Discovering Your Mind - Aphantasia and Beyond

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In part two with Paul Bogush, a visualizing middle school teacher, we continue our discussion about his experiences trying to understand and help his students that have aphantasia. He explains how aphantasia is not a diagnosis or a disorder and we get into the ever complicated question of "what is imagination?". We also talk about sympathy vs empathy, advantages, labels, anxiety, multi-step directions, creativity, reading comprehension, art, personal organization, decision fatigue, validation, and the apple test vs the square test. Oh and in case you missed it... when it comes to our internal experiences, everyone is different.

Check out the original Aphantasia and Beyond Youtube videos that I mention in this episode. Here is part one and then you can link to the rest of the series from there. https://youtu.be/vIuHL_OrA4s?si=wMuaa8CnVkkMABmN

Check out Paul's stuff... http://holeyhiker.com • http://paulbogush.org • https://www.nopictureneeded.com

Support the show

Here is a link to the apple graph, the nature picture, and the carnival picture. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

You could be on the podcast with YouPhantasia! Record and submit your input. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/youphantasia

Join our Discovering Your Mind Facebook group and participate in discussions, questions, and more. https://www.facebook.com/groups/316476481204107/

We appreciate your support! Here are 3 easy ways you can support the show financially:
• Go to https://podcast.discoveringyourmind.com/ and become a monthly donor.
• Make a donation with https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shanesbrain
• Purchase t-shirts and books on https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/

Purchase the book, Aphantasia and Beyond, here:
https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

Short Guitar Clip by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/

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In part one with Paul Bogush, a visualizing middle school teacher, he tells how he discovered that aphantasia was a thing and how it immediately explained so much about his life experiences with his daughter and his students. He goes on to explain how learning about aphantasia has helped him better reach the small percentage of students that he was missing before, because his previous teaching style was focused on using visualization. We also discuss the education system in general, mislabeling students with aphantasia, why working harder is not the answer, having a photo album vs filing cabinet, younger children vs older children, the red square test, and more. Oh, and shocker, he just recently discovered that not everyone visualizes the same way he does. Even as someone that has been studying aphantasia for over 3 years, and claims to have listened to this podcast, he still made that assumption. So  crazy.

Check out Paul's stuff... http://holeyhiker.com • http://paulbogush.org • https://www.nopictureneeded.com

Support the show

Here is a link to the apple graph, the nature picture, and the carnival picture. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

You could be on the podcast with YouPhantasia! Record and submit your input. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/youphantasia

Join our Discovering Your Mind Facebook group and participate in discussions, questions, and more. https://www.facebook.com/groups/316476481204107/

We appreciate your support! Here are 3 easy ways you can support the show financially:
• Go to https://podcast.discoveringyourmind.com/ and become a monthly donor.
• Make a donation with https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shanesbrain
• Purchase t-shirts and books on https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/

Purchase the book, Aphantasia and Beyond, here:
https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

Short Guitar Clip by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Rock Intro 1...

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In this episode, I talk with Sadie Dingfelder who is face blind, stereo blind, aphantastic, and SDAMic in nature. She is the author of Do I Know You? A Faceblind Reporter’s Journey into the Science of Sight, Memory, and Imagination. In part two, we focus on aphantasia and SDAM with some face blindness and stereo blindness sprinkled in. We talk about how aphantasia and SDAM interplay with art, choreography, chess, photoshop, school, spelling, getting over breakups, writing, experiencing memories, learning lessons, observing the world, and perspective. We also discuss trial and error, feeling and thinking in the moment, the internet's influence, embracing not knowing, and so much more! This one is jam packed!

For more info about Sadie and her book, check out https://www.sadied.com/

Support the show

Here is a link to the apple graph, the nature picture, and the carnival picture. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

You could be on the podcast with YouPhantasia! Record and submit your input. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/youphantasia

Join our Discovering Your Mind Facebook group and participate in discussions, questions, and more. https://www.facebook.com/groups/316476481204107/

We appreciate your support! Here are 3 easy ways you can support the show financially:
• Go to https://podcast.discoveringyourmind.com/ and become a monthly donor.
• Make a donation with https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shanesbrain
• Purchase t-shirts and books on https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/

Purchase the book, Aphantasia and Beyond, here:
https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

Short Guitar Clip by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Rock Intro 1...

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode, I talk with Sadie Dingfelder who is face blind, stereo blind, aphantastic, and SDAMic in nature. She is the author of Do I Know You? A Faceblind Reporter’s Journey into the Science of Sight, Memory, and Imagination. In part one, we focus on face blindness and stereo blindness with some aphantasia and SDAM sprinkled in. We talk about what each of these conditions are, how she discovered them in herself, and how these conditions affect her life. We also discuss super recognizers, skepticism, science, research, introspection, uniqueness, misconceptions, symptoms, tips, stigma, and more.

