Range from Bone Density to Need to Breathe

There is a huge range in what we can feel interoceptively. Genetics, age and experience, training, culture, context and myriad other factors play a role in what a person can sense. So there is tremendous variability from person to person, from athlete to monk to desk worker to … your presence in one moment. And there is a tremendous variability from one element to another: temperature, the need to pee, balance, the lapse of time, satisfaction, satiety, love, bone density, the need to take a breath, the weight of a box, fatigue… Let's pick bone density because it has to be at the bottom of the range of 'feelability.' There is a real biochemical sensing pathway with its own dedicated receptor. But for most people I would imagine that even if the sensorial 'bone density low' signal is being sent, it doesn't get very high up into consciousness. By contrast, almost everyone feels the need to take a breath very clearly and the signal seems to have a straight shot to bright consciousness. We sort of barely know our bone density, if at all, somewhere deep down. But we know that we know the needed breath.