Lately, I've been thinking in images. Flashes of bouquets, ice cream... once even a hipster man. 

Illustration: La Perera

It was through this weird shift that I became aware of my natural thinking pattern. I think in sentences. There's almost a constant dialogue happening in my head. It wasn't until the mind chatter was replaced with pictures that I was like - WHOA. What the hell is going on?

The beauty of sharing a room with coaches is I can ask questions about the voices in my head and not receive a 'you-are-crazy' look. Turns out this is totally normal! Once you starting paying attention to your stream of consciousness, most people can identify 5-6 interior dialogues passing through their mind. I found 4 within ten minutes.

1. The Critic - that awful nagging voice reminding you that everything you do is utter shit. 
2. One of your parents' voice - this one made me laugh. I can definitely hear my mom pop up like the Asian Jiminy Cricket 
3. The Inner child - loudest when I'm hangry or drunk.
4. The Comparative - starts up when judging others. "Did you see how short that skirt was!?"

I'm going to experiment with this concept - see what I can identify. I was encouraged to not judge or clamp down on myself. Stay curious.