Unusually good sensations

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There are a lot of threads around about negative aspects of autism/AS, about sounds which send a chill down your spine or sensations which make you reel backwards in discomfort, but what about positive sensations? Things which feel a lot better to you than you consider they might for an "NT"? Or have you never really thought about it?

(If you know of any other threads about these things then please let me know, I'm interested in reading them but can't find any)

Fact is, NTs I have known have been very low frequency on talking about sensations. I have some reason to believe I see some things they don't, notice some textures they don't, positive as well as negative. But I have little direct evidence.

my hypersensitivity doesn't usually inflict pain or negative reactions. I have extremely strong emotive responses to musical sound, and that's about the only time I get them.

My favorite sensations:

- The feeling I get when I first climb into bed and the sheets feel fresh and cool. It makes my muscles relax very rapidly and it feels so good it makes me sigh.
- Taking a bite of really good food while being really hungry. I can actually feel the flavor spreading across my tongue sometimes, and it's wonderful.
- Popping zits. Disgusting I know, but it fills me with a sense of comfort and relief almost comparable to taking a Xanax. Endorphin rush maybe?
- Laying underneath heavy blankets (such as flannel)
- Moving quickly from a hot shower to a cool bedroom
- Being clean after taking a shower
- Clean teeth after brushing and flossing
- Stroking a cat's fur

Yes, everything is more intense for me - good and bad.
A good melody can be a wonderful spiritual experience - almost like I'm flying. Certain colours, textures and smells and sounds just flood me with positive emotions.

I've repeatedly had experiences that PROVE to me that I see and hear things others don't. The thing that baffles me is how do they NOT see and hear this stuff? Its so obvious to me.

In December of 1995 - Christmas shopping season - I was walking across a Walmart parking lot with my (then) wife, her two adolescent sons and my 3 year old daughter. The evening was overcast, tepid and mildly humid with cloud cover hanging quite low - less than a hundred yards. Its just before eight PM. From the sky, toward the Northwest, comes a sound much like a lawnmower engine, only an unhealthy one - its coughing and sputtering like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. As we walk from our minivan toward the store, I'm scanning the sky to see what's making this rather mundane noise that's coming from a very unusual place.

I see lights, as an aircraft dips below the cloud ceiling and its coming toward us, cutting across the parking lot on a diagonal, and heading directly due East. As it gets closer to us, I can't make out what it is, but its definitely not a standard airplane of any configuration I've ever seen. I say to my family "What the hell is that?" They keep walking, as if I hadn't spoken, and I'm the only person looking at this thing. I glance around the parking lot - rememember this is WalMart two weeks before Christmas, its not exactly deserted - and of the twenty or thirty people milling about out here, not one single person besides me is even looking up!

Its nearly overhead at this point, and I'm freaking out - this craft looks remarkably like an X-Wing fighter from Star Wars - only flying backwards! I yell out my wife's name, "What the f*ck is that thing!?" and finally the crew turns around. Only now does everyone else in the group look up to see what in the world I'm going on about and by this time the thing has passed over us and is headed for the opposite horizon, disappearing back into the low hanging clouds. The youngest boy is the only one of the bunch who actually saw the craft and confirms that I'm not insane, because not one other person in that crowded pre-Christmas parking lot ever heard or saw a thing.

Next day at work I'm telling this story and one guy says he thinks its an experimental ultralight built by a local enthusiast from a kit. I've never seen it before or since, and I don't doubt that extraterrestrials would power their craft with something more sophisticated than a lawnmower engine, so I'm willing to accept the ultralight theory, but I can't prove it one way or the other. What astounds me about the incident to this day isn't the exotic sight of the vehicle, but the fact that in the middle of a crowded urban area, nobody else saw or even reacted to the sound or the sight of this thing. Gil Grissom is right - people never look up.

Just one of many instances I've encountered in which I saw and or heard something unmistakable, yet when I pointed it out to others, they look at me as if I'm an utter whack job. How do people miss this sh*t? I dunno, but they do.

