Why is There Always a Voice in Your Head?

When you are sitting in an examination hall, writing your paper, does a voice keep singing some song, loudly? Or when you are having your favorite pizza, does someone keep telling you how great the pizza feels, even when you know none of your friends are talking? Or when you are silently judging someone’s dress? Or when you are reading this article do you feel someone within you is reading it out loud? Do you feel there is some person inside who almost never stops his/her commentary on your life?

So what is this little voice in our self that keeps blabbering?

This phenomenon as the scientists call ‘inner speech’ happens due to tiny muscular movements in the larynx which can be detected by electromyography. Inner speech and speaking out loud share similar brain mechanisms. Recent studies also proposed that parts of Broca’s area – the region of the brain responsible for the auditory actions – are also active when our inner voice is speaking to us. There is another concept of auditory verbal hallucinations which may also be the inner voices that may not have been recognized by the brain.

When a child reaches the age of 6-7 years, he stops reading aloud and starts reading the text in his mind that is because they can hear a voice in their head while they are reading. Most people use their inner voice subconsciously. But for those who find they do not have one, may be dyslexic.

Now the question is, should you let that voice control your actions? Is the ‘voice’ always your conscience speaking? Are you being constrained and constricted by the little voice in your head?

It is true that the voice in our head is inseparable, but the decisions we make in our head based on the choices and options put forth by the voice may not always be true. We think we are that voice. We think that voice is ours. We think that voice runs our life.

That voice in your head is influenced by many factors including the environment you’ve always lived in, your parents, how people always spoke to you, and your belief system. If your mom never spoke directly about sex and implied it was a sinful activity, it is pretty obvious the voice in your head would stop you from sharing your sexual desires and activities with even your closest people.

Learn to conquer your thoughts. Don’t let negative, depreciating voices gag your mind. Meditate. Read. Listen to pleasant music. Calm yourself. And tell yourself-‘I am alive and infinite. No force in this universe can control me. I will do what pleases me and not what conceals my talents and aspirations.’

‘Be careful how you are talking to yourself, because it is you who is listening.’