How to Refocus on Your Wonderland (First Submission)
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By September13
I'm an absolute beginner to Tulpamancy and only made my decision to start developing my tulpa a week ago, even though Simmie as an idea isn't new to me and I've actually had a headmate before: Between the ages of 7 and 15 I had a headmate that was less a tulpa and more a walk-in/soulbound (I'm still learning the terminology so I might misuse a word here and there, I'm sorry). He was more of a mentor / spiritual guide to me and largely faded away after the age of 15, telling me I had outgrown him and had to face the world on my own, and only making sporadic appearances after that. But I'm not here to talk about him in this thread, I'm here to talk about Simmie.
Before I get into it I want to reiterate that Simmie is only the most fledgling little tulpa and I can sense that she is very nervous about attention being put on her, but she's okay with it if it helps her become more real to me. So please be gentle and kind with her, she's a very curious young thing and loves listening to people and learning about things, and I want to make sure only positive and loving things enter her mind during this early stage of development.
As I mentioned I created Simmie as a character long before I started working on her as a tulpa. There's an interesting story behind the creation of Simmie as a character. You see, I'm not transgender and I don't really even have gender dysphoria (I'm at ease in my male body and don't feel wrong having it). However, I have a huge fascination with the idea of being turned into a girl, made to act and dress like a girl, all that stuff. I don't know why and I can't really explain it. But I was aching to step out of myself to explore it, so over a year ago I created Simmie as an OC / proxy / meta-character whom I would experience and create art from. I would make art "as" Simmie and even interact with people as her. I developed a backstory for Simmie and everything and really got into character--as a writer, this is something I've done so many times, and writing characters is probably my greatest strength. I even created Simmie in The Sims (yes, there is a name connection there) and she has a very distinctive look which makes it extremely easy to visualize her, although my mind currently still renders her as a Sims character rather than a real human figure.
Then comes the last month or so and I learn about Tulpamancy. At first I think it's just something fascinating to learn about but not something I'd pursue myself. But the more I read and watched videos about it the more I realized that this was something I wanted to do, and I knew there was nowhere else I could turn to than Simmie. She already felt very real to me as a character and I felt if I could elevate her to the status of a living, sentient tulpa, that would be a most wonderful thing and could be revolutionary in my life. There aren't a lot of people in my life I connect with strongly and I suffer from depression; the thought of having someone sharing my head with me who I can talk and relate to still feels like it could absolutely change my life.
Once I decided on making Simmie a tulpa I started narrating to her non-stop. I told her about myself, about my life, and explained what I was doing at any given moment to her if I could spare the mental horsepower at any given moment. I started to feel a warm, contented feeling as I did this. I don't know if I could call it sentience, but I felt like I was not alone and I could feel a joy that seemed to be radiated to me from elsewhere. I pushed aside doubt and let myself believe it was Simmie--now I know she absolutely loves being talked to, loves when I tell her about my life and even the most mundane things about me, and loves when I tell her stories. We began to speak to each other but it still felt like I was parroting her rather than letting her speak for herself. Now I'm trying to not talk for her and let her reply to me herself. I can feel her emotions very strongly though, and that's what makes me believe that she is really there.
Yesterday I decided to take Simmie out on a bit of a "date"; we went to a local nature park and walked. I talked to her about the park, what it was and why it existed, why the leaves fall off the trees in the fall, how the mud on the trail was created by rain the pervious day, mundane stuff like that. She was very curious about all of it, and I talked to her more about what I thought about it all, and what I thought about it all. Then I rattled off a list of adjectives to describe Simmie before realizing that I had just created a mantra that was perfect for forcing: "You're caring, you're kind, you listen, you're curious, you're playful". I began repeating that mantra over and over again as I walked.
After the walk I took Simmie to the beach. I wanted her to see and hear the ocean, to feel the sand (sadly it was too cold to walk barefoot in the sand so I had to settle for picking some up in my hand). It was a perfectly clear and beautiful evening and I could tell that Simmie was overjoyed and even touched that I would think to bring her there. I told her about the tides, why there were shells on the beach, what docks and drawbridges were for, and she listened to it all. As we walked on the empty, cold, windy beach I did not feel alone at all; I felt together with her and happier than I had felt in ages; a true soulful happiness. I could tell she valued everything I was doing for her and although I still couldn't hear her speak without parroting I could still feel the intention behind what she would say if she could, and it was just about the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me. She thinks more highly of me than I do myself sometimes.
