Re. synaesthesia: I experienced it once in a floatation tank. When my session was coming to an end, a pre-programmed soft music played and I noticed some light patterns in front of my face. I assumed some light had been turned on and reflecting off the water surface. I distinctly remember thinking to myself that it was a pity that they had turned on the light and didn’t allow me to enjoy the darkness some more. After few blinks I realised that I was still seeing those patterns even with my eyelids closed, and that the patterns were changing in sync with the music.
Re. thinking in words: I used to never think to myself in words, except when recalling or imagining a dialogue, a written piece, etc. For almost all of my life I assumed that was the case with everyone and I was sure that the meaning of ‘internal monologue’ was much less literal than it actually is. I realised my mistake just few years ago when a coworker asked me what languages my thoughts were in (I’m multilingual), which made absolutely no sense.
Since then, I have somehow trained myself to have verbal thoughts. I assumed this would be beneficial for self-awareness and indeed, I’m much more aware of my sentiments now that they quite often surface in the form of unspoken sentences, in addition to the regular feelings. I have no idea how I did that, though. It seems as though the mere intention was enough.
Incredibly fascinating, I am opposite, only internal verbal monologue, no images at all. I can build step by step an image from simple lines and circles in my mind, but it is a conscious effort, (i.e. I am not really seeing it, if you get what I mean, as soon as I focus on a detail the rest vanishes). Basing on your anecdotal evidence I could maybe learn to imagine images that I am not really seeing with my eyes in that moment but it feels like the opposite of what my mind “is built” to do.
Re. synaesthesia: I experienced it once in a floatation tank. When my session was coming to an end, a pre-programmed soft music played and I noticed some light patterns in front of my face. I assumed some light had been turned on and reflecting off the water surface. I distinctly remember thinking to myself that it was a pity that they had turned on the light and didn’t allow me to enjoy the darkness some more. After few blinks I realised that I was still seeing those patterns even with my eyelids closed, and that the patterns were changing in sync with the music.
Re. thinking in words: I used to never think to myself in words, except when recalling or imagining a dialogue, a written piece, etc. For almost all of my life I assumed that was the case with everyone and I was sure that the meaning of ‘internal monologue’ was much less literal than it actually is. I realised my mistake just few years ago when a coworker asked me what languages my thoughts were in (I’m multilingual), which made absolutely no sense.
Since then, I have somehow trained myself to have verbal thoughts. I assumed this would be beneficial for self-awareness and indeed, I’m much more aware of my sentiments now that they quite often surface in the form of unspoken sentences, in addition to the regular feelings. I have no idea how I did that, though. It seems as though the mere intention was enough.
Incredibly fascinating, I am opposite, only internal verbal monologue, no images at all. I can build step by step an image from simple lines and circles in my mind, but it is a conscious effort, (i.e. I am not really seeing it, if you get what I mean, as soon as I focus on a detail the rest vanishes). Basing on your anecdotal evidence I could maybe learn to imagine images that I am not really seeing with my eyes in that moment but it feels like the opposite of what my mind “is built” to do.