Sensory input is the boxes on the conveyor belt that was discussed in the repvious post (go back and check that out first, then come back!!) As i touched on already, there is SO much going on in the world around us, that we aren't even aware of. Can you feel your feet touching the ground, or your legs on the mattress? Likely only now are you noticing it because i've brought it to your attention. A neurotypical brain can just make those boxes smaller and we don't then need to use up our limited attention and resilience worrying about the input that isn't necessary.
Thankfully our brain is so clever that it knows exactly where the boxes need to go, and how quickly to get the boxes to their destination (when all is running smoothly of course). We typically, in the absense of a relevant diagnosis, will remove or add sensory input when required, to keep us in a happy regulated state. For example, turning the radio down to see better when driving, chewing our pen to stay awake in a lecture, or having some sugar at 3pm to make it through the rest of the workday. We do so many of these things subconscioulsy that we don't even know that we are already masters at maintaining self-regulation most of the time.
Our problems begin when we are feeling like we are losing our cool, when our environment is too intense and out of our control. The number of boxes begin to creep up and we fail to notice, sometimes until it's too late.
To recap:
Sensory Processing - Conveyorbelt
Sensory Input - Boxes on the conveyorbelt
Up next: Sensory Overload
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