We all have internal thoughts about what we have done, what we are doing and will be doing, and these thoughts will use the five (5) modalities, five (5) senses or representational systems, of V,A,K,O,G, being :-
Visual (seeing),
Auditory (hearing and speech),
Kinesthetic (touch, feelings, both internal and external),
Olfactory (smell),
Gustatory (taste).
We experience our world by internalising or thinking about about that experience.
Those thoughts could be associated, by running that experience as if we were/are/will be actually doing that experience.
Alternatively, we may be thinking about the experience, and it is as if they are watching ourselves doing that activity, this is called disassociated.
If we describe how we eat in a restaurant, and talk about the type of food, the layout of the table, the taste of the wine, as if we are experiencing it now, as if we are physically doing eating, looking through our own eyes, feeling and tasting the food, we are associated into the experience.
If we describe how we eat in a restaurant, and describe the experience as if we are looking at ourselves from a distance, from another’s point of view, then we are disassociated from the experience.
The person can have only one experience, associated or disassociated.