Is it normal to have a really powerful imagination?
I remember as a kid reading books and whenever a character was injured I would feel it. Not necessarily the pain, but just a strange sensation on my body wherever the injury occurred. In one case in particular I remember reading about a character who broke his lower leg so badly you could see bone through the gash. For at least ten minutes after I finished reading, my leg felt numb and uncomfortable, like it wasn’t supposed to support my own weight. I could walk, it just felt funny.
I’ve used this to my advantage too. I have chronic back pain and imagining the sort of massage I would get to help it, down to the minutest detail actually helps alleviate it. It isn’t perfect but it actually does help with physical pain. Just last night I was trying to go to sleep but I had a sore throat that was keeping me up. Imagining physically scratching it actually made it feel less itchy and I was able to finally drift off. Is this normal?