For years, I experienced profound emotional and mental distress. Today, I feel like a whole person—and I owe that transformation to the practice of meditation.
Through meditation, I learned to notice and accept my own internal voice—sometimes called mental chatter. This voice, once considered the domain of mystics or the mentally unwell, is now widely recognized as part of the normal human experience.
Dutch psychiatrist Marius Romme has done influential work in understanding the phenomenon of hearing voices and co-founded the Hearing Voices Movement, especially in those recovering from trauma or mental illness. His research opened the door to a broader understanding: that inner voices are not necessarily signs of madness, but part of the human condition.
Indeed, when our internal dialogue becomes confused with external reality, it can be a symptom of psychosis. But more commonly, it is simply our thoughts given shape.
Meditation gives us the space to step back and observe this voice. To see it not as us, but as a part of us. That realisation—that we are not our thoughts—has been the foundation of my healing and growth.
Consciousness, in part, is the recognition that we have this inner voice. Meditation is the gateway to that recognition.