She Just Can't Picture It
Not everyone's brain works the way yours does.
I can picture a lot of things. I have vivid dreams that feel real while I'm there. My imagination is alive, full color, and on all day. When I read books, the story comes alive in my head. I can hear the hooves of horses trotting and the creak of the carriage wheels. I can see the shrivelled old woman's pursed lips and hear her angry retorts.
I can barely, however, picture a mind like Aileen Donnelly's. Her mind is a black blank of nothing. She has what's called aphantasia.
She has no imagination, literally. Her brain shows her no pictures. She hears no music in her head.
To my very active mind that is full of everything...memories, daydreams, night dreams, stories, dancing, music, and fantasies that rival reality, her existence seems like a sad sort of perpetual prison. Although, since it's her normal since youth, she can hardly miss what she never knew.
Take a look at her article in National Post below to read more about her experience of life.
https://nationalpost.com/news/world/aphantasia-what-its-like-to-be-mind-blind
Recent comments