The I and You of Your Thoughts

[DidMyTest]

Yesterday I realized that when I'm thinking about me there is a difference between the "I" in me and the "You" in me. So for example I have thoughts like "You will finish your Diploma" or "I feel good".

Acutally it should be always "I" because I'm the one who is thinking. Because it's not explicit positive/negative, perhaps "I" is more for closer emotions etc. but I wouldn't even say that 100%, because there are also thoughts like "You love her".

But it seems to be pretty stable for certain things. Like I would never think "Today you are feeling good".

What is this related to? And do you have a stronger "I" or a stronger "You"?

 

[Vodsel]

I think (and mostly giving away the rest of my comment with this ) that, in my case, "You" only appears when muttering or talking out loud to myself. In subvocal language, or thoughts, it's "I" the vast majority of times.

 

[Global]

I think it's ultimately a matter of semantics. Somewhere along the way, "you" became a colloquial "I". In some bizarre way, I often find "you" being used when telling people how to do things, or more specifically how you yourself do things. Seems a bit ironic at times, but people usually understand that you're referring to yourself. When you refer to yourself as "you" in your head, perhaps from a psychological perspective it might stem from the way you view yourself. Even when alone with your own thoughts, your brain might be most comfortable with that subject-object relationship that it's used to dealing with. You may be alone with your thoughts, but your brain still needs someone to talk to, even if it's itself.

 

[DidMyTest]

I was also thinking it maybe connected to how we talk with other people. I lived in India for half a year, and my native language is german, it was really crazy when I realized, that I had begun dreaming in English. But I'm wondering if thoughts with an "I" are stronger deeper one's or if it doesn't have any deeper meaning.