Aphant Log - Conscious Thought & Episodic Memory

Had an interesting vision/liminal dream-space sequence on 3-20. Went for a ride with a whale. Explored an old fear of deep water spaces: ocean, swimming pools.

Imagining these spaces brought real physiological effects. Doing so in liminal / meditative spaces made them much more real. Took me back to when I felt those fears as a kid.

In general, I’m noticing that even though my mental imagery is still invisible during waking states (e.g. mid-day, probably alpha / beta dominant), that I’m using it (sensory thought) much more during the course of the day.

I’m using it to access the past, throughout the day. Building a habit of revisiting the recent and distant past.

During conversations, or while reading, it happens (or feels to be) spontaneously - this is increasing in frequency. No flashes of visuals (no color, no shapes) - but “flashes” non verbal memories…of objects, people, things…are happening.

Something I’m trying as a new exercise when lying in bed, or just in general, is building association with color. I feel that color is one of the most important aspects of sight/visuals when it comes to association and memory.

So, I’ll go through ROYGBIV (and other colors), say the color to myself (in my mind), and then try to “picture” (think of in sensory thought) whatever object/person/memory comes to mind.

“Red” (Strawberry, Apple, Spider-Man)
“Blue” (Blueberry, Bruise, Sky) …

Again, after saying the word in my mind, I’m not saying the objects/things that are invoked by the word, I’m trying to think about them using sensory thought, using my memory of the color, shape, texture, taste, sound, smell, etc.

I don’t spend too much time (maybe 2-5 seconds) on each item I “summon”.

Something else I’ve been playing with is trying to “picture” (again, no actual visuals are happening) an object for an extended period. So, picturing a sprout of some sort of vegetation. Just holding there. No verbal dialogue, just slow, intentional, gentle breathing, and trying to “consider” or remember this object.

Memory plays such a huge part in this process of visualization / mental imagery. It’s the reason (one of the main ones), and a very large part of the “mechanism”

Relistened to Adam Zeman’s talk on Imagination again (at least half of it) - visualization is possible due to a distributed network, many moving parts - different parts of the brain involved. So, of course, there can be a variety of reasons / problems that prevent or diminish visualization.

So the ants, this distributed intelligence…these networks…figuring out how to unblock them is key.

Started reading “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. Another synchronicity - how it appeared, and how it ties into the other books I’ve been reading / things I’ve been learning.

Art - Mind’s Eye - Right Mind (Brain Hemispheres) - Spirituality - Life Stream - Creative Source

Started taking Vegan Omega 3. A hint about cleaning switches instead of replacing them…from Andy.
Bacopa Monnieri - whew. A life-changer for sure.

Sleep and diet are going pretty well (though I haven’t fasted in a while), but exercise needs to wake back up.

Today I decided again to take a step back from A.N. (Artificial Network), specifically Social Media Network. We’ll see how long that lasts. But I feel that I’ve been neglecting other networks (Uri Neural Network, Community, Neighbors, Family, Friends). More intentional and focused use of energy.

Facebook and Instagram are designed to be addictive…as are so many other digital “toys”.

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