Noticing things...

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I've often observed over the years that most other people don't notice...stuff. Things that are happening around them. That is, people for some reason seem not to really be aware of their immediate environment or capable of seeing things which to me are pretty obvious. (Like, cycling down the road, I swerve to miss bugs but I'm really pretty sure other people wouldn't even *see* the bug...). But lately I've noticed this has translated into a feeling that other people are totally incapable of noticing *anything at all*--I was all shocked and amazed when a co-worker noticed one day that I was wearing jeans to work.

I still can hardly believe it. I mean, she looked and actually noticed--! But is that fair? Maybe I've gone too far the other way, from expecting people to see what I see, to assuming people see nothing at all? I guess I just figure people walk around in a sort of fog, and approach the world in a very "Point A to Point B" sort of way, thus missing out on almost everything else...but maybe this is unrealistic of me.

Yeah, I know exactly how you feel. More than anything it's why I feel so detached and alien all the time around people. Someone might say that they are focusing entirely on the people around them, and that because of sensory filtering problems we can't, etc, but what I don't get is how people manage to be aware of barely anything around them in a situation where there are no other people, or at least that they are interacting with. For an example, if I've just arrived to class early or something and there's one other person there.

Me: *stares at the wall for awhile* "What's that weird rumbling coming from upstairs?"
Them: "Huh? What? There's rumbling involved?"

So unless they're deep in thought, which I wouldn't bet on (ha), I think people have the ability to switch off and descend a level in consciousness when they don't need it.

Some of us get taught/forced to filter things out.

For a short while my parents put me in a Catholic school even though we weren't Catholic, because my dad in his infinite wisdon decided I needed all that insane discipline. Anyway, one day it was noticed by our teacher that everytime someone walked into the classroom, the students looked up to see what was going on or who it was. She made a big stand on this that day that whomever looked up next when someone came in was getting detention for a week.

I'm glad it only lasted two years of my life.

Bunni, thats brutal! I notice things like this all the time. I wonder if nts notice anything at all! I feel the things going on in the world around me to be far more interesting than the latest gossip that nts find so interesting. Frankly I don't give a damn! It's their loss!

I'll notice things that everybody else is too busy talking to notice, like a person walking a dog or a stray cat.

I have always noticed things, and honed in on small details. I am easily distracted too if in a conversation... I will find myself looking at things out the window...I go into a restaurant, and instantly note the type of chair, pictures on the wall etc. I assumed everyone did that...but I have come to realise that most people don't give a damn about what is around them...and we are the ones meant to be totally self absorbed, according to some literature. I find that laughable.

As someone mentioned, which reached me, first I check for exits. I always have. I look for more than doors, a way out varies.

Growing up in a world of unregulated bullies, I look to see what is the most defendable position, and what is available to use for a weapon. Sometimes when faced with several choices, I run them in my head. Hmm, yes, the waste paper basket to the kneecap, that would be best.

I find created futures alter the present. I look at the menu and create a speach, when the wait comes, is poised and ready, I clearly state my order. I know I pause, so I leave early.

Group action evades my thinking, but one human is no mystery. I study people. Much can be learned by watching. If I want to interact, never really, but get by, I can read one well enough to get by.

I have hungout with outsiders, and learned a few tricks. One was a great teacher. We went go out to eat, he motioned for me to move over in the booth and watch. putting his hand to the back of his neck he scratched, and stared at the back of the neck of the person in the next booth, and they scratched their neck. He could really get them going, till they went to the rest room and washed, for the itching was driving then nuts.

Another trick was rocking, he rocked back and forth, and soon, so did the person in the next booth, and then the person facing them, then the next booth. They all rocked in sync.

He made his living by paying for things with a five and getting change for a twenty.

He did have this thing her ran on girls, they would stop on the street, and want to take him home, now.

He said it was all learned by observing. He saw cause and effect, where most do not notice, studied it, and applied it. He observed that people focus their awareness forward, with lots of filters, but send an unguarded beam to the rear.

When he got change, he had spent hours staring at a twenty, and filled his mind with the image, and he got change for a twenty.

He was not an educated person, I had studied Tantric Yoga, and he described Chakras, the deal he ran on girls was a downward scan. Neck, heart, solar plexus, and down. Their center of awareness followed. I could see it as they walked down the street toward us. The fire serpent of Kundalini was awakened by the time they reached us. To him it was like hailing a cab.

When I met him onthe street he told me he had been declared crazy, my reply of, "the rest don't know," made him laugh, and he liked me, and thought me worth teaching. I will pay for knowledge, so I took him to lunch. He had just gotten to New York, did not know anyone, was broke, I was the first he spoke to, and I took him to lunch. He got me to give him a five, went and got some smokes, and gave me my five back.

