Realising Things

[banes27]

Does anyone else feel a difference between "knowing" something and then later "realising" it? For example, in my first year at university I knew I was living away from home but I didn't realise it until later.

If so, do you realise something really soon or does it take a few months? Do you realise something more than once? Another example, I've been with my fiancee for a while and have been living with her for almost a year now and I know that, but every 2 or 3 weeks I suddenly realise where I am, both in location and in life. Another example is that I was recently in a foursome, but it's taken me literally till today, about 2 weeks later, to actually realise I was in a foursome and also that the guy in the foursome and me have slept with 3 of the same women.

That's actually what made me start the thread really. Does anyone else have this kind of experience. My fiancee finds it strange so I'm kind of under the impression it's not all that common.

 

[Lizzie_Borden]

Yeah, I do sometimes.

Often, it'll be to do with the Mr. I'll just look at him and see he's looking at me and think 'holy crap, he really *does* love me.'

And,although I've been working FT since leaving uni 5 years ago, occasionally, I'll suddnely realise I *am* doing the 9 - 5 thing, and how I once thought that was so strange and unbearable, and think I'm all grown up.

Random, I know. But thoses are the examples I can think of

I think though, for me, that 'realisation' is more awareness.

 

[silverwhisper]

i think it's actually very common, banes. it happens to me a lot, truth be told.

by way of example: i provide a training session on using linkedin, a site for professional networking. i've been a power user of it for a while and want to share my knowledge and experience with my fellow job seekers. it's a session i've been giving for over half a year now.

but yesterday i rec'd an e-mail from someone i know in another networking group, referring someone i didn't know to me because i am known as a linkedin authority in that group. and it kinda hit me that yeah, i really am an authority on it. i always sorta was aware of it in some way, but i didn't really know it until then.

there's a host of other examples but i don't have the time to enlarge on them just now. but suffice it to say: yes, i totally get it, dude. :>

ed

 

[SpecialKay62]

Yes!

I call this "having an awareness." Suddenly you become aware of a reality in your life and it can completely alter your perception of a situation. I consider this a gift, like a 6th sense almost, and try to cultivate it. When you have this feeling a lot, it can really make every day experiences so much more fulfilling and enriching. It also has a lot to do with being in the moment.

 

[_Virginia_]

I have used different words to describe this but yes, it's pretty common for me as well. Being able to describe it is a pretty recent thing for me, though...and the ability to put words to it came up in a therapy session about a year ago.

I describe the two things as:
- knowing something, in an intellectual or factual way
- feeling that same thing in a personal way

For example, at a time when I felt like everything in my life had fallen apart, I didn't believe that I had anything good to say about myself. My therapist listed a bunch of things: I am independent, I am educated, I have many friends, etc. I nodded while he named these things - factually I agreed with him. I knew that all of those things were true, but I still felt absolutely horribly about myself.

Several weeks later I handled another crisis of my own and helped a friend through a crisis of her own. It was then that I felt all the things that my therapist had told me. I realized (your word - and it fits!) that all those qualities did, in fact, make me a decent person. I felt what I had known all along.

I don't know if everyone has these experiences, but I certainly do.

 

[banes27]

Yeah, I do sometimes.

Often, it'll be to do with the Mr. I'll just look at him and see he's looking at me and think 'holy crap, he really *does* love me.'

And,although I've been working FT since leaving uni 5 years ago, occasionally, I'll suddnely realise I *am* doing the 9 - 5 thing, and how I once thought that was so strange and unbearable, and think I'm all grown up.

Random, I know. But thoses are the examples I can think of

I think though, for me, that 'realisation' is more awareness.

I think "becoming aware", as others said, might be a better term (I wasn't comfortable with realise anyway, which is why it was in quotation marks). My becoming aware of things is usually pretty random and I tend to become unaware again a bit later. Like, I'll be sitting in the living room with my fiancee watching TV and then suddenly become aware that I'm sat watching TV with the person I'm going to marry and then about 30 minutes later it'll be gone again even if neither of us has moved and the TV show's the same.

I call this "having an awareness." Suddenly you become aware of a reality in your life and it can completely alter your perception of a situation. I consider this a gift, like a 6th sense almost, and try to cultivate it. When you have this feeling a lot, it can really make every day experiences so much more fulfilling and enriching. It also has a lot to do with being in the moment.

My only kind of 6th sense-like "gift" is a generally high number of lucid dreams, maybe one every night or two. Basically starts, for me, as a gradual awareness that the stuff going on in my dream doesn't make all that much sense so it must be a dream. I actually had a lucid sex dream once but that ended messily haha

 

[littlebabyclit]

I have these moments of super clarity a lot. For me, it can occur because of a spontaneous re-evaluation, a sense of gratitude, a cautious internal alarm sounds or any underlying fear is trying to break its way out of ordinary acceptance and be noticed. Sometimes, these episodes of super clarity are extremely helpful, and sometimes they can be paralyzing.