Yet I have no trouble understanding you, as a lightbulb appears over my head. Maybe you're just trying to communicate with the wrong people.

Not as much - but I love and enjoy going to la-la land when you do Share : )

Me too! Perhaps not as severely as you have portrayed here in your posts, but often my husband actually gets angry that I speak "story like" as he calls it, or "emo" as he has called it in the past.
I call it creativity, and actually LIKE that part about me, though I have no idea if it's related to being Bipolar or not.

yes!!!

yes i know what you're saying. then the metaphor heads into ambiguity and esoterics.

then serious confusion, and i feel like i'm describing the colour orange to a blind man.

words huh. wish i could just project images into the brain.

Things that make one giggle.. cliches are great and while i dont "see" them literally. I like to see them in my head. I like to make the physical world shrink to not make it so challenging to work thru.

Sounds like fun stuff.

Your metaphors are astounding! Be proud you see the world through a different lens! Not everyone appreciates leaving the mundane, but I think most of us do here.

i know what you mean, really do.
and it can become sort of hilarious at times,
i tend to think even more this way when i am manic and unmedicated - but i'm not saying you're having any problems at all, because i think that way when i'm stable too, all the time.

it's kinda like being ' Alice in Wonderland ' or something. i don't know, i just blurted that out... i mean, not entirely like that but i really do understand that way of thinking and it is pretty much always with me.

i also find that i like to be playful and childlike almost every day no matter how old i get. and i am flitting around like one of the lost boys or Tinkerbell or Peter Pan - incredibly childlike even though i know how to be an adult.

i was a really mature kid and i was more like an adult as a child and now i'm more like a kid as an adult, so i guess i did things backwards. there doesn't seem to be any reversing it, and i can still accomplish adult tasks with no problem, but the whole time i am basically laughing and playing in my head. because i just don't want to be any other way. life is incredibly short, why live it to the end being boring and dull when you can play and whistle while you work. sometimes it slips out though and it is pretty confusing to other adults. but, i have to live spicy or what is the point ? that's just me.

i like your thinking style, ;)

I just saw a post that cognitive distortions came up... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_distortion

I remember an EXBP GF who was deep in therapy brought up to her mum an example of how they see things differently It helped the mum understand the BP better. Was a long time ago so no memory on what was said.

Pretty much any mental illness major sign is social dysfunction of some kind. So in most cases being able to communicate effectively is a problem for us...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAfyFTzZDMM

I went to a Therapist once , who described this kind of visual thinking

As Speaking and Thinking in Word Pictures...it basically means you use both sides of your brain to think and process info.

2 sided brain...sounds bipolar to me
:)

I do understand people "not understanding" and things getting lost in translation. My DH looks at me as if to say, "...and your point is...". I'm thinking, I'm drawing a picture...they are thinking...I don't need all of that "extra".

Yes they do, damn it...is my thought. :)

LOL!!!! 'Metaphor' would be a lovely name for a city!!! And at least then you would be able to buy a map!!!

I think you probably have Synesthesia.

(That's right!!! I'm making a sweeping diagnosis!!!)

It's a funny oddity!! Somehow the brain's wires get crossed during their formative time and the result is that some people see colors or taste shapes, or hear what they're looking at.

Hahahaha!!! They were showing people who have it, on TV. One lady took a mouthful of food and had to spit it out, saying 'Too round!!!'

Here's how Synesthesia specifically relates to grammar and composition. This one might be the type you may have.

http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/synesthesiaterm.htm

Here's a more general accounting of what it is, but I saw stuff I thought would be of interest to you as to your situation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

OMG Carla , I just looked up the condition of (what ever that condition is called )...I am SOOOO like that.

Numbers have always been a certain color for me , thinking about certain words brings a certain flavor to my mouth...

Geesh, how complicated and vast is our brains abilities !

Hm-m-m-m. Synesthesia? Gonna have to chew on that one.

I started life with a speech defect so severe that I think of English as my second language. Maybe. In my heart I feel I was and still am fluent in dog, bird, plant, etc., but I sure don't want to argue another round of semantics. At any rate, I was pretty much incapable of normal human conversation until pre-adolescence. Been over-compensating ever since.

I still think of sensory input as my first language. I still trust it more than I trust words. And it keeps coming out in metaphor.

Hahahaha, dd!!!!!!!

One poor man throws up every time he hears a certain word!!!! Hahahahaha!!!!

I think it was 'Jessica' or something similar. At least it wasn't a word that would come up TOO often!!

arfie -- That's really fascinating!!!!

I wonder if there's some way you could utilize the way you think!!!! It sure seems as though it could be considered a talent!!!!

Maybe it would come in handy in dealing with children who have problems in speech development, at least in some cases. You'd have such a great understanding of what they're dealing with!!!