I often see things that aren’t really there.
My bathroom ceiling has a swirly pattern that when viewed just right looks like boot prints hiking across a mountain trail.
My nightstand light casts shadows over the globes and blades of my ceiling fan that look like an angel taking flight.
I see schooners in the clouds and animals in the moss on a log. And no, I’m not hallucinating. I have what is called apophenia, also dubbed “patternicity” in the psychological world.
This dubious gift allows my brain to perceive patterns in random data. I share it with many authors who tout apophenia as a secret weapon in writing, allowing us to connect events, clues, and characters in unique and satisfying ways. It’s probably why I’m seldom surprised by who-dunnits–an uncanny attribute my hubby hates when watching movies with me.
Fortunately, I’m often surprised and delighted by nearly everything in the physical world around me. Like my pre-covid stroll through a gardening department which turned an innocent cactus into an icon of spring.
Thanks to a heightened form of apophenia–or pareidolia, meaning “wrong image”–and a few photoshopped dots, the Easter Bunny has arrived!
sending you and yours warm wishes~ jody
