I’ve written about this before but not in answer to today’s prompt. I wish I had an ‘inner eye’ like most of you out there have.

It may be that you have never thought about your inner eye, or it may be that you didn’t realise that most people have real pictures in their heads.

I didn’t find out that I am different until I was in my fifties (a long time ago, now.) It was at a party and somehow it came about that I found out that I was the only person there that couldn’t see pictures in my head. This state of affairs was not only a revelation to me but, the fact that not everybody has pictures in their head, was a revelation to everyone else because they all did have pictures in their heads.

My sister, Judy, used to get into trouble at primary school, all the time. When I asked her why she didn’t pay attention in class, she told me that she had on-going day dreams which were much more interesting than whatever was happening in the classroom. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t have a day dream at all! Many years passed………

I had more pointers that my mind wasn’t quite the same as others’ when I was with a group of people trying to meditate. The leader said, “Close your eyes and picture a rose bud. Now imagine it slowly opening.” I can imagine all sorts of things – but not in pictures. My imagination depends on words. I found the exercise very difficult but it didn’t click that I was missing something.

Then there was the day i was talking to two schoolgirls outside school. I don’t remember why, but I said something about the words in their heads. They both looked at me as if I were crazy while I thought that they were definitely lacking something.

Thankfully, my wondering had an answer at that house in Kent, during that party. I found this lack very interesting and almost everyone I came across I would ask, “Do you have pictures in your head?” Most people looked at me as though I was asking something really strange and, almost everyone would say that they had, of course. But, I did find a few people who didn’t and I realised that I wasn’t alone!

Now, we hop to sometime in the 21st century. One day I picked up a newspaper and there was an article about something called Aphantasia. I read it and got more and more excited because I found that not only was I not the only person who didn’t have pictures in their head but that there were studies about the condition and possibly as many as 3% of people seemed to have it!

They don’t know why it occurs but I think it must be genetic as my half brother has it as well as my grand daughter. And, completely unrelated to me, my neighbour has recently told me she has it, too. It may turn out that there are lots more than 3% and that many people just don’t realise they are different!