He said I had the sight, but did not use it, then he showed me his world. Last I saw of him he was living uptown, very well dressed, doing great. Not bad for an uneducated country boy from back in the hills.
He had grown up with nothing but his wits, and joked about being a halfwit. It seems everyone else knows they are smarter, and they never see it coming.

He said I knew, but still took him to lunch, I did know, but percieved an unknown, and it was worth lunch to learn more. I willingly played his game. That got me extra points and a bonus round.

Two hours one afternoon changed my life, I am still racking up points.

I’ve always thought perhaps it was a sensory thing – like I notice when the sun reflects off all the cars in the parking lot outside, yet the two co-workers I share an office with are rarely ever bothered by it. But it goes beyond that.

I notice if someone changes their hair colour, even if it’s just a subtle change (yet if I was asked what colour their hair was before, I probably couldn’t tell you for certain, I just know when it’s “different”). I got a good 6 inches cut off my own hair a couple of months ago, and it was two weeks before someone finally looked at me strange and said, “did you cut your hair?”.

I can come back to my desk and know in an instant if someone has touched or moved something.

I notice continuity errors in movies and TV shows all the time (stupid things, like a coffee cup on a counter in the background might be in two different positions from frame to frame).

I see spiders and other bugs long before other people in the room do.

I am always aware of people around me – like I can sense their presence. I think it’s because I can either hear the rustle of their clothes, or the tap of their feet, or something, because I certainly don’t think it’s anything psychic. I’m always amazed that people can not notice when you walk past them or behind them, unless they’re looking at you.

me personally................... i always thought that just noticing weird and small mundane details was just another reason that made me weird. Plus i dont know how ppl cant see certain stuff and it drives me up the wall. since im kinda new to this whole website and stuff plz dont point out that i am weird or different, or long winded. Although im sure most of us have been through this and wouldnt dream of doing it to another person. Well back to the subject..........
Why do ppl like me or you or whatever notice this kinda stuff. is it just SI stuff since you guys didnt really mention a whole lot i was just curious.( when i say guys i mean girls to )

MakazeAkumaBatsu

I definitely notice those things, especially when I notice something that's not really there!

I don't have AS or anything (just came here to ask a question) but I know exactly what you mean. I'm always pointing stuff out and then being amazed to find that everyone else didn't spot it ("How the hell did you notice that?" is a question I get asked a lot). I mean to me it's incredibely obvious, to the extent that I sometimes wonder if the person I'm with has some kind of problem.

I consider it one of my few natural talents

Read your post, Inventor... not entirely sure I agree with the tactics this man was using...they do say that it is wrong to use abilities in such a way...and I see what he did as basically amounting to mind control... it was not used for good, but rather for self gain and gratification.

Crap. I don't notice much as I live mostly in my head. Wait, I do notice connections to ideas that other people don't. I notice universal constants and the beauty of numbers. I notice fallacies and meretricious theories. I don't notice that I've left the vacuum cleaner in the hall until it smacks in me the face in the morning.

I am the opposite in many respects.I notice very little of my physical environment.When I began reading about AS,I was paying more attention to "how I am",and realized that if one of my co-workers attacked me and ran off....I would not be able to tell the police what they were wearing.When I am working I am focused on my job like a lazer.The surrounding receeds,except for the details relating to my job....where is the garbage can,does it have a bag,are the supplies full,is my client looking uncomfortable and needing help.....the co-worker are just clutter meant to destract me and I wont fall for it(they are like energy sponges).

I get lost all the time because I dont see the whole thing,I notice a sparkly rock or moss on the side of a tree.Peoples appearance bores me.I am uncomfortable noticing people...it feels like an intrusion.If I can hunker down and watch peole.I can make observations about some subtleties but when engaged in conversation.....I am focusing on words,that is enough information and anything else will distract me....I have to focus or will get lost.


As far as Inventors mentor,some peole want to be controlled.I have gone through periods in my own life when I have given up my power because I needed a break.(Why else do people join churchs and many other groups).I dont condemn this person,I want to learn from them.He has taped into something I know exists but have never had a teacher to explore.The same people who say this is wrong(burn the witch)probably will have no problem getting someone to buy an over priced stereo or get you to donate your money to buy the preacher a new limo.The females probably had better sex with this individual then they would have getting drunk and picked up by someone with a fancy suit and a nice car.I have been with some people who I know had "certain powers" and the only draw back is when they leave and you miss the magic.

I almost got run over 3 times this week because i seem to get stuck in day dream land alot, and im not aware of whats going on around me, or the car behind me.

Inventor, that chap sounds like he was Aleister Crowley Jr. ! !

As far as noticing things, usually it's nature. I see birds competing for space while waiting for a red light, or while outside chatting with a neighbor, or I'll notice bunnies hiding in plain sight.
When I was at Uni, a century ago, I took some psychological test that had this question on it. Apparently, at least back then, it was thought odd if you noticed things 'too much'.