Our Sensory World

[ledyanoy]

I thought it would be nice to have a discussion about how our senses impact us, what sensory perceptions are meaningful to us, how we relate to sensory stimulation, what we “get” from it, etc. etc.

As a dominant perceiver sensing type, this is huge for me. But, I think all people have their own very personal and deeply important relationship with sensing in one way or another, which ends up kind of defining one’s existence in the world as well as how we cognitively approach the world.

When I had a brain injury last year one of the many difficult to deal with symptoms of it in the first few months of recovery was that I had “lost” (will explain why the quotes) almost all of my sense of smell and along with that also taste. It did eventually return and it’s I would say about 90% the same as it was pre-injury. It doesn’t return for some people and I can imagine how horrible that would be; a grievous loss - for me, at least. It would be. Not everyone is that upset by it, which goes to show the diversity in what we value. It was devastating to think it might never return.


In the next while, I will think about this and contribute some of my own thoughts on this. I like the artsy visuals as an expressive mode to communicate and I am also fairly visual. I also like what sharing music we are listening to has to offer. The idea of this thread is along the same lines, but with regards to all of our other senses - more than just 5.

[ledyanoy]

Ooookay, so here’s me being spontaneous and not over-thinking or waiting until a million ducks are in a row to say something

I went out today for a bunch of reasons, as per usual. I tend to let the stuff that entails “going out” pile up, so I can just get it done in one push like guerilla warfare. I really wanted to smell the La Nuit Trèsor. I have also been feeling the sensory and personal power/presence need to expand from my limited collection of scents. So, I spent until the wee hours last night researching my fave nose-o-phile sites and made a big ass list of what I felt I needed in my arsenal. ? I seriously cannot walk into the beauty counter (or any place besides non-civilized) without a back-up. Been down this particular road before with perfume and every single time it was an arduous, winding and loooooooong trek to find what suits me. I get over-stimulated easily is one reason.

Well, Trèsor La Nuit is simply divine. I totally get how it would become the most loved perfume of someone and it really does fit with @Moonlight’s colours.

I was prepared for the long haul to find my own very specific type of mood evoking eau du parfum, but I had a lucky day. First time in my life this has happened with a perfume and I owe it to the discussion on soul colours. I will leave my perfume find for later, because it’s the umbrella that made it. ?

I like to have a few umbrellas at my handy. Also, they have to be just right. Sturdy against wind, well made of course (goes without saying), open and close easily, and also have a design. Plain black is a not. I’ve lost many of them (because over-stimulation makes me dumb) which hurts every time. I feel like a short movie should be made about lost and found umbrellas.

Long sotry short. I swear. I picked up this retractable one to keep in my car that has alternating between black panels and black and white simple floral print. I liked the simplicity, but touch of whimsy. Little did I know until I got home, unpacked all the stuff and had a look at the umbrella tag I had cut off, the flowers change colour when wet!

Alchemy, baby ?✨

Love it.

[Princess of Hearts]

I'm glad you like La Nuit
And that umbrella sounds amazing, I googled 'umbrellas that change colors', never seen anything like it!


Gonna think about what I have to say, this topic is very overwhelming, it's a mishmash of literally everything, I don't know what angle to tackle it from.
I need a little inspiration.
Subscribing

[Princess of Hearts]

Ooookay, so here’s me being spontaneous and not over-thinking or waiting until a million ducks are in a row to say something

SAME


First thing I will say-summertime.
Everything about summer is just the right fit for me, from the visuals-the sea, beaches, palm trees, beautiful coastal towns, long sunsets, in fall/winter it's like the sky is grey and then suddenly it's black, in summer there are so many stages you can see.
Then the temperatures, the eating ice cream for dinner, the sheer freedom of it.
Down to how I feel about myself, I never feel more like myself than in summer, I can go out right out of the shower with completely wet hair, I get to wear clothes I'm excited about and feel beautiful in and proud to wear. Not pants
I love shine and sparkle and it never looks and feels as beautiful as it does in summer.
I love everything more in summer, it's my season.

When it comes to my living space I am not too fussy because I know my room is too small for what I want it to look like, I can live with white walls, basic furniture, mismatched bedding, etc. and it doesn't affect me, I am also quite messy and care for organization only when it's at the point that I can't find anything anymore, normally I'm not the one to be bothered by how my space looks.
That said, I very much crave having beautiful things here and there, I love looking at home decor, I have nice blankets, love ambient lighting and use it as a substitute for more complicated decor, I put whatever pretty things I have on display to fill the empty spaces and give it a special touch.