For more info about Sadie and her book, check out https://www.sadied.com/

Support the show

Here is a link to the apple graph, the nature picture, and the carnival picture. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

You could be on the podcast with YouPhantasia! Record and submit your input. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/youphantasia

Join our Discovering Your Mind Facebook group and participate in discussions, questions, and more. https://www.facebook.com/groups/316476481204107/

We appreciate your support! Here are 3 easy ways you can support the show financially:
• Go to https://podcast.discoveringyourmind.com/ and become a monthly donor.
• Make a donation with https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shanesbrain
• Purchase t-shirts and books on https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/

Purchase the book, Aphantasia and Beyond, here:
https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

Short Guitar Clip by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Rock Intro 1...

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In this episode we discover how Pamela Topjian's mind works using the Discovering Your Mind Protocol. Pamela is a visualizer and we discuss things like thinking vs visualizing, memory vs imagination, and internal hearing vs internal seeing. Although she is highly visual, when I asked her to not think of a pink elephant she was able to accomplish it just fine because she has a good amount of control over her visualization and she's a rule follower. We also talk about her trustworthy memory, tasting donuts in her mind, and making mental notes.

Check out Panela's books and podcast, etc below:

Linktr.ee/PamelaTopjian

Pamela's podcast link is https://holisticconnections.podbean.com/

It's also in a playlist on her YouTube channel YouTube.com/@PamelaTopjian

Book links: 

I Didn’t Come This Far To Only Come THIS Far

https://a.co/d/088E4ujv

Behind The Mask Gloves & Scrubs. One nurse's journey. 

https://a.co/d/0if6om7g

Support the show

Here is a link to the apple graph, the nature picture, and the carnival picture. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

You could be on the podcast with YouPhantasia! Record and submit your input. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/youphantasia

Join our Discovering Your Mind Facebook group and participate in discussions, questions, and more. https://www.facebook.com/groups/316476481204107/

We appreciate your support! Here are 3 easy ways you can support the show financially:
• Go to https://podcast.discoveringyourmind.com/ and become a monthly donor.
• Make a donation with https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shanesbrain
• Purchase t-shirts and books on https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/

Purchase the book, Aphantasia and Beyond, here:
https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

Short Guitar Clip by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Rock Intro 1...

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In this episode we discover how Rebecca James' mind works. Rebecca found out that she has aphantasia just a few months ago and she thinks that it will be considered a disability in the future. I disagree, but we do take some time to discuss our opinions on the matter. It seems to me that Rebecca tends to approach aphantasia with more absolutes than I do, perhaps because it's new to her and I have been marinating in it for nearly 30 years. I enjoyed many of her unique descriptions and experiences revolving around dreams, PTSD, words, reading, and math. I also loved her description of seeing aurora borealis type lights when she closes her eyes.

Check her out on Instagram at @queenjamesversion

Support the show

Here is a link to the apple graph, the nature picture, and the carnival picture. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

You could be on the podcast with YouPhantasia! Record and submit your input. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/youphantasia

Join our Discovering Your Mind Facebook group and participate in discussions, questions, and more. https://www.facebook.com/groups/316476481204107/

We appreciate your support! Here are 3 easy ways you can support the show financially:
• Go to https://podcast.discoveringyourmind.com/ and become a monthly donor.
• Make a donation with https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shanesbrain
• Purchase t-shirts and books on https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/

Purchase the book, Aphantasia and Beyond, here:
https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

Short Guitar Clip by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Rock Intro 1...

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In this episode, I talk with Aaron, who has synesthesia. Synethsesia is where stimulating one sense automatically triggers another sense. Synethesia can present itself in many different ways but in Aaron's case, it mostly occurs with numbers, letters, and shapes being automatically linked to specific colors. Also, different types of music are often linked to specific colors, patterns, and scenes. As always, they thought it was "normal" and everyone was this way. Aaron shares some very interesting things like, their visualization is often blurry, their mind is like a projector that only faces to the front, everything they hear shows up as subtitles that they also read, they get inspiration for their artwork, from their dreams, they can turn their visual thoughts off but not their audible ones, and much more.  

Support the show

Here is a link to the apple graph, the nature picture, and the carnival picture. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

You could be on the podcast with YouPhantasia! Record and submit your input. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/youphantasia

Join our Discovering Your Mind Facebook group and participate in discussions, questions, and more. https://www.facebook.com/groups/316476481204107/

We appreciate your support! Here are 3 easy ways you can support the show financially:
• Go to https://podcast.discoveringyourmind.com/ and become a monthly donor.
• Make a donation with https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shanesbrain
• Purchase t-shirts and books on https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/

Purchase the book, Aphantasia and Beyond, here:
https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

Short Guitar Clip by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Rock Intro 1...

