Jay S

Hi Juliet. I have recently been wondering this as well.  When I was about 5 I suffered from a traumatic experience and up until I was 25, I had absolutely no memory of it and it wasn't until I blacked out (not due do to alcohol) and extreme flashbacks during said blackout, that I remembered what happened. Our brains are an incredible tool and I think that it wants to block out certain memories to save yourself from other mental or physical illnesses. In doing so, perhaps it also blocks out the ability to imagine. What's weird is that I do consider myself an artistic person and I have incredibly visual dreams!

I have very visual and sensory oriented dreams where I am able to smell, taste, hear, feel, almost like actually there in that moment. Sometimes I am even able to do things like play guitar even though I have no experience whatsoever with instruments. One time, I had a dream that was in black and white, in Japanese and in an anime style cartoon. I do not speak a lick of Japanese, nor do I know how to draw cartoons. How is this possible if I am phantasic?