When I'm wearing something I really like I can't help but be obsessed with it, I'm constantly feeling my ruffles, my jewelry, thinking about how nice it looks in certain lighting, waving my hair around so I could catch whiffs of my perfume, I just enjoy every second of it
I'm very conscious of how I feel in myself in the moment, for instance in summer (here we go again) I love having hair that's long enough so that I can feel it touching my waist, it makes me feel feminine and summery and mermaid-y.

I love swatching makeup, smelling perfumes, looking for new shampoos and shower gels to try but I try my best to resist, I go through phases when I go manic and buy 5 shower gels at once but then I don't even think about it for months.


Can't think of anything else for now.
I wanted to post some images but I can't do it the way I used to for whatever reason and I don't like the alternative way so I'll try later!

[ledyanoy]

Ooooh love the Summer Wine song. It captures the full ripened height of the season so well. I also love summer. So many thing are arising from this, but will have to come back as I am in the middle of too many things going on and don’t multi-task well. I just wanted to say for now, how much I love your post moonlight.

Out of curiosity, do you know your Cognitive type?

Edit to add: I also have issues with image uploading. I have to go through many tries for my inserted image from files to be accepted by the server. So, I feel you on that.

[ledyanoy]

Summer solstice is my most fave sensory connection “this is me” time. This includes the lead up time to it and also immediately afterward - late spring moving into summer and the start of summer. It’s when the sun is at it’s most potent and the longest sunlight hours, which makes sense in that I think I am a very Sun heavy person astrologically and elementally. Thematically, I think this seasonal time period represents the most hope. It’s also wedding season, interestingly.

Sensory-wise, I will come back to. ?

[ledyanoy]

[ledyanoy]

The frost has melted only days ago, and almost overnight the shoots are pushing through the still hard ground, bursting to open. Bare branches on trees hold shoots ready to go from tiny green dots to massive leaves. River and lake waters are flowing full, the sun is making itself known. It’s not quite full summer; more lazy and full bright hazy sweaty days are ahead. But, for now it’s only the beginning. Winter and clouds still loom overhead and the nights are cool. It’s time for reflection and also looking ahead. It’s a period of pure stillness of birth and also movement in the most vulnerable way.

It’s time in it’s most radiant form and I want it to stop so I can soak it up, before it passes.

[Princess of Hearts]

Figured it out, the problem was that I didn't know where to click to get 'Upload Attachments'!
I'm slowly getting a hang of how the site works





I'm obsessed with this sparkle effect. Obviously not real but this iscloser to reflecting my experience, if it was up to me this is what the world would look like
I only wish people in the last one were doing something else


These rooms give me?



I really love the type of home design with lots of ornate shapes, lavish textures and a romantic touch.
I don't love all of the datails in the second one but I think when it comes to images I get attracted to gaudy side of things because it gets the feeling across better.


I used to constantly look at online catalogues and imagining how I'd decorate if I could do it however I wanted, even how I wanted other people's homes to look



ledyanoy no, I don't, I have some ideas but I would rather not share them just yet
Do you have any impressions?

[SpiritoftheGael]

I can't imagine losing my smell or taste ledyanoy I love food so much. I'd say my sensory experiences are overall weird. I am verrry sensitive to some things and don't even notice other things at all. Like I might not notice bad smells around me for whatever reason, but when I met my boyfriend I automatically noticed how safe and wonderful he smelled. I think he is kinda bemused because I'll just bury my nose in him and be like you smell good even when he was just working and he's like what do I smell like? I have no clue lol. Unnameable. Smells like home I guess.

I am really sensitive to textures too. When I was a child, like maybe 3 or 4, I remember there was one pair of socks I'd wear. They had a more silky feel. I said all of the other socks itched my feet. I'm not weird about socks anymore, but I do feel sensitive to pants. I really really hate wearing black jeans. I don't know why but every pair of black jeans I've ever owned have itched my legs. It must be the dye they use. Blue jeans never have the same effect.

I also identified my own food allergies when I was like 3 or 4. I refused to eat eggs as a small child. My parents thought I was just picky, but then I had my allergies tested years later and I was allergic to eggs. I also cut out wheat on my own.

I often get overwhelmed and feel drowned by too many sensations as well. When there's too much noise and light I can get really withdrawn and upset. But other times I don't even notice noise around me because I block it all out. It's very weird.

[Princess of Hearts]

Ooh, I realized I forgot to say the most basic things.

