Impressions of warm and cool

I've tried to explain this to several people before and gotten that "what hospital did you escape from?" look from them, but after discussing it with a friend who actually understood what I was saying... I thought I'd explain the impressions I get here. I'm wondering who else gets these feelings.

Some objects and people give me impressions of temperature. It's not like seeing an object and knowing that it's warm or cool before touching it. It's kind of like when people say they can see an aura around other people. Something that gives me a warm impression or feeling can be cold to the touch and something that gives me a cool impression can be warm to the touch. It's all about the way I see the object through feelings and impressions of temperature.

An object that gives me an impression of warmth is generally an object I don't like. Things like buttons, sick people, pop cans... those sorts of things make me feel gross because of the impression of warmth. The best way I can explain it is that a warm impression gives me that uncomfortable/gross feeling of going into a humid, sticky, smelly room that a bunch of sweaty people just came out of... which is why the objects that give off a warm-impression or feeling make me feel... icky. haha...

An object that gives a cool feeling is usually something that I do like. Things like books or stiff fabrics give me cool impressions. This I can best compare to the refreshing feeling of stepping out into crisp, cold, winter weather. So objects that give a cool impression are nice for me.

I guess I'm making this post to see if anyone gets these impressions or feelings too. So... can anyone relate?

I think it's the way some people are wired to have certain objects/people related to other things.

For me, it was human relationships/feelings and numbers along with some other random associations my brain was wired with.

Ever since I was little, to me, numbers were friends with each other. This helped me in early math since I could just refer to these friendships between numbers to help me remember my multiplication table

For example:
6 and 4 were the best of friends. Add them, they equal 10.
10 is happy, and it's friend's with 5.
3 and 8 were bullies.
4, 14, and 44 were "happy" numbers

For some reason, I seem to subconsciously get mixed up between the letter 'm' and the number '5'. I would be copying down numbers for example, and I would accidentally write 'm' instead of 5.

The second set of letter/number I keep subconsciously getting mixed up at is '4' and 'c'. This has actually caused me to enter a wrong answer on a test in elementary school. The answer was 4c, I put 'ac'.

Edit- Oh yea, In psionics, the impression you're getting from other people is usually referred to as their "signature". Knowing someones signature helps when you want to scan someone or practice psionics with them.

[edit on 1/10/2008 by Hyzera]

Originally posted by Hyzera

Ever since I was little, to me, numbers were friends with each other. This helped me in early math since I could just refer to these friendships between numbers to help me remember my multiplication table

[edit on 1/10/2008 by Hyzera]

!! Me too!!

I have a tendency to 'pick up vibes' from some items.......some give me a depressing, almost nauseated feeling......others cause a lift, like a deep breath. Old photos, old jewelry, old houses.....they seem so 'loaded' with impressions like these.

It's good to know other people have these sorts of association, even if not the exact same.

Originally posted by Hyzera

Edit- Oh yea, In psionics, the impression you're getting from other people is usually referred to as their "signature". Knowing someones signature helps when you want to scan someone or practice psionics with them.

[edit on 1/10/2008 by Hyzera]

Thanks Hyzera! I've never heard of that before, so I'll do a little research on "signatures"!

Echo, from psionguild was helping me and explaining to me how to scan people.

He said their signiture is just what feeling you get by being around them. Or, what feeling they give off...it's kind of hard to explain. Everyone might interpret other people's signature differently. What you feel as warm, might feel cool to other people.

Hope this helps

reply to post by xhorrorgasmx

(Wow. How did I end up all the way over here?)

What I find surprising is that you prefer cool to warm. Most people would probably want the opposite. Do you prefer hot meals or cold meals? A warm bed or a cool bed? (I can see it both ways -- just wondering if there is a coorelation....)

#

Also, I am not sure why you prefer cool when your avatar is so hot? (And by that I mean the red background. Of course!)

Edit: What I was thinking was that perhaps you are a very hot person (especially if you prefer cold things) and perhaps you are looking for people and things to cool you off. I get that impression -- if you could find someone who could "scan" you, as mentioned before, you might find that you are definitely radiating an above average amount of warmth, and are seeking coolness.

Cheers!

