I went thru a phase like that. I knew when the phone was going to ring and what someone was going to say before they did it. I still do sometimes but not as much.

That is one of the hardest processes I had to learn how to switch off.

It's difficult to explain - however, I use the 'not my words, not my book' to put the emphasis back on my listening, my choices.

Yes, makes sense to me.

Big hug for you sweetie.... I hope that the tools come back to you without many problems .... I know that these days are rough..... and it makes sense to me as well......xo

I'm not a great mind reader but do constantly worry about what others think about me, including my cats and what they are thinking. So I do deal with paranoia often. I also have been pushed to the limit emotionally during COvId era. I feel as though I have entered a second childhood, at age 58.

Thanks guys. It is good to know I am not thoroughly lost in Lala Land yet.

Yea, given my hearing issues and the absence of being able to lip read, I am wondering more and more why I let psychotherapy talk me out of my mind-reading **skills**. Here in the masked social distances, I am imagining mind-reading might be the only social options left for the forseeable future. Still not ready for the talking heads on the Zoomway.

This sure is allot of collateral damage for the sake of such a small minority. 100% dejected for less than one percent protected.

Hi Arfie. Thank you for sharing your experience. I am amazed at your ability to recognize old habits trying to manifest once again.

I've not dealt with mind reading but can say I have struggled with paranoia like Celatracy. In my case, I was completely unaware of the way in which my mind interpreted or should I say 'interefered' with my perception of the world until therapy.

I am definitely interested in hearing more about the strategies you previously learned to combat this.

What is, "Celatracy?" When I googled it, I came up with a Youtube cross-dresser.

It would be the strategies to combat this which I am trying to remember. My damaged memory has turned the pro parade which worked on my case into a sloppy, big ol' bowl of alphabet soup. My very last therapist is the only name or rank I can remember out of the whole parade. I have a far more solid memory of my peer supporters who helped me through than the pros and their proverbial library shelves. My very first long-term shrink was a HUGE believer in peer support and encouraged all of his patients lean on each other and to think of him as a reference book which never leaves the library. Our goal was to get him back on the shelf as quickly as possible.

For now, there isn't much point in remembering those strategies, anyway. They are all currently CFC (Closed For Corona) and it looks like they won't be re-opening any time soon. More and more I believe it is far more useful to remember and fine tune my psychotic coping mechanisms. Coronaville is a psychotic experience.

I miss lip reading. Very few of my associates even know I have hearing problems because I am so good at it. Mask reading isn't worth much. Reading fashion statements won't get the business transaction completed.

Read my mask? It says all you need to know?
Increasing social distance now. Have a safe day.

Celatracy is the poster who commented on the thread. Sorry for the confusion!

Well, duh. . . Earth to Arf. . . Earth to Arf. . . Come in, Arf. . .

Sorry for the oversight, Celatracy. Welcome to DS. I promise I'll learn how to read someday.

I love reading your posts and ideas Arfie! I don't know about "mind reading", or the sense of it as a part of anxiety, but I do feel like I have a sixth sense to "feel" when something is off, or that someone is thinking about me or sending me energy or things like that. I have had far too many "run-ins" with people or phone calls, to belive they were just coincidence - but that said, I don't claim to think I know what any of it means or that I have any control over it! I just try to pay attention, and note when it happens because it is interesting or may bear meaning down the line. I think that must be different than this "mind reading" idea - do you "think" you know what people are thinking and possibly about you as some type of anxious condition, or do you think you really "know" what people are thinking, with accuracy, as a tool to understand the world and even connect with others?

I'm not trying to deflect from your experience with my "relatable experience" (that is it's own source of anxiety sometimes, since I know there are folks that find that insulting or distracting, but for me it is a means to connect with others and invite them in...while hearing tehm....) , but I'm trying to understanding how it relates, if at all, to what I am familiar with, as part of trying to learn what this concept is for you. Does that make sense?

Anytime anyone talks about "mind reading" or "sixth sense" with the least bit of seriousness of the experience, and not just circus turbans, it catches my interest! I am confident there is something to it, something we don't understand yet (or maybe ever), but it is hard to get through the circus hucksters (or folks desperate to believe in something!) to hear real experiences.

I'll take "relatable experience" over learned advice, any day, Hoping. Learned advice is a take it or leave it proposition to my senses. Whether I buy it or not, it seldom goes any deeper than the paper it was lifted from. "Relatable experience" has tendrils and fissures deep enough for exploration and development. I love that term, "Relatable experience." Consider that one stolen.

When I started psychotherapy in 1972, my faith in my own mindreading **skills** was my excuse for extreme social isolation and distancing. I was utterly convinced I didn't have to talk to anybody to know all about them.

Fast forward nearly half a century and I still respect my intuition and my ability to read body language and other subtle tells, but I still watchdog those old habits like a woman who has already spent more than her share of time in mental institutions. I'm not sure, but I think I might be ready to let those old habits out of their cages. They seem to be my best hope of coping with The New Normal of Maskville.

Thank you Arfie and yes, that is me, the You Tube cross-dresser, probably from about 10 years ago. Having gender dysphoria leads to so much denial for me because of overwhelming anxiety - I just have stayed closeted for decades.

Congrats on finding your way out of the closet, Celetracy. There is no greater gift you can give yourself or the world than to be fully and freely yourself.

There are levels on which I envy you. Circa 1964, in 5th grade, when I became the first girl in the gifted math and science program, I began hearing words like, "lesbian," and "transvestite." I looked enough like a boy that I freely used the men's restroom, just to show it was no big deal. As a teen, I felt safer posing as a boy and did so for months at a time.

Fast forward to the late 70's and it turned out I was *just* a fashion leader. Can you get more feminine than that? These days I wear skirts when I want to shock people. I confess to taking wicked joy in shocking people. Even before the current viral madness, humans all to often cradle themselves in misery behind the artificial masks for the sake of "fitting in" and/or "staying safe."

Or am I just believing I can read minds again? Well. . . Kiss my mask!