The Narrative Arc
Synesthesia Is a Dispatcher for My Attention
The sensory and sensual life of a full synesthetic
There have been times when I’ve owned up to a part of my synesthetic self. But not all, until now. There are times when I have thought I was born with a wide open brain, because I could have so many things going on inside of it at once. But I came to understand if that were true, I probably would not be able to do anything at all. We need an ability to separate senses. We need boundaries in order to organize our lives.
That said, I don’t have enough natural boundaries. I had to learn to build some. When I was a child, all of them could fire up in what seemed like full force. But, over time, vision proved to be my foremost sense.
I thought.
Contemplating how to write this piece, I realized sight is not my most active sense. But it is the pilot of my sensory journey. It directs more of my senses. It does not command my most present one. But it does determine much of what I feel, both in sense and emotion.
I should tell you what synesthesia is. But the Cleveland Clinic, linked here, can do a better scientific job of it. For me, synesthesia is like a dispatcher for my attention. When I am most likely to be interested in something I am…