In some ways I am not very sensitive at all, I can't get overwhelmed, I love large crowds even though I have social anxiety, noise, smells, strong flavors and spices, bright colors, lights, I am always wanting more stimulation, it's a lot easier for it to be 'not enough' than 'too much'.

I also like rollercoasters, but in moderation, that is one thing I definitely have to be in the mood for and in the right company so I can focus on the experience and not on my body, my reaction to extreme rollercoasters and similar contraptions is most of the time 'No thank you'

However I am also an insanely picky eater, but luckily it's getting a lot better with age, I am also squeamish about many things to the point of panic and I can be very fussy and particular.
As a child I was very picky when it came to clothes and it was impossible to get me to wear things I found annoying, it's possible I'm still like that except I don't notice it because I choose my own clothes.
I am very scared of pain, or expectation of pain more than pain itself and I often imagine it being a million times worse than it is in reality, I don't know how much my body can handle.
I am so scared of pregnancy in the future and possible complications and I have a strong feeling that I'm definitely gonna be one of the less lucky ones, the pain itself would be fine, it is what it has to be, but I just fear my body malfunctioning.
Overall very sensitive, often considered very dramatic for how sensitive I am, I would say I fit HSP but the thing about not getting overwhelmed throws me off.

I looove food, but I would love to not love it even more, I think that for me it's often a cheap and unhealthy substitute for other things, I don't think anything would be legitimately missing from my life if I was not able to enjoy food. There are many things I could enjoy even more so in that sense I don't see food as truly important to me like it might be for some people, but it would surely be very disorienting to lose my sense of taste. Perhaps I take it for granted because it's so easily accessible!

[Vive]

Ahh, the senses, they are such a wonderful thing.

I love coming close to the brink of overstimulation every so often. Exercising until total exhaustion, taking many crazy rollercoaster rides, parties with lots of people and mildly loud music, but enough space to dance or just move around in. I really dislike it when I am somewhere and there 10 people that are bumping up to me, because there isn't even more than a centimeter of wriggle space.

Taste is essential to me. I love to eat and I love a great many types of food. However, I tend to eat fast and my mind is often somewhere else, so I must admit that I sometimes do miss out on properly tasting food. It's something I think I can live without, though. Although I do think I should be more mindful sometimes when eating as it can make a whole lot of difference for how things taste.

I really wouldn't want to go without sound, though. I'm not a musician, but music and sound in general can affect me so much more than just visuals. Not to mention that is a great practical hindrance, like losing your vision. Strictly emotionally speaking, though my hearing is more important to me.

Vision, though can also be unexpectly great. Sometimes, you look at a 'mundane' thing and you think 'mhh.. that's actually pretty neat'. Like standing in the park and looking up at the trees and the leaves and seeing the contrast and all the green and dark green and browns in contrast to a blue sky.



I was just wondering, what would it be like if you lose your sense of touch, can that even happen? I'm not even sure what that would be like. Blind, deaf, having no taste I can somehow imagine or picture, but not feeling pressure or heat, I don't think I can imagine that.

[ledyanoy]

So much sensory goodness! I am enjoying reading everyone’s posts, so much. ? I have to come back to share more myself, but just wanted to say Vive that loss of touch sensation is a symptom of MS. I know two people close to me who have MS and all I can say it must be horrible. When it progresses, there is malfunction in the communication from the skin receptors to the brain, so things like burning yourself becomes a risk as only one example.

I love a love/hate kind of thing with sound/hearing. I am extra sensitive and prickly to sounds, which makes some sounds give superlative pleasure in many ways and others extremely horrible and up to rage inducing. One sound that I like in almost any form is water - waves, rain, waterfalls, brooks, rapids, fountains, melting ice. The only exception I can think of is a dripping faucet.

[ledyanoy]

With sound, it seems that I notice when things are synchronous vs. asynchronous and the latter has a effect of feeling disturbing (distracting in a negative way and bothersome) to me. This relates to how I pick up on people’s voices. I have an excellent ear for people’s voice qualities, but along with this also a distinct like/dislike kind of reaction to factors of people’s voice. If someone’s way of speaking grates on me in any form, it colours my feelings about them as a person.

[ledyanoy]

moonlight, I am only just getting a sense impression of you ? so I wouldn’t be so foolhardy as to jump into full range of what your cog type is. I was only wondering as per Si because that one does seem to be significant for you - it is for me, but it can be for people in varying ways (or cog position ranking).