An empty mind

Post Reply New Topic

Can anyone relate to having a "empty mind" such that you generally operate from recalling information and dynamically formulating ideas? Is there a name for this besides "autism"
NT people seem to operate with pre-conceived ideas, and so they operate smoother. I may not be stating this right.

- I think this is also why I am slower at processing things. I have to do an extra step of "thinking/computing".
- It seems like this is also a cause of my "speech presentation impairment" of being poor at speaking fluidly, because of the step of "thinking/computing"
- I think this is why I grasp onto facts, and spend enormous time memorizing information so that I am more "functional".

Also, as I noted on some other forums, this is seems why the autism specialist described my brain like a computer.

It seems like no matter how much we memorize, we will never feel smart because of this kind of processing.

Thanks.

There's no such thing as an "empty" mind.

Paradoxically, a mind that is "empty" is quite full, poignant even--especially to the person experiencing the "empty" mind.

For me its brain fog issues.

For me it is the state when I look blindly at a spot without any thoughts. I just stare and see the thing that catch my focus. It can something as simple as a leaf swinging because of wind. I do it quite often. I can even "get all the thoughts off my head" intentionally. It calms me.

People around tend to get me out of the state by asking "What are you thinking so hard about?" because they think I "got lost in my thoughts". It takes me a while before I get my thinking back and realize my mind was actually empty and I wasn't thinking of anything for the last few minutes. And they won't believe me when I answer honestly: "Nothing". They just can't imagine the state. I wonder why. Doesn't everyone do it sometimes?

I quess the "empty mind" can be called "stare in a space" or a "hang up" (like the Windows do sometimes).

I usually only have an "empty mind" if I really need to get something done fast, but I can't. It does actually help. I usually subconsciously think of what I need to do when I'm in that state. I really hate when people interrupt me from that state. I often say rude and weird things to make them leave me alone. I wish people would let me be.

My minds has lots of forests, light, shadows, memories and cartoons in it. During a conversation, though, I have nothing to say; I have to process information and then think of a half-decent response on the spot, and sometimes I carry a conversation somewhat well (if the other person talks a lot), other times I don't.

I think I fairly described myself. If I have to describe my autism, I would say it feels like someone hit me on the head with a crowbar several times, and now the brain is damaged in this regard. The neurological functioning is messed up. My prior boss affectionately said to me "your brain is like swiss cheese" (meaning it has holes in it).

I seem to function dynamically, whereas NT people seem to operate with pre-conceived ideas in their head. I am just not sure precisely what that is, or how to fully explain it.

For example, if confronted with a new problem:

a. A NT person may quickly say ".. you just do X, Y, Z .. "

b. Whereas , I think deeply about it, and realize that X, Y, Z are missing details. So, that to me, the NT person seems to have X, Y, Z as a stored pre-conceived idea; whereas I function dynamically, dynamic thinking.

In human history it's a metaphor for emptying one's preconceived ideas based on their limited experiences that may contain bias. It's a very powerful mind tool.

so if you mean that i need to reason through things rather than just having automatic access to answers, yes. that i do. i would not NECESSARILY see this as a cognitive deficiency, however. i see it as a cognitive STYLE, one that is situationally appropriate.

for example, i'm a cashier. for those situations when i'm required to do math in my head, i am inclined to reason out the problems. this is not situation appropriate, as it is not the fastest way to do it. however, if i were required to work out a long problem (which would include setting the terms of what needs to be solved), i'm really better than most at that sort of thing. funny, i think math is a great litmus test for this sort of cognitive style, disclaimer being that i'm not claiming that all spectrum folks have this cognitive style. through most of my earlier days, i struggled intensely with math and even hated it. but once algebra was finally introduced, i not only came to appreciate its worth and enjoy its challenges, but actually did better than average at it (i'm no mathematician, humanities guy here). anyway, one can certainly see how different cognitive styles are related to whatever task is at hand, no?

My mind won't shut the hell up.
Just goes on&on&on.

Empty?
I'd kill for empty.
Hell, I've stayed up for days without stimulants to achieve empty and never really got there, though I got it down to only a couple slender, languid strands of thought at a time eventually.

Enjoy the quiet, you don't know how good you're got it.

I think I understand what you are saying although I don't experience it myself. I think that by "empty mind" you don't mean without thought but rather without a mental library of concepts and methods picked up from other people. Is that what you mean?

If so I can definitely see how this would have pros and cons as a thinking style.

Pros: lacking a library of concepts and methods picked up from other people means that the ones you come up with from scratch will be slightly different from the ones they are using. Sometimes the ones they are using won't work anymore because the problem has changed in a way they aren't realizing. Your way is better at coming up with a new solution to a new problem because you aren't trying to force an old solution to work when it doesn't anymore.

Cons:it's slower. Making something from scratch is always slower than using pre-fab. This is a disadvantage when pre-fab is a perfectly workable solution.

In Cyberdad's conception, I believe an "empty mind" is the result purging, a "cleaning up," if I'm interpreting correctly. That makes sense.

Then there is Rousseau's conception of "emptiness of mind" at birth, a fully Nurture-type concept. In a pure sense, according to how I would interpret Rousseau's concept, the outward environment is what influences somebody. You are born with a "clean slate."

I also like the concept of the "dynamic mind," without preconceived notions. This breeds creativity in thought and action.

However, sometimes, "preconceived notions" could serve as a useful template; obversely, "preconceived notions" could really stymie somebody.

It may be possible that the delay before responding is not the result of an "empty mind" but rather the ability to switch off whatever process was taking place so the new task can be undertaken. This is somewhat similar to what a computer interrupt does.

The NT mind might be less analytical and able to more quickly respond because it does not do an initial analysis of the new task as opposed to just outputting whatever related data it has at hand.

There is a name for it in psychology, I believe . I think the term you are looking for is linear vs associative thinking , and could also be described as left brain dominance. Very much associated with Asperger's syndrome - as it happens empathy is very much a product of associative thinking.

It seems NTs frequently solve problems by basic pattern matching (associative thinking). They take the key points of the problem and match it to the solution of a problem they have encountered before. This type of processing tends to be extremely fast. However, there are usually logical flaws in the solution since they have failed to take into account the specifics of this problem in particular. This is when AS thinking (linear, logical) comes to the rescue. This form of thinking is much slower however.

I think I know what you mean, OP. It's really hard to pin down what this is exactly. And this specific way of thinking makes me feel quite stupid frankly, however, I think it's more precise but not at all efficient. I should read up about this linear vs associative thinking, sounds interesting.