This is why anytime someone claims to know that anything is absolutely true or factual or that this or that simply can't happen, ever, because its impossible I just roll my eyes. Humans miss so much that goes on right under their figurative noses, its pathetic.

motion is calming
the feel of tight hugs
curling up nder a wieghted blanket
the smeel of my dogs head (sometimes her head smells the exact same as it did when I first got her a a puppy)
petting my cat
the feel of a breeze or wind from a fan on my face as I curl up under the blanket
the smell of leaves in fall and the cool winds
sound of music bring me lots of emotions
glowing objects and things that light up give me alot of joy and pleasure
the calming sound of crikets
rocking back and forth
kisses from cats and dogs.
things tht are squishy
frozen teething ringsrunning over my body as swim

and odly enough very light scratches. these give me intense pleaser and I can lay for hour if my boyfriend wants to scratch my back. I never liked rubing on my back it has always been scratching. the feeling isn't limited to my back it could be on my arms or legs or nexk or feet. sometimes it shifts.
watching dogs do agility fills me with joy and I think adrenalin
the smooth feeling of cool wter

I often think that I have heightened responses that are not NT. I get immense pleasure from colours in nature eg clouds, sunsets, certain flowers, reflections in water, the motion of the sea. I can also stare at stars for hours on end, which links in with being fascinated and calmed by shiny sparkly things, such as christmas tree lights, snow globes etc. I can get wonderfully lost with these things. Music is also an enormous part of my life that I have to have. I'm not sure how to describe why I love it so much.
Oh dear, very tired, can't remember the question exactly. Hope this is ok

I often think that I have heightened responses that are not NT. I get immense pleasure from colours in nature eg clouds, sunsets, certain flowers, reflections in water, the motion of the sea. I can also stare at stars for hours on end, which links in with being fascinated and calmed by shiny sparkly things, such as christmas tree lights, snow globes etc. I can get wonderfully lost with these things. Music is also an enormous part of my life that I have to have. I'm not sure how to describe why I love it so much.
Oh dear, very tired, can't remember the question exactly. Hope this is ok

Ditto.



Yep, it isn't just the 'small' things like refresh rates on monitors that hurt my eyes, or hearing light bulbs. Human beings miss a great deal of what happens around them. Sometimes I wonder if they deliberately ignore it.

I watched a boy get his bike stolen by a larger boy on the high street the other day while waiting at a bus stop. The bigger boy just shoved him off the bike and rode off, taunting him. I have no doubt that the two knew each other, or that the smaller boy would eventually get his bike back, but it amazed me that nobody else in the area seemed to notice what was happening. This included a traffic warden who was talking to the owner of a shop and looked like he was studiously ignoring the incident after seeming to look directly at the boys.

Perhaps people filter out all the sounds that drive me crazy by treating them exactly the same way as they would this public act of indecency.

I often think that I have heightened responses that are not NT. I get immense pleasure from colours in nature eg clouds, sunsets, certain flowers, reflections in water, the motion of the sea. I can also stare at stars for hours on end, which links in with being fascinated and calmed by shiny sparkly things, such as christmas tree lights, snow globes etc. I can get wonderfully lost with these things. Music is also an enormous part of my life that I have to have. I'm not sure how to describe why I love it so much.
Oh dear, very tired, can't remember the question exactly. Hope this is ok

[quote="Albatross26"]I'm not sure how to describe why I love it so much./quote]

I can describe it, just not adequately enough to do it justice.

Jasmine smell/scent makes my mind feel like it is smiling internally just behind my forehead if were to close my eyes for a second or two whilst inhaling the scent my mind feels very calm and relaxed indeed.

Albatross 26 wrote:

Yeah nature can be calming to most and the only things I can see in your post that NTs get calmed by are sunsets, flowers, the sea, stars and, (soft), music. The others are probably neurodiverse/autistic things. I just have to say that I sorta collect snowglobes! I'm not just saying that, I must have about 10 or 20, every time there's a holiday in the family - I get a snowglobe! I too really like music, most of the time when I'm on the road (not driving), I just have to have my stereo on!

GTG now.

Last edited by abitclueless on 22 Aug 2010, 12:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Albatross 26 wrote:

Yeah nature can be calming to most and the only things I can see in your post that NTs get calmed by are sunsets, flowers, the sea, stars and, (soft), music. The others are probably neurodiverse/autistic things. I just have to say that I sorta collect snowglobes! I'm not just saying that, I must have about 10 or 20, every time there's a holiday in the family - I get a snowglobe! I too really like music, most of the time when I'm on the road (not driving), I just have to have my stereo on!

GTG now.

Albatross 26 wrote:

Yeah nature can be calming to most and the only things I can see in your post that NTs get calmed by are sunsets, flowers, the sea, stars and, (soft), music. The others are probably neurodiverse/autistic things. I just have to say that I sorta collect snowglobes! I'm not just saying that, I must have about 10 or 20, every time there's a holiday in the family - I get a snowglobe! I too really like music, most of the time when I'm on the road (not driving), I just have to have my stereo on!

GTG now.