Does anyone else feel they have an internal compass?

Post Reply New Topic

This is very hard to describe so please bare with me.

I've always thought that I have an internal compass,. When traveling I always have to feel aware of my orientation; or feel anxiety . Because of this I've always felt I know where North, East, South and West is, wherever I am.
I've known that there is some reliability my orientation when traveling across my country/city. As long as I known which compass direction I need to go, I will find it with no road directions with a very good degree or accuracy

I only recently tested this with this with my trusted iphone compass.

I haven't seen this in any AS literature, but I was wondering if this is another AS trait

Does anyone have this?

I don't have homing pigeon powers , but I do have navigation skills.

I used to have a nearly infallible sense of direction. But for some reason even though it's still good, i've really lost a lot of it. Now I usually need to go to a place many times before I know it. It used to be only needed once. No idea what changed it, maybe neureptic induced brain damage?

Is it possible you're simply aware of your orientation changes on a subtle level after you have determined which way you were facing at some point?

I've got something kinda like google maps in my head at all times, I can't tell you where north is with 100% accuracy, but I can point to where the sun is, even at night when it's beyond the horizon, and easily find my way around/back from where I went.

Same with you maybe?

Same here. When I went to visit someone a few hour's drive away, all I did was check the cities on the way. I was able to get there by following the signs.

Even today, I'm sure I would have no problem driving to that house. I was only there once, and that was over a year ago. *shrug* Unless I'm going someplace that has a complex/unusual street set-up, I usually don't write the directions, let alone bring a map. Getting around on roads just sort of 'clicks' for me.

That said, when people act like they know where something is, but can't tell me any of the main streets near where I'm headed, I get very VERY frustrated. Even as a little kid, I could tell people some main streets near my home. (And my grandparent's home as well.)

Then again, some people just don't care. Their way of navigating is 'turn left at the gas station.' Ok, there are ten thousand gas stations in this city alone. 500 of them on this road alone. WHERE?!? I can't find my way around unless people tell me the major streets...

You could be subconsciously picking up direction of the sun.

I have homing pigeon abilities. I always know what direction I'm facing, no matter what time of day or night it is. I've also been darn good with directions my whole life. I was able to drive myself 4 hours to my grandmothers house after having not been there in nearly 5 years, and even then only as a passenger. I could drive back to my friend's mother's house in Long Beach after having been there once, in the middle of the night, half asleep. It's a gift, what can I say?

In other news, I can ONLY sleep with my head to the north. Any other direction and I wake up feeling sick, groggy, and I seem to be more susceptible to infection. And it's not even cardinal north, it's magnetic north. Even if I lay down in a different direction, I twist while sleeping until I'm lined up perfectly with a compass. If anyone knows what that's about, please enlighten me.

It's pretty easy to tell N/S/E/W when looking at the sun at a certain time of day or where the constellations are at night. My house is also directly facing south.

I don't know if it's officially an aspie trait, but I'm similar in that I'm never lost. Never. You can set me down in a strange city, and I will find my way to some destination with no trouble in the least. I've done it many times, both in the US and in Europe, in cities where I've never before set foot.

The first time my company sent me to London, I got a car at the airport and drove directly to my hotel in downtown London. I had no map, asked no directions, and needless to say had never before been in London or driven on the "wrong" side of the street.

Yet I somehow knew exactly where to turn, and drove straight to the hotel. Next morning, I did the same thing to get to the office, driving a few miles through the city. Three days later I did it again in Aberdeen, Scotland. I have also done it in many American cities.

Wherever this "skill" comes from, it's completely subconscious. If I consciously think about where to turn or which direction I should go, it doesn't work. It only works if I don't consciously think about it. But plenty of animals do the same thing, so it doesn't seem anything magical to me.

I get anxious if I do not know my orientation. I've always had a knack for navigation and an interest in studying maps, though.

I think maps / directions / navigation / orientation appeal to my sense of patterns and orderliness.

Oh yeah, definitely. I've always had wicked navigation skills.

I can do the intuit direction without any resources. That and the fact all I need to know is the general location of where I am going, and I can point in the exact direction it is without even opening my eyes. I also tend to have the ability to memorize how to get from point a to point b when only having to go somewhere once. I think the longest land route ive memorized is like 1500 miles.

I AM a compass. I can go hiking for half a day or longer in a forest I have never been to on a very cloudy or even foggy day without a map or compass ( and I have done that). If you give me a heading ( showing direction that is, not telling me the heading in degrees, still working on that but is less accurate) I have always arrived (not by walking in circles for three weeks almost starved to death but in a as straight as possible line).

No matter where I am, I'm usually pretty good at telling which general direction I'm facing, with or without the sun or stars.

Navigation skills? Drop me in any place I'm familiar with, or a city like NYC where everything is laid out in a grid (or grid-like pattern), and I'll be able to find my way wherever you want me to go, even if I've never been there before.

I have a good sense of direction. If I get lost, somewhere in my town, I can always find my way, back to my apartment or my clubhouse.

i have no sense of direction or spatial awareness whatsoever. i only know certain routes to get to certain destinations from home. if i deviate from these routes, i will be lost no matter how long i've been living in the area. it's likely to be due to my dyspraxia. i wish i had an internal compass