Visual, Auditory or Kinaesthetic?

It doesn't matter how down I am, or how horrible things get, there is one thing that always makes me feel better. It has been with me since I was a little girl, when I surrounded myself with it, dressed in it and collected as many things as possible that are it. That special warm wonderful thing is the colour purple. I have always loved it and it always manages to cheer me up. Still now all these years later it is still with me, making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when I see its magnificence. I have always been a visual person, and colours are very important to me. In the past I have liked other colours a lot as well, in phases, but no other colour has ever compared to my purple, not ever. If you don't have a special colour, you are probably not a visual person. Although if the sight of something relaxes you more than anything else... like tree tops swaying, watching the sea, looking at a beautiful landscape, then you could be a visual person too.

Everyone has a sense that is more acute in them, three of the five sensory based modes seem to dominate in mental processing:

• Visual thoughts - sight, mental imagery, spatial awareness.
• Auditory (or linguistic) thoughts - sound, speech, dialogue, white noise.
• Kinaesthetic (or proprioceptive) sense - somatic feelings in the body, temperature, pressure, and also emotion.

The other two senses, gustatory (taste) and olfactory (smell), which are closely associated, often seem to be less significant in general mental processing, and are often considered jointly as one.

If you are Auditory person music will comfort and relax you more than anything else, or even talking. An Auditory person is more likely to feel stressed in complete silence than the other groups. Hearing the singing of birds, the sea waves rolling in and out or even white noise, is much more relaxing to them.

Maybe you get comfort from being hugged, or wrapped up in something soft and snugly more than anything else? Then you a Kinaesthetic person, who is more in touch with feelings and needs to be touched, and feel textures against you, to feel comforted.

Which are you? It is certainly something interesting to think about, and will also help you understand better what will cheer you up when you are feeling low.