I managed to sort out some of the tangle in my head.
I’ve accumulated tools over time:
A speaking stone, so that each thought knows when it is their turn to speak — a stone smooth and spherical and a deep plum color which rests in an amethyst geode atop a stone plinth;
A coffee station, a sandwich station, and a dessert station which distracts the thoughts enough to spread them out a bit (sometimes all they want is some warmth or nourishment or sweetness. don’t we all?);
A comb, mother-of-pearl (mother-of-moonlight?), with the magical property of smoothness to untangle the thoughts as they lie sleep-mussed in my mind. I have noticed that the simple act of combing the thoughts can quiet them and give them peace.