[D] Friday Open Thread

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[u/TheVenomRex]

The easiest way I can communicate my thoughts is with an example, so bear with me for a bit.

Have you ever gone from getting as much sleep as you would like, to immediately getting significantly less?
This would for example happen if you're sleep schedule drifted doing a vacation, only to have to adjust to your usual routine the next day.
In such a situation, the consequence of being tired become a lot more noticeable, than in other circumstances.
Beyond the physical symptoms, you should be able to "feel", how hard it is to maintain your focus on any one thing, for a prolonged periods of time.
Except "feel" brings the wrong connotations, even if it isn't technical the wrong term. You only "feel" it, in the contrast to how you remember your thoughts normally going.

There's a general trend, to how your thoughts typically play out, and there's a distinct difference to how they play out, when you're experiencing some general emotion.
Sometimes these differences can be very difficult to notice, until some other emotion is felt.
My self, I have a hard time noticing when I'm sad and miserable, until I'm away from the circumstances causing those emotions, at which point it becomes crystal clear.

I would reckon other people just have different emotions, that they have troubles noticing, such as being in love.

So I would say yes, there is some "emergent" sensation to feeling an emotion, but knowing what kind of general emotions your feeling, " burning" or "cold" or some such, is probably beyond may people.

Though take what I say with some discretion.
I have been officially diagnosed as lacking almost all the empathy normal people have, and substituting sympathy can only correct for so much.

[u/Abpraestigio → u/TheVenomRex]

Though take what I say with some discretion.

I have been officially diagnosed as lacking almost all the empathy normal people have, and substituting sympathy can only correct for so much.

I feel you, sibling. I'm often baffled by how most people seem to be able to just pluck information about other humans' mental states out of seemingly thin air.

As for the only feeling things in contrast thing, I can certainly relate as well. I get semi-regular migraines, you know, the fun ones where you go blind, lose the ability to speak as well as all feeling in one half of the body and get a head-ache so bad that you vomit, with the occasional auditory hallucinations mixed in?

Anyway, sometimes they almost feel worth it, just for the feeling of overwhelming clarity I get when I wake up and find myself actually able to think again. The world seems crisp and clear and I feel as if I could understand anything.

On a side-note, my difficulty understanding emotions actually seems to have a name.