That's funny you bring this up. I've been thinking about this type of thing the last few weeks.
I haven't heard or read anything about latent inhibition before. But I did recently realize that I get sensory overload very easily, and it explains a lot. It seems like a neurological thing to me more than simply psychological, because I don't think it's ever gone away temporarily. Particularly loud sounds, or too many sounds like more than one person around me talking at once bothers me a lot. Bright lights or just lots of shiny things in the environment. Not necessarily because they're too bright, but just because they're there. I can't smell very well, which might be a copying mechanism too. I've always had to constantly retreat to silence and have trouble blocking out any sounds, but I wasn't aware that that was why I had trouble. I just knew that something was wrong, and other people didn't seem to have to retreat like that.
Anyway, obviously it hasn't prevented me from improving my vision, but I do still run into trouble when there are too many sounds or loud sounds, and I start shutting down despite trying to only pay attention to one.
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"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
Me too to everything David said, and I have a very acute sense of smell too. Waiting on line in the post office yesterday behind a woman who reeked of cigarette smoke, turning in every direction to avoid breathing in more than I had to (even toward the man in front of me who didn't smell that clean), I could feel the strain creeping in to my forehead and face (where I always feel it first). When I finally got outside I took big long deep gulps of air, then went for a walk at home putting my face in the pine trees and breathing to clean out my lungs. I've long realized I'm more sensitive than others and have a harder time "shaking off" things which hardly bother them. So, like David again, I need periods of solitude and quiet pretty often to cope with daily life and other people. But when I'm centered and calm and grounded, I can be so productive, and contribute so much to helping other people feel better or learn something new -- I get positive feedback in this vein all the time. But I have to manage my sensitivity or I'm no use to anyone else and am not happy. It may be ego, but I like to think of myself as a high-performance vehicle, very easily getting out of tune or alignment, needing the best quality fuel and handling, but if I'm treated like this I can give you more than most others can. Being sensitive is a gift, to me. Know yourself.
Yes, I have experienced the same things as David and Nancy. A question worth investigating: Do these characteristics make myopia/hyperopia more likely or do myopia/hyperopia "create" these characteristics?
@Nancy: The last few lines of your post reminded me of a recent TIME cover story that was titled "The Power of Shyness" or something like that.
For me calming the nervous system (with palming, meditation, etc.) is key to being able to focus, both visually and with my mind. If I'm all jangled and distracted, "all over the place", my vision is blurry at best. Many people I've worked with around vision have this hyper-alert distractible nervous system tendency too, and need to feel safe before they can really benefit from vision work. I'm sure this doesn't apply to everyone, but it's my case and I think it's more common than people realize.
Count me in on this one! I relate to everything said in this thread. I've always thought I was somehow 'less-equipped' to handle the normal sensory data of life - like David I have a need to retreat into silence often - and if it's accompanied by darkness then I'm in heaven. Sometimes the process of relearning how to see has been uncomfortable simply because I find myself thinking: 'ugh - i don't want to have to see/deal with all of that!'. I noticed recently that I can't accurately see and hear at the same time, it's just way too much information for me, so usually one of the senses is dulled to save me the stress.
Over the weekend I was practicing energy medicine with a very distractable student who often looks to me for guidance on life issues, more than am comfortable with. She mentioned a woman getting annoyed at her for not listening, and how she felt guilty about not being able to handle the sensory overload (although she didn't call it that), because so many other things were going on at the same time she couldn't focus, and she wondered what she should have done. The idea came to me that the different flavors of sensory input, sounds or thoughts or sights or smells or body sensations, are like different-colored strands which a Master of Awareness (like Jesus or Buddha) can weave into a rich tapestry of experience. A Student of Life (and Vision!), like me and the woman I was with, has to FOCUS, to be selective, about which portion of input to pay attention to so as not to get overwhelmed, and as our mastery increases we can take in and process more and more. I see obvious parallels to vision. Blur is simply that I'm paying attention to too many "pixels" (whether looking at the computer or not) at once. As I get more skilled at vision (and awareness), my eyes' saccadic movements become faster and more precise, and I'll be able to take in more, faster, and see it clearly.
I told my friend she could have just said she couldn't process everything coming in at once and asked the woman to repeat what she'd said, with an apology if she felt that was necessary. I also talked about setting priorities (choosing where to focus) which is not easy for her. She's an under-focuser while I'm an over-focuser. Anyway, thanks Sypheren for starting this interesting topic.
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