I have never played quarterback for any team. I have watched some football games. I am confident that the quarterback has plenty to think about and look for when he receives the ball from the center. The linemen of the defense team of opponents are trying vigorously to get past the quarterback's linemen. They want to knock that quarterback to the ground. Just after receiving the snapped ball would not be a good time to ask the quarterback how he feels today.
For quarterbacks and for many men, there is no "within". Sure, they know their heart beats. They know hunger and satisfaction. But if your attention is on passing the ball or the stock market or why the air conditioner isn't working, it is on the outside of you, not on your opinion or feelings or memories. A guy may get the idea that manly men don't have feelings and just concentrate on the external.
For all of us, men and women, boys and girls, we have internal states: thoughts, memories, feelings and they matter very much. We can ignore them and fail to recognize them. We can over-entertain them and take them to be error-free. But we are the best source for knowing about them. There are times when we want others to understand them or when it would be to our benefit if a doctor or expert could know exactly what we are experiencing inside. We are trying to develop new tools for understanding the inside world of others, as with brain scans and other equipment.
But basically, words, spoken or written words, are our tool for understanding what is frightening our child, irritating our partner, guiding our boss's evaluation of us. The words that we choose to describe thoughts, memories, feelings are artistic structures, put together to depict our inner states. Each word choice, each voice tone, each indicated subject or center of attention is an artist's selection of a color off her or his palette to paint what is going on.
