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Old 03-06-2016, 02:42 AM   #15
Nat
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There's this theory I've heard about "the tyranny of the frontal lobe." That basically neurotypical people have as part of their frontal lobe function a way to suppress all kinds of things that would be distracting and conceivably life-disrupting that come from other sections of the brain. This one guy got hit in the head just right and was suddenly able to play the piano amazingly well. This is supposedly also what makes some people with autism super-brilliant in one area. And as a person with adhd, I'm sensitive, emotional, always have a million ideas. It's not that I can't be rational and logical - it's just that impulses and ideas and thoughts and huge emotions get in the way and overwhelm me.

You probably are experiencing emotions, but you aren't letting them rule you because your frontal lobe runs a particularly tight ship.

It can be nice to be with someone less emotional. Think Spock/Kirk. Sherlock/Watson. Etc. Being less emotional can be part of what you have to offer, and it may help you make better decisions when choosing whom to pair with. And being alone is awesome too.

Some people do limerance and some don't. That may be what you are thinking of with "falling in love." I have a friend who doesn't do limerance, and I have seen her fall pretty hard a time or two. It just takes more time and familiarity and trust and fun together to get there. She described it once as: "when I meet you, you have $0 in my emotional bank, but over time the account grows up based on our interactions. But people who do limerance start out with a million dollars in their emotional bank account for a person they are interested in, and then start deducting from it each time they are disappointed."

I'm capable of limerance - I feel all the feels. I think it's probably equivalent to new relationship energy (NRE). But actual love for a person grows (I believe) over time. Actual love allows people to be seen as humans and still accepted. Limerance puts people on impossibly high pedestals that they can do nothing but fall from. If it's a good match, then ideally the love builds as the limerance fades, and it's a smooth transition. But if it's not a good match, the limerance may fade and the people involved are left with nothing. My understanding is that the quickest way to kill limerance is if something happens or is discovered that makes the person experiencing limerance stop respecting the object of their limerance, then it can end fairly suddenly and without warning.

It's like the difference between ionic and covalent bonds. Ionic bonds are formed when unbalanced molecules (ions), due to their imbalance, have a superstrong attraction that sort of locks them hard and fast together. But they will separate in water (metaphorically: life). Covalent bonds occur when molecules are (more) balanced and fine on their own to begin with, and their bond is less dramatic but more sturdy and less easily torn asunder. I'm not a chemistry person, so Don't take these for awesome explanations, but they make some sense to me.

Also, I personally am a spiritual person and believe in things like reincarnation and karmic relationships and soulmates. The people I have met that have felt spiritually connected and destined have been rare, and their beginnings have not been highly emotional but rather it has felt like a calm knowing and a little *click* going off in the brain.

It will be interesting to see how that relationship turns out long-term. Nothing makes me less emotional than being around another highly emotional person, and I feel much more free to have emotions when I'm with a more emotionally reserved person. Everybody having all of the emotions sounds like chaos.
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Last edited by Nat; 03-06-2016 at 02:49 AM.
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