While working at a conference last week we had quite a bit of down time. Too much time + nothing to do = time for some great sweating of small stuff!! ( Yes, we were selling Math curriculum. ) One of the conversations led to an interesting discovery. Not everyone thinks the way I do . Yes, I know this isn't any surprise. However, I am not talking about it in the usual sense. The conversation was about what is actually going on in a persons mind while listening to someone speak. As I listen there are pictures like a little movie going on in my head just behind my forehead. We delved into this further with some of the people visiting our booth found some see written words instead of pictures and other do not "see" anything. Is this interesting?! Especially in my mind where I am looking at them seeing words running across their forehead like a digital reader board or more interesting the blank mind. So now I am really curious!!! Who sees movies?? Who sees words?? Who sees nothing and what exactly is happening when you see nothing??? Is there anyone who has an even different experience??
Having a brain which processes this way causes me a lot of trouble. Often the "movie" translates the conversation literally. That's probably why I enjoy slang phrases so much. Old stand-bys like " I love it better than a hog loves his waller" is a great one to pop onto my minds movie screen out of the blue. Other times the "movie" runs ahead of the conversation. On occasion the movie gets "stuck" after something really funny happens and I can't stop seeing it or laughing inappropriately. I found a way to help maneuver around this the other day. Kathy was practicing a speech she is delivering in a couple weeks. She had forgotten her glasses so was wearing 2 pairs.. Must have been one for distance and another further down on her nose for close-up. It looked so funny I bursted out laughing. Consequently she removed one of the pairs. However, my mind continued to see the home made bifocals. In an attempt to control my laughter I pictured snakes during her talk. I have no idea what was in her talk but at least I didn't continue to interrupt her with laughter. No one else on the support team seemed to have this "problem" or thought it was all that funny in the first place. The question I have is did the others on the support team not have "movie brains" or did they just have more self control?
I would so love your take on this. Hope you will have time out of your busy day of thinking about things that are really important and post a comment.
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6 comments:
I am a very visual person so I definitely see the movie in my head when people speak. I was recently wondering this same thing myself...do people visualize like I do because I sometimes think things are so funny and no one else is laughing!! I really need to try controlling my vision like you did with the snakes. It never dawned on me before that this would be possible.
It would be interesting to know if the rest of the family sees movies. If not, which ones see words, and which see blank.
I don't see things at all, I hear them. Maybe it's me talking to myself about what the other person is saying. But it's very distracting, and takes allot of focus to pay attention to what the other person is saying. I try to focus allot on body language, and then of course, discuss in my head how the person really feels about what they're saying, why their saying it, and so on. It makes the conversation more interesting and therefore easier to pay attention if I have something to analyze.
Thanks Heather for posting!! This is so interesting.
I wonder if my coworkers who told me they see blank actually hear like heather rather than see. They seemed puzzled by the question like I hadn't given them the correct option What was also interesting to me, I actually guessed those who may not see picture or "a movie".
Hmmnnn ... Great topic! I don't see movies, but am very aware of body language and tone of voice. I am a manner nazi, rude people send me over the edge and I am not bashful about showing my acerbic vocab skills in reply. If they really knew what I was thinking in my head but not actually saying?!! I do find myself doing that quite often ... What a movie some of those thoughts would make, ROFL!!
With certain people (like my boss, who can be quite long-winded), I may look like I am listening, but I am really thinking about what time I have to pick-up Kaitlin from 4-H, or how much money I have until next payday. Funny how you can do that and then at the end, comment in a way that makes it seem as you if you hung on to every word.
One of my hubby's favorite slang phrases ... "Useless as tits on a boar". Sighhhhhh, he gets this from his Dad. There are many others but I don't want to take up a bunch of space in your comment section, lol.
Love the name of your blog, I plan to visit often.
Dannette
Dannette,
Thank you so much for posting. Your way of processing conversations was fun to imagine in my "movie mind" I had you sitting at a desk, pretty about, 35 yo, brown hair in kind of a fluffy page boy... your boss was balding with those 20 grey strands trying to cover the evidence.
Sometimes I zone out also but am not so good as you at covering it. I have always thought that the "tits on a boar" slang was kinda a dumb one so I looked up the word boar and realize now the the word "boar" is gender specific..OH NOW I GET IT... I thought boar was just a rougher kind of wild pig.. silly me
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