🤔 When the mind won’t be quiet…

Years ago, one of my friends asked me, “Did you know that there are people who don’t have the Voice in their head?”

I scrunched up my face in disbelief and said, “What are you talking about?”

At the time, I was only somewhat aware that my mind was constantly producing thoughts — like a radio station that never turned off. It didn’t matter what I was doing… there was always commentary running in the background.

What am I going to wear today? I hope it’ll be warm and sunny — I really want to wear that new sundress. Oh no, it’s probably still in the hamper. I need to do laundry. Ugh, I have SO much to do today. I still need to make that doctor appointment, go grocery shopping, and get ready for book club tonight.
And then: Oh great… that means I have to see and hear Susie tonight — she always rushes in exuding stress and complaining about the latest melodrama in her life.
And then: Come on, Andrea… that isn’t kind.
And then: But it’s true.
And then: Okay but still…

On and on and on.

“Yeah,” she replied. “There are people who experience quiet in their minds. They aren’t constantly THINKING about things.”

We kept talking and eventually decided those people must be simple-minded. Not “deep thinkers” like the two of us.

(Which is honestly hilarious in hindsight.)

Because what we didn’t understand yet was this: it wasn’t that we were “high thinkers.”
It was that we were stuck in thought.

We didn’t yet realize that this constant thinking — the planning, the analyzing, the replaying, the judging, the worrying — was quietly exhausting us. It was contributing to anxiety. To spirals. To mood swings. To feeling like we could never fully rest, even when nothing was technically wrong.

I look back on our naïve reflections now and chuckle softly… with a lot more compassion than judgment.

That conversation happened years before I learned about meditation and mindfulness — years before I realized that all this thinking isn’t necessarily a sign of intelligence…

Sometimes it’s just a sign that the nervous system doesn’t feel safe enough to be still.

And the most life-changing shift for me wasn’t learning how to stop thinking (because good luck with that)…
It was realizing that I could start to notice the voice… without obeying it.

That I could hear a thought and not immediately treat it like a command.
That I could feel discomfort without rushing to fix it.
That I could be aware of the mind — instead of being pulled around by it.

This is one of the reasons I love The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer so much. The book gives language to something many of us have felt our whole lives but couldn’t quite name:

There is a voice in the head… and there is also the one who hears it.

And the more we connect with the one who hears… the more freedom we experience.

If this topic resonates — if you’ve ever felt exhausted by your own mind, or longed for more inner quiet — I’d love to invite you to join me for our Awakened Heart Collective Winter Study of The Untethered Soul.

We begin this Friday, and each gathering includes a guided meditation followed by gentle discussion and reflection. It’s not a space for “getting it right” — it’s a space for remembering what’s already here beneath the noise.

With warmth,
Andrea

P.S. I’d love to hear from you:
If your mind had a “radio station name,” what would it be? 😉