It’s like déjà vu all over again. – Yogi Berra
Déjà vu is the feeling you get when you think you’ve done something again, when you’re really doing it for the first time. There can be medical or psychological reasons why you might experience this, such as temporal lobe epilepsy, migraines with aura, dissociative identity disorder, anxiety, or schizophrenia, but most of the time it’s a trick your brain is playing on you.
I experienced something like déjà vu back when I was a trainer. There was a lot of pent-up demand for a class for which we didn’t have a trainer, so I learned how to do the class. Once I was sufficiently prepared, I spent close to three months doing just that one class. It got to the point that I would go to bed at night and dream about the next day. One day someone asked me a question, and I asked her, "didn’t I answer that yesterday?" Well, I had, in my dream the night before…
Wikipedia describes another sensation, jamais vu, which is the opposite: you think you’re doing something you’ve done before (maybe a few hundred times) for the first time. Mom used to tell the story of watching TV with my stepfather and asking him to change the channel because they had already seen that show, and him insisting that he hadn’t.
I’d be interested to hear your stories about déjà vu-like experiences you’ve had. In any case, see you tomorrow with my j-word for E.
The Sound of One Hand Typing 
My strongest deja vu moment was as a twelve year old visiting my cousins in another state. As we sat outside their house (my first visit there – another state) having a picnic, I strongly felt I’d been there before doing the same things. Eerie…
My A to Z Blogs
DB McNicol – Small Delights, Simple Pleasures, and Significant Memories
My Snap Memories – My Life in Black & White
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You might have been doing them in a different location when you were younger. I get that feeling a lot…
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I have feelings of déjà vu very often, but I’m never quite sure exactly why. Maybe I dream things before they happen?
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That could be….
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I used to get deja vu when I was younger but not so much now. It’s an eerie feeling.
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Deja Vu experiences were a regular occurrence for me growing up and were sometimes very disconcerting. There were days where I swear I had to go to school twice! I realize as I think about it that it occurs more rarely know. But I’m forgetting most of what I do anyway, so I guess it makes some logical sense 😅
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Enjoyed your post today & the link back to 2012! So many funny quotes. Loved Yogi!
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I have had feelings like I did that before or was at that place before and knew what was about to happen and it did. I haven’t had that in a long time. My mom had an experience when she was in her 20s, she was visiting a town in Austria and she knew she had been there but she never was. She knew the street corners, the shops every part of it yet she stated she was never there before. Very wild.
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I used to experience many more feelings of deja vu when I was younger – sensing that I’d been at a place or done something before. I never felt creeped out by it or concerned as some folks do, but rather it felt somehow reassuring to me. That there is much more to everything that we just don’t understand, but we somehow find ways to experience the connection even if we can’t untangle the how or why.
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Thanks for commenting on my posts. I often have moments that seem awfully familiar to me. And then there’s Whoopie Goldberg who has day job, View.
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Interesting phenomenon, John. When I was younger and had deep sleep. I had more than two levels of dreams. At one level, I dreamed about the dream I had and thought I dreamed about that before!!
I wish to sleep sound enough to dream like that again.
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That would be pretty cool….
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The brain can be a very creepy place……..On more than one occasion, as I was getting out of my car from a 40 minute work commute, it occurred to me that I don’t even recall anything about driving here. Complete auto-pilot! No, alcohol and drugs were not involved! Zulu Delta
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I was driving to work one day and completely forgot what I was doing. I couldn’t remember where I was or why I was there. Kind of a frightening thought.
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It happens!! Some accidents are just that…..
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Funny story, John. I’m going to be lazy and ask what you used to train others in (rather than search through your blog). My daughter was in charge of training for the Navy (well, part of it–too big for one person!).
Don’t have deja vu myself. And glad I don’t!
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I worked for a software company and trained on a lot of the applications.
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I probably took some of your classes as a teacher–or at least software. Photoshop comes to mind.
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I suspect you of choosing this word so you could use that great quote from Yogi Berra.
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Yogi…..”If you don’t go to people’s funerals, they won’t go to yours when you die!” ZD
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He was on a Tim Russert interview show with Carlton Fisk, Gary Carter, and Tim McCarver, and told one of the funniest stories I’ve ever heard. It’s at the end of this: https://thesoundofonehandtyping.com/2012/04/28/yogi-berra-atozchallenge/
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I had never heard that last mound story before……..AWESOME!! Thanks for sending!! ZD
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I chose it because it had a j in it 🤣
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So does “disjuncture,” but Yogi Berra probably never used it in a sentence.
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JOHN ~
Haven’t you already used “deja vu”?
I feel sure you wrote about this word previously!
~ D-FensDogG
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🤣
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Cool choice of word. All the D and J phonetic combos that came to mind are actually spelt with a g, strangely. Dodgy. Danger. Jamais vu is new to me so that’s something I’ve learnt today. Thanks.
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That was a new one on me, too.
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Every day is deja vu…or is that groundhog day?
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Something like that…
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Haven’t heard that in years…
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Neither had I!
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I would not have guessed this would be your word today.
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All the signs were there….
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I only get feelings of warning just before something bad happens. It’s not very helpful because I can never change anything 🤗
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I have not often experienced either phenomenon, but it s a strange feeling.
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so interesting and I’ve always been fascinated by these phenomena. I recently encountered someone professionally that I’m sure I’ve known from somewhere else and as we went over it and tried to figure it out, our paths have never seemed to have crossed. not really deja vu, but in that realm of ‘unexplained knowing.’
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They say everyone has a doppelganger. Maybe she was one for the person you knew…
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That’s what I think – even has the mannerisms
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Sometimes I get the dé javu feeling but never it’s reverse ( forgot it’s name 😅)
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Jamais vu?
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Yes, not felt that ever.
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