I associate certain ideas or thoughts with places entirely unintentionally. There is a map in my mind, when I'm deeply thinking about or pursuing one of these things. Things that are related to each other are close to each other on this map. There seem to be different maps, some are warped versions of places I know in real life and some are entirely fictional. Some are related to what I'm thinking about and others just seem entirely random. Ideas or thoughts that I have that are only slightly similar tend to be on the same map, but the map changes to reflect some of the thoughts in different areas. Different subjects all have their own areas. These places sometimes seem entirely unrelated to my thoughts. I'm not aware of these associations until much much later after I've stopped pursuing or thinking about these things.
I will one day be reminded of one of these things and I can very clearly see a picture in my mind of a place. The picture I have in my mind never changes, and It seems like the viewpoint never moves and is always in the same direction. Sometimes I'm looking at something from one place in the map, sometimes I'm looking down on the map. These maps are entirely lifelike, in that it's hard to tell images of them in my mind apart from memories of real-life.
Sometimes I don't realize that I've made these associations until years later, but they seem extremely clear in my mind, and I know that they've been there. I don't remember making any of these associations and even though at the time that they were made I wasn't aware of them at all, I have this cloudy remembrance that I could see this exact thing at that time. Thinking about moving myself around in these maps helps me remember what I associated the different points with.
It's almost like realizing that you've had a dream after you've forgotten about it.
Is there a word or term for this? Is there somewhere that I can read about it. The more it happens to me the more interested in it I become.