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In this episode, we bring back Kali and Alex (this time together) to talk about how finding out about aphantasia and hyperphantasia has affected their relationship. They discovered that Alex has aphantasia and Kali has hyperphantasia through experiences with hypnosis. Alex explains how he felt "broken" before he found out that aphantasia was a thing. We explore many topics, including empathy, reading, school, focus, memory, careers, words, phrases, music, and more. It's remarkable to hear about how much they have tried to understand each other's internal experiences and are using this information to strengthen their relationship. We also discuss the idea of "oneness" and what it might be like to switch minds for one day.

Support the show

Here is a link to the apple graph, the nature picture, and the carnival picture. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

You could be on the podcast with YouPhantasia! Record and submit your input. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/youphantasia

Join our Discovering Your Mind Facebook group and participate in discussions, questions, and more. https://www.facebook.com/groups/316476481204107/

We appreciate your support! Here are 3 easy ways you can support the show financially:
• Go to https://podcast.discoveringyourmind.com/ and become a monthly donor.
• Make a donation with https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shanesbrain
• Purchase t-shirts and books on https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/

Purchase the book, Aphantasia and Beyond, here:
https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

Short Guitar Clip by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Rock Intro 1...

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In this episode I talk with Andrea. Her struggles with depression and anxiety led her to meditation. Her struggles with meditation led here to discovering that she has aphantasia. Her initial struggles with aphantasia blossomed into an understanding that she's not broken, which led her to finding alternate meditation techniques, which led her to writing her new mediation book for people with aphantasia and ADHD, "Living is easy with eyes closed." She also describes how learning about aphantasia helped her realize that she didn't have to give up her dream of being a writer. We also talk about making assumptions, pictureless menus, thoughts, inner monologue, reading, memories, school, and more.

Check out Andrea's Meditation Book at https://geniusbookpublishing.com/products/living-is-easy-with-eyes-closed-paperback?srsltid=AfmBOooSBodyK5qHqQkLzL2I2vrzwJOlHQBn5rFYIyDNahf2xlhr6fhp

Check out Andrea's Children's  Book at https://www.amazon.com/Mouse-Pretty-Bird-Andrea-Thorfinson/dp/B0BW2G3WMT

Check out Andrea's Substack under Stillness & Spirit,

Support the show

Here is a link to the apple graph, the nature picture, and the carnival picture. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

You could be on the podcast with YouPhantasia! Record and submit your input. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/youphantasia

Join our Discovering Your Mind Facebook group and participate in discussions, questions, and more. https://www.facebook.com/groups/316476481204107/

We appreciate your support! Here are 3 easy ways you can support the show financially:
• Go to https://podcast.discoveringyourmind.com/ and become a monthly donor.
• Make a donation with https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shanesbrain
• Purchase t-shirts and books on https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/

Purchase the book, Aphantasia and Beyond, here:
https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

Short Guitar Clip by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Rock Intro 1...

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In this episode we discover how Edward Jones' mind's eye works using the Discovering Your Mind Protocol. Edward has aphantasia and compares his inner experience to echolocation. He goes on to explain that thoughts are not something he consciously experiences in this head but something he feels in his body. He talks about how he can trust his internal wisdom to come out in a beautiful way without tangible thought or internal feedback. Edward also has some fascinating descriptions and insights about reading, dreaming, psychedelics, meditation, astrology, human design, his creative process, and navigating relationships.

Check out Edward's music at: https://open.spotify.com/artist/637rqP4bhaGxMMPgHslerH?si=lnDzBo4MTgev8vHgGOMUcw

and

https://roreford.bandcamp.com

Learn more about Edward's experiences and creative process here: https://open.substack.com/pub/turningradio/p/writing-in-the-dark

Support the show

Here is a link to the apple graph, the nature picture, and the carnival picture. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

You could be on the podcast with YouPhantasia! Record and submit your input. https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/youphantasia

Join our Discovering Your Mind Facebook group and participate in discussions, questions, and more. https://www.facebook.com/groups/316476481204107/

We appreciate your support! Here are 3 easy ways you can support the show financially:
• Go to https://podcast.discoveringyourmind.com/ and become a monthly donor.
• Make a donation with https://www.buymeacoffee.com/shanesbrain
• Purchase t-shirts and books on https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/

Purchase the book, Aphantasia and Beyond, here:
https://www.shanesbraindomain.com/aphantasia

Short Guitar Clip by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/

Rock Intro 1...