Being aware of everything

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I was reading a novel once where one character was describing a neurological condition (made up) to another. He said (paraphrased) 'we are sitting here in this room talking, just imagine if you were aware of the way your body feels sitting in the chair and the clock ticking and the sound of the wind outside, the light from the fireplace, how awful... etc etc'. The point being that how awful it would be if someone was always aware of these things. That struck me as odd. I thought everyone was like this anyway. All these things around me, the way my butt feels sitting in the computer chair, the computer hum, my elbows on the table, the after taste of coffee in my mouth, the news program on TV all have equal weight in my awareness and supposedly with most people some of these things are pushed in the background . Maybe this is why I'm always so tired. I don't get sensory overloads with simple things like this, but the amount of constant mental processing involved wears me down. Thoughts?

I'm aware of everything too. I even know what every ache and pain in my body is about and I usually know that it's because what I ate or drank was too sugary or had too much caffeine. I hear every sound, especially tonight. It's actually become much clearer if that is possible. I feel every texture. I can feel the seam in my jeans that itch just behind the knee. I can clearly hear a conversation a few meters away from me and the cars going past outside. I can smell every smell even if I can't see the source.
I hate the aftertaste. I have to drink water after every meal to get it out.
And what about feeling the dryness of your skin? That drives me mad.

I don't always get sensory overload but I can get frustrated. I get sensory overload if I cannot get away from the environment and add crowds, bright lights, clutter (in a shopping centre) and many noises and that could lead to sensory overload. It doesn't take much either; a concert, supermarket, even if I'm at a party.

And if you do want to know why NT's aren't bothered by this one of my theories is we have a longer sense memory than them and they can filter out and choose what senses to pay attention too, while we get it all at once. OK, that first part was my theory and the last part is true. But normally the sense memory is like 200 milliseconds.

i always thought everyone was aware of everything, but I suppose it could just be an aspie thing.... I can't really imagine NOT feeling everything

This thread really interests me, I'm just posting so I can find it later... may input then.

I agree with your theory, at least about me as an NT. I will be aware of things at first and then they just fade and I stop being aware of them. I noticed this with respect to my daughter. We will both smell the skunk and both say "EWWWWW" but after awhile I don't smell it anymore and she's still making a disgusted face. I also stop noticing flashing lights, continuous noises and itchy fabrics shortly after registering them.

Unless I'm working on an engine, or a theory for an engine I'm constantly noticing everything around me. But once I get my head going or hands wrenching even a freight train passing 3 inches from my face at 100mph wouldn't sway my attention. =P

I think that sums it up quite nicely.

I exist in a howling gale of detail. Everything is available and stays available for individual focus, and every relationship between everything else is up for examination too. Birds, cars, people chattering, wind, distant unidentified noises, planes: I know exactly where each one is, any unique or interesting qualities to it, and the relationship with the other events (distance, colour, volume, familiarity, memories of others, etc. etc.) - almost in parallel.

Sometimes it's just so beautiful I'm practically in tears of joy - like the shimmering of leaves on a tree, blown by a slight wind and the way the shifting light levels alter the colours; other times it's disorienting - like a beach with large pebbles, for example. It's a living, writhing mass of patterns and symmetry and if I look at it for too long my head starts spinning and my vision kind-of flickers or twitches.

Probably why I enjoy zoning out and staring at a distant space. Aside from sleep, it's the only rest I get.

or maybe you're just posting because you are addicted to posting on WP. I have the same problem also.

I can relate. My dad took me to one of his favorite spots in the mountains. It's an overlook of a valley. It was summer and the leaves were like millions of shiny emeralds. I could only look at this for a little while. I had to tell my dad that I couldn't look anymore; it was just too much information.



What about listening to a favorite song... over and over again? I think the reason this soothes me is because I don't have to analyze anything and there are no surprises. I can just appreciate the art and let my analytical circuits cool off for a while.

Yeah. It seems to have something to do with the total area, so I guess that fits in with an overload situation vs. an intensely interesting/beautiful - but smaller - situation.
Your millions of shiny emeralds sounds like my pebbly beach.

That fits, and it's something I do too. Relaxation through familiar beauty?
I do this most with Bach organ fugues where the balance, symmetry and progression needs no analysis and slots into place immediately, with an instant calming effect.

Yep, I do it too. It's like there's no filtering system, you know?

I don't post in every thread, and I went a whole 3-4 ish hours without posting on WP, when I could have.

I'm sorry to hear about your addiction problem though. I had a 10 step program for creating effective habit changes somewhere, if you wanted to read it?

Thanks for posting that Janissy, that's really helpful. It highlights the difference perfectly.

I know, this is me too. I'm aware of everything in my environment and it is like there is no filtering system to block the things I want to block. I believe the sensing of everything can go beyong the material world.




No Jackbus, Moog ain't like that, he's serious, he only post on specific threads and this is his kind of thing.

Interesting. I remember reading somewhere, and only one time, that people who have panic attacks can have them after "staring" as you describe. I don't know if it is true, but I always used to do this and so did my brother. Sometimes I still do it and I don't know why. Now I learn that panic attacks are caused by gradual unconscious hyperventilation, and that there is a link between having them and having AS.

Do you think we hyperventilate when overstimulated, eg by a mass of pebbles? What might be going on here?

Man, Jannisy I dont know how you could ever get used to that skunk.

I'm in between these lines I guess. I notice I'll settle into the new setting slower than everyone, but I manage to filter the supereflous stuff out.

It takes a long time though,. and stymies my performance at multitasking until then.