about stuff. I dont. I mean, I am intelligent, and I am a good problem solver, but I just dont go thinking about stuff all the time. For example, if I am in a quite environment, like surrounded by nature, I will just let my senses experience all around me and will disconnect my mind. It is very hard for me to "sensse" things and "concentrate" on things at the same time. If I need to talk about what I am feeling I stop feeling and concentrate on talking. I have also noticed that I analize things without realizing it. If someone asks me about something I will come up with a lot of deep analysis I did not know I did. Weird.

It seems quite common to the autistic condition to have an incessant internal monologue, it frequently contributes to sleep disorders, as its hard to get to sleep when your brain doesn't want to StFU. It almost certianly contributes to the common AS habit of talking to oneself.

I suspect its similar to the lack of mental filters that cause us to sometimes make un-PC remarks without realizing it as well as that sensation of being overwhelmed by the presence of too many other people, due to the 'psychic noise' - that sensation that you're being buffeted by the unspoken thoughts and emotions of everyone in the room all at once, as if somebody had turned LIFE all the way up to 11 and broken off the knob.

I've actually been both ways. Before about age 20 my mind was always busy and filled with chatter. But by 25 or so (and after some weird cognitive changes) that had mostly gone away; my mind became very quiet. Sometimes there's still a little chatter, but overall it's very different than before.

(It's interesting to hear that people can have quiet minds and still can think well -- makes it looks like the cognitive losses I had may be coincidental to the "quieting down.")

One thing I like about it is that it makes it easier get out of my head, and get lost in the environment and the here-and-now (as opposed to getting lost in (usually bad) thoughts about the past or future).

I always have noise in my head, but it's mostly music I have stuck in my head or am composing. Sometimes, I get bored, so I listen to music I like in my head. I also always hear everything that's going on outside me with no filters, and sometimes I hear words. I also usually have pictures of things in my head, both abstract and concrete.

I am always either thinking about something (stressed out, completely, now), or I simply have my ears ring if I'm not.
Either way, it's not anything nice to live with.....

_________________
An Asperger's man who has Autism Spectrum Disorder level 1- mild, with a sprinkling of Synesthesia.

It isn't necessarily literal "noise" (in the "internal monologue" sense) but there is always at least one thread of thought running in my brain and usually more than one.

Mostly my brain is very noisy and busy - thoughts, word repitiion, music fragments, blither blather of all kinds. I also talk to myself a lot, and mostly out loud (try to not do it if others are around). But I never mistake all the noise for coming from somewhere else. Meaning I don't "hear voices" except my own internal one.

I do. That's the cause of my chronic insomnia. I should be asleep right now, actually.

Yes, constant noise, chitter chatter, singing, mumbling, arguments, rehearsals, rewriting conversations, etc. When I was trying to get to sleep a few nights ago, I was really aware of the voice and I tried to just put on some music instead (in my head). I'm sure this isn't helping my anxiety. I don't actually think I'm a verbal thinker, so if I could just get rid of all this interference, maybe I could relax.

Yesterday, I was in the grocery store, I was so concentrated on thinking what to buy that I didn't see stuff in the shelves. I took me twice the normal time to do my grocery.

I notice that when I have a bad night a sleep, I think much more the next day. "think" is probably not the right word here. I'm not sure they a word for what I mean.

i am always thinking, and it usually all comes together at night when everyone is asleep and i can let my creativity out and do something with it if i can't be alone at night to collect it all i will have racing thoughts for the rest of the night and get crazy.

My brain is extremely busy and in a constant flurry of thoughts. There's so much 'mental noise' that it can be very difficult to focus at times, and there's rarely a moment where I'm extremely calm and settled.

OP, I envy you!

I'm never not thinking. I can't even imagine what that would feel like, actually. Usually many, many thoughts are battling for my attention. I try to write some of them out to help me move on, especially as they are usually things I want to remember to do at a later time, or other worries. But I am always lost in thought, for the most part. Except if I'm writing something specific or well doing a very specific activity.

When I go to brush my teeth at night I go on autopilot and the thoughts literally take over, so much so that 5 min later I'll be standing there, and I honestly can't even remember if I brushed my teeth or not. That's how out of it I can get sometimes. I'll assume I brushed them but have no real memory of it. It's so weird. Sometimes when I first get up, I'll be standing there trying to get myself to go into the shower but I'll be so lost in thought it can take me 10 minutes or more to actually get me into the shower sometimes. This mostly only happens late at night or when I frst get up, I don't zone out this much during the day. But it's kind of funny to me that I do it at all.