Thought happen as a byproduct of emotions running through our system. Thoughts are also something we create.
We experience something like 60-70k thoughts per day, both survival based automatic thinking called, Implicit Thoughts, as well as conscious thoughts that we use in an attempt to make sense of the implicit thoughts, know as Explicit Thoughts. Both are always interacting.
An important realization is we are not our thoughts, and we can see this when there's us observing our thoughts as the impartial stand alone entity to them being produced by the brain, just as blood being pumped through our bodies by our heart.
*ANALOGY:
-Implicit thought is like:
The autopilot system reacting in real time.
Whereas
-Explicit thought is like:
The pilot consciously analyzing the map and making decisions.
Implicit thought is:
- Automatic
- Fast
- Usually unconscious
- Emotionally and physically driven
- Learned through repetition, conditioning, and experience
- You often feel implicit thought before you consciously “hear” it.
Examples of implicit thoughts:
- Instantly feeling unsafe around someone without knowing why
- Automatically slamming the brakes while driving
- Reading body language unconsciously
- Feeling anxious before realizing what triggered it
- Habits, instincts, biases, emotional associations
- Implicit thought is heavily tied to:
- Pattern recognition
- Survival processing
- Conditioning
- Procedural memory
- Emotional learning
Neurologically, it is often associated more with:
- Limbic system activity
- Basal ganglia
- Autonomic nervous system processing
- Fast predictive processing networks
Explicit thought is:
- Conscious
- Intentional
- Slower
- Reflective
- Language-based
- This is the “inner narrator” most people identify as thinking.
Examples of explicit thoughts:
- Solving a math problem
- Planning tomorrow
- Analyzing your emotions
- Deciding between two options
- Explaining your reasoning out loud
- Explicit thought is tied more to:
- Working memory
- Deliberate attention
- Logical reasoning
- Verbal processing
- Cognitive control
- Neurologically, it relies heavily on:
- Prefrontal cortex
- Executive functioning networks
- Conscious attention systems
- Simple Analogy
We also have ego dystonic and ego syntoic thoughts.
Ego dystonic thoughts are 1 off conscious shocking rogue thoughts the mind takes exception to; an example being, I wouldn't randomly slash someone's car tires on my way into the grocery store, or run across the street and beat up my neighbor for sweeping cobwebs off of his garage, but I've had those thoughts. When I did I thought what the hell is wrong with me?
Turns out, if I didn't notice the thoughts and they were in line with who I am there would be something wrong with me, and the thoughts would be ego syntonic. Ego syntonic thoughts are the bulk of the thoughts we experience that go unnoticed because they are in line with who we are at our core.
I notice I experience an overabundance of ego dystonic thoughts during flashback. I'm learning to catch it and let it go. I even talk to myself saying, "Nice try mind, that's ego dystonic" and let it go.