Shelby Nichols Consulting

Recently, I was reading an article about how people think. The author was blown away by the fact that not everyone has an inner-dialogue going on in their heads. Basically, he couldn’t get over that fact that not everyone talks to themselves all the time – like he does.

The post got a lot of attention on social media, and I really wanted to chime in, because that just happens to be an area of expertise for me. On the other hand, I don’t like to blab about my mind reading ability, so if you’re reading this, please keep that part to yourself. But… you can certainly see how I could be considered an expert in the matter.

It gave me an idea that it might be interesting to run an experiment or two, just to understand the whole thinking process a little better. Plus, an added benefit might also help me understand how my mind reading ability works.

Naturally, I wanted to test it out on someone who might not mind too much. This person had to know I could read minds, or I couldn’t ask the right questions.

Since I was in my office at Thrasher Development, I could probably talk to Uncle Joey or Ramos about it. Uncle Joey’s the mob boss who knows my secret, and who pays me to help him out, and Ramos is his right-hand man.

As luck would have it, Uncle Joey and Ramos stopped by my office. “I need you to go visit Nick Berardini,” Uncle Joey said. “Ramos will take you.” After explaining what he wanted, I readily agreed to go. Not that I had a choice, but how could I turn down spending time with Ramos?

Usually, going with Ramos meant riding on the back of his motorcycle, but since it’s winter, I managed to take it in stride, knowing it would give me the perfect opportunity to study Ramos’s thought processes on the drive.

Of course, he knew something was up right away. “What’s going on?” he asked, thinking that he didn’t like the way I kept looking at him. What was I up to?

“Uh… well. I’m trying something out. Do you mind answering a question?”

His brows rose, then his lips twisted. He was curious, but skeptical, especially if it was about him.

“It’s not exactly about you.”

Now he was even more curious. “Okay. What do you want to know?”

“When you were thinking that you didn’t like the way I was looking at you… you know… because it meant that I was up to something… were you talking to yourself?”

“What?”

“It’s called ‘inner-dialogue.’ It’s what people do when they’re talking to themselves… it’s a thought process.”

He shook his head. “I don’t do that.”

“Really? Then how do I know what you’re thinking?”

He couldn’t believe I was asking him that.

“Okay, maybe that was a dumb question. I mean… I can pick up what people are thinking, but I always thought it was because I could hear their inner-dialogue. But if you don’t talk to yourself, then how do I do it?”

He let out a chuckle and glanced my way with a teasing light in his eyes. I held up my hand. “Okay… another dumb question… I get it.”

Taking pity on me, he asked, “How do you think it works?”

“I don’t know. I mostly hear thoughts, but sometimes I get images or feelings, or maybe all three. Then there are other times when it could be called premonitions.”

Now he laughed.

“I know that sounds funny,” I agreed. “Since that’s what I’ve been telling people I do. But just go with it for a minute. What is a premonition?”

“I guess it’s a feeling or a vision that something specific is going to happen.”

“Yeah. But when you think about it coming from someone’s mind, and I’m picking it up, it would come across like that… right? Or maybe more like an intention. So… we could call it an intentional thought. Does that make sense? So maybe not words, but intent. It’s hard to explain, and the fact that you’re not always thinking in words kind of surprises me.”

Ramos nodded and smiled, then added, “I know how to explain it.”

I didn’t know what he was going to say, but I knew he thought it was clever. “What?”

“It’s magic.”

This time I laughed. “Hmm… I like that. To be honest, that’s a much easier way to explain it.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “But don’t get a big head about it. It still gets you into a lot of trouble.” He thought it was a beautiful thing… like me. But still got me into more trouble than it might be worth.

I snorted, but my heart warmed just the same.

SO…. in conclusion, I’ve decided that it doesn’t really matter how we think the way we do. Somehow, it all works out, right?

And, as far as I’m concerned. I’m not going to try and explain how my mind reading ability works.  Not anymore. I can read minds… and it’s magic.