First of all, in some cultures that's called ACHIEVING ENLIGHTENMENT AND TRANSCENDING THIS MORTAL PLANE. You talk that kind of trash at a Tibetan monastery and see what happens. Actually, chances are they'd treat you with dignity and respect, but the point stands.
Other than the libido, nurturing instinct, learning style, socialization processes, methods of communicating feelings and thoughts, and whatever part of the brain makes you terrible drivers, I don't think there's really much of a difference between my gray matter and yours (assuming you're a woman, and not asking this question because of your own ability to blank your mind).
Sure, we faze out. You don't? Sometimes it's intentional, meditative disciplining of the mind. Sometimes we hear The Jeffersons theme over and over and it blocks absolutely everything else out. Does that seriously never happen to you? To any of you?
Please comment, ladies. I'm actually really curious to know whether all females everywhere are always thinking important thoughts. As if you didn't already intimidate me enough.
As a female I can certainly say I blank out.
But I wouldn't say it's nothing. If I'm at a particuraly boring meeting, I'll let my conscious part of my brain go away and let my unconsious go wherever it takes me to whatever crazy astral plane it wants.
It's usually sex.
I'm with Danielle. I've been out of school for a month--although I go back next week--and the urge to not do anything during these past four weeks has led to a LOT of blanking out . . . mostly just sitting and fantasizing.
I wish I could turn off this ADD adled brain.
Personally I can totally tune out everything for long periods of time, especially if someone is talking about something I care absolutely nothing about. I have even tuned out during sex a time or two if it is boring enough!
My brain never turns off, but I'm not exactly always thinking deep thoughts either. Somethings I am thinking of things deep and complex, but sometimes I have the 'Code Monkeys' theme song stuck in my head, or a jingle from some commercial from the 90's.. sometimes its something utterly annoying I made up all on my own. I'm pretty sure it has to do with my bi-polar, the fact my brain never shuts down..
I don't know, I seem to fullfill the stereotype of the woman who's always thinking 20 things at once. I am built for multi-tasking; and on the rare occasion when I fail, I get quite disappointed in myself.
Then again, I do have a lot of experience in meditation and at those times I am capable of putting my mind into quiet mode... though it isn't easy.
I guess my point is, I only blank out for long periods of time when I'm actively trying to do so. Or when narcotics are involved. ;-p
i can blank out the surrounding world to the point where i apparently have entire conversations that i don't remember because i'll be focused on something else deep in my cranium. i'll take a feminist beating and say that it also has happened (to my horror) when driving, where i go into autopilot and i suppose if there are women similar to me that's where the 'bad driving' stereotype can come from. turning off my brain itself is such a problem that i had to study meditation techniques and have to go through an entire process in order to fall asleep, because otherwise i will stay up all night like a computer with too many applications happening. drives me crazy that my husband lays his head down and he's instantly out for the night.
yes we blank out, we're only human, the question was probably asked because guys "blank out" at the most inconvienent times.
My thing is, I don't blank out more as I descend into horrible horrible pornographic daydreams at the worst possible times. In the middle of a lecture? Yes. Church? Forgive me father, for I have sinned. Funeral? Well, I have been to a lot of them, and sometimes the services are boring.
So it's not that I can turn my brain off, it's just that I can (to reference a randomly obscure Kids in the Hall sketch) "go to the farm", but instead of spending time on a farm, there's just lots and lots boning.
I can stare at a wall for hours! I've checked out so many times that I'm beginning to wonder if I'm narcoleptic. Men aren't alone in this kiddo! At work today, I couldn't concentrate because I had the Pants on the Ground song stuck in my head. Talk about WTF?!
My issue is usually turning my brain on...
This happens to me too. Once while staring out the window on the bus, I, like, fell asleep with my eyes open. Kind of a cool experience, actually.
hahaha
I blank out all the time. I'll be thinking about something I was reading or writing and then just blank, sometimes some 80's music plays in there but that's about it. Then my roommate will say my name over and over and I honestly can't hear her, and then I snap out of it. It's kind of trippy but cool.
I think it's more a matter of having to think of EVERYTHING. AT. THE. SAME. TIME. It's like a TV that won't turn off. Even if you ignore it, it's still there, running in the background, screeching. Thought after thought after thought. And the more responsibility you have, the worse it is.
As for the bad driver bit, I honestly think it's because girls aren't as good with spatial stuff generally. There are a lot of girls out there who are, though, and quite a few male drivers who are terrible (I think it's the road rage).
I can blank out long periods of time personally.
I'll be looking at the board (in school) and then i'll start thinking about conversations or inventing various scenarios in my head where I save the day in some weird way. Even if it starts off as something like imagining myself doing homework or what I'll be eating tonight, it'll always end up with me taking some guy down and saving lives...
... anyway!
by the time I've looked up at the board its usually full of equations and formula's i now know nothing of.. and will never understand because of this.
I've somehow came upon this video. Yea, often times males feel like it's degrading to them, and me being a female, it just makes so much sense! Lol. I think it's good for kicks and giggles though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuMZ73mT5zM
To tell the truth i think every person on this planet has blanked out at least once in thier life time woman and men alike. Most of the time it's spontanious and unintentional. I have yet to suceed at purposely blanking out.
What bothers me is when you ask a guy what he is thinking & he says nothing - then you say actually nothing or nothing interesting or worth sharing & they still say nothing.
I can space out - i understand day dreaming or imagining being somewhere else doing other things but my mind is never blank - unless I am asleep
i can't just stare and think nothing - i see things so i think of things - if my eyes are closed i'm still thinking - though it may just be i'm thinking of being calm or the peace & quiet but my brain is still processing & i am aware of the processing...
It's stuff like this that makes me glad I'm not a chick. I couldn't imagine going through life always thinking about something.
No wonder you women are in such bad moods so often, I think I'd go crazy too if I didn't have my mini-mental vacations.
Seriously, when we say "nothing" it literally means nothing. That or something that would get us in trouble with you. (Like daydreaming about having sex with your sister.)
Yes, I have the ability to put my brain into "sleep mode", or go blank, and do so pretty much daily. Especially when I'm stressed. I get tired of the monologue in my head, so it's nice to have some silence once in a while.
And I don't mean I daydream. That's different. I mean I literally am not thinking about anything in particular. There is no active monologue or thought pattern. Random half-thoughts might flicker in, but then they're gone in an instant. Sometimes, if there's any "sound" in my head, it's some song I've had playing in my head all day in the background.
If you were to ask me what I was thinking after one of those moments, I wouldn't know what to tell you.
Women as well as men are all trying to pretend that we're not socially programmed to hear the person who speaks with the "most authority," aka, the person with the loudest, deepest, or the least heard voice. This traditionally was the male voice.
We all go inside our own heads when we don't want to engage with whatever is going on around us, like crying babies or gridlocked traffic, or each other. Have you ever observed a three-year-old?
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