[edit on 12-1-2008 by Buck Division]

reply to post by Buck Division


Well... I definitely don't mind a warm temperature but when I crawl into bed I like the blankets to be cool and I often prefer something cold to eat (I eat a lot of ice cubes) than something warm. I guess it's the fact that the warm impressions I get are an uncomfortable warm, remindning me of the sort of sticky humid heat that comes with the smell of sweaty people... blah!

But it's definitely interesting, your reasoning for why I prefer things that are cool instead of warm...

This sounds very similar to what is scientifically called Synesthesia, where one sensation is intertwined in some way or another to another sensation. There are varying levels of synesthesia, and different people have different senses combined. I think the most common one is colour with sound. You seem to have temperature and some sort of emotional sense combined. The first thing that comes to mind is the sense/mechanism that builds your first impression of someone/something.

Here's a wikipedia article on Synesthesia.

Synesthesia

Edit: Also something I thought I'd throw in, I don't know if it has to do with being Canadian or not, but I've always preferred snow and the winter cold to any sort of warm humid weather, which we get both of here in Nova Scotia. I often say to my friends in this time of the year I think I would be better off living in Siberia where I could feel comfortable all year around, .

[edit on 14-1-2008 by OnionCloud]

[edit on 14-1-2008 by OnionCloud]

I agree completely. Synesthesia. This looks like an excellent case, and I was thinking about saying something to about that earlier.

Apparently, Xhorrorgasmx can experience certain sensations or qualia that most people cannot sense. That is obvious, and very cool (or hot, or whatever.)

How could Xhorrorgasmx make money off of that rare talent, I wonder?

So many things I haven't heard of before! Synesthesia, qualia... looking into them has definitely been interesting and I appreciate being directed.

But, Buck Division, I'm not sure what you mean about the sensations. Like... do you mean physical?

Becaus really, the physical sensation of cool or warm is very minimal... it's... ahh hard to explain. More like the memory of what it feels like to be grossly warm or comfortably cool washes over me when I'm near something that gives me the impression.

Haha I guess this is what the wikipedia entry for qualia meant when it said it's hard to explain and has to be experienced!

I think I experience Synesthesia sound-touch. Its quite impossible to really explain, when I touch something I can hear the touch, sorry I cannot really describe it. Its not that when I touched something I would hear Mozart or an actual sound, its just that I hear the sensation of the touch.

Originally posted by xhorrorgasmx
But, Buck Division, I'm not sure what you mean about the sensations. Like... do you mean physical?

No -- I probably shouldn't have used the word "sensation", but more like "feeling".

For sure, qualia refers to sensations such as pain or pleasure, but it also refers to feelings, such as curiosity, confusion, understanding, anger, amusement, disgust, love, hate -- all emotions. It also deals with perceptions, such as what "red" is like, or what music sounds like.

Basically, qualia are all the things that ONLY YOU can experience.

For example, if we listen to music together, you "feel" something from that music, and it might be very complicated to explain to someone else. Maybe I feel the same -- or maybe not. Perhaps we both enjoy the music, but for completely different reasons. You (and only you) know how the music makes you feel.

Another example: If you stub your toe, I can tell you are in pain, but only YOU can actually feel your pain. How do I know that the pain you feel is anything like the pain I feel? ANSWER: I don't know that. It is impossible to tell.

So I think you probably have a legitimate talent -- you are feeling a sensation that most people don't feel -- it is totally valid. You don't have a good word for this feeling, so you call it "hot" and "cold", because those other sensations make you feel a similar way. It is a special perception that I don't have, and that only YOU understand.

Synesthesia is weird, but I wouldn't be frightened by it at all. I think it is a valuable way of perceiving things. That is why I was (half) joking about whether you could make money from it. Perhaps it would make you a great artist, or art critic. You can see things in a way that very few people can!

Give that some thought....

Originally posted by PontiacWarrior
I think I experience Synesthesia sound-touch. Its quite impossible to really explain, when I touch something I can hear the touch, sorry I cannot really describe it.

See my post to Xhorrorgasmx, above.

My understanding is that this type of Synesthesia is more common (but still very rare.) You can't really explain it because it is a weird sensation that nobody has a name for. You call it "sound", because it reminds you of the feelings you get from sound. But it is actually a different feeling from either touch or sound (similar yes, the same, not!)

Unfortunately I can't think of a way right now for you to exploit this talent, so I don't have any recommendations at this time! Let me think about it. Perhaps you might consider being a surgeon or nurse? (That is a little presumptuous of me to suggest. Could I be right?)