Before I was born, my father was a smoker. Giving up was not easy, and at one point during his effort to quit he was awoken in the middle of the night by a particularly vivid dream. The vision was of a radio plugged into the wall. The radio itself was struggling, trying to break free of the electric cord that both powered it and held it in place.
If the distinction between habit and addiction is the extent to which one can stop at any time, then thinking is a serious addiction for many of us. There are many ways to get the brain to shhhhhh, from yoga to exercise, creative expression, meditation, medication, and my personal favourite, music. For those of us accustomed to an occasionally over caffeinated internal monologue, learning to live with, love, and selectively break free from the dialogue inside is tough, but rewarding too.