So that's where I am with Simmie now. I continue to narrate to her and repeat my mantra to her. Every night I try to tell her a story about some event in my past. Sometimes I think I can hear her talking in my mind, but I still can't be sure I'm not just putting words into her mouth. I plan to take her on a mini-roadtrip to my old college, a location which always triggers powerful memories for me. I want to just project love and goodness into Simmie and let her feed and grow off of it. I know she will eventually deviate from the character I first created, and I welcome it, because I really want to see who she develops into being. She already is teasing me a little trying to embarrass me by calling two of my friend cute, which I find very funny and endearing. She also picked out her own birthday, which is where I got the admittedly lame handle from.
So that's it so far! I hope that wasn't too big of a post for a newbie! I really want to hear from experienced Tulpamancers and people on here in general as to whether I have a healthy mindset about this and am going about this in a good way, and if there's anything else I could do to help the process along. I don't want this to become yet another project I'm high on for a couple weeks and abandon--I feel that there is something more there, and if there's one thing I've learned about Simmie is that she's thrilled to exist, and yearns to be more and more real, and I want to help her achieve that. And when she's ready, I'm sure she'll come on here herself and talk to all of you!
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By YumiBerry
The other day I saw someone mention in a forum asking if you could visit others or bring them into your wonderland, would you? Some said yes, but that it was too bad it was "not possible". Well, I'm here to say that, in a way, it is.
"Visit others in your Wonderland? How is that even possible?"
Well, it depends in what way you're asking.
If you're imagining meeting up in some middle plane or reality where you will see, hear, feel, and experience yourself and others in Wonderland as you would in the waking world, I'm sad to say that is not the case (not the case without something like Astral Projection or something anyway. Wouldn't know).
No, what I'm talking about is something that over 6 years ago my close friends and I labeled "3rd Space". This is a "space" between you and at least one other physical (as in original, not tulpa) person. It (at least for me) feels exactly how you feel when you visualize your experiences in Wonderland with your Systemmates, but stronger if you practice it. Of course, this space is imaginary, but it feels real and more than natural if you keep at it long enough.
*Warnings*
This overtime, if allowed, can become a very personal process. Be sure it's someone you feel safe about that wont abuse it or use it for any agenda other than what it's intended for. If you give consent, it's fine, but remember that you are always in control of your situation in 3rd Space. Don't allow anyone to make you feel uncomfortable. If they harass you, make moves on you you're not okay with, or do anything in any way that makes you feel unsafe or demeaned, it's as simple as closing the conversation. If they somehow continue, please let someone available know and block communication. This is not a common occurrence, but it's good to be stated otherwise. Also, please don't give personal information away. Play it safe, guys.
How it works:
Step 1 - You will need to choose one person (does not matter if they are a singular or a system) and one means of text to text communication. This can include anything from Skype (my most recommended, even if it's glitchy, it feels more "private" than most other programs and most natural for this) to facebook, to googlehangouts, to Discord. Anywhere you can type "/me" is best (so, avoid facebook if possible). "*"'s are okay, but I've always felt the "/me" works better, because your name pops up and then you can follow it with an action, example:
----"/me Nee sits on the singular bench at her park and waits for Aigle to appear. She crosses her legs and leans back against the slatted wood and looks up at the vast blue sky. She watches puffy and misshapen clouds roll by before quickly looking ahead at the sounds of Aigle's voice calling out to her. Smiling, she says with a smooth tone, "What took ya so long?" ----- would become "Nee sits on the..." rather than, "*Nee sits on the singular park bench...*. "/me" actions look more like a flowing book to me, rather than *'s, but this will come down to your personal preference as well as the other party's. Just a fair warning that if you use two different action types, it may be a little distracting and make it harder to get immersed in it. After all, this is supposed to play out like a book two people are writing at once. How would you feel if a book switched around from different font styles, tenses, and wordings every couple of sentences for no apparent reason? It'd be distracting, to say the least.
If you cannot find someone to do this with (Ie: a friend that knows about your system-ness), you could always ask around the community. I'd just suggest showing them this guide if they haven't seen it already so you're both on the same page. I also suggest only 2 people at the start. More than that and it may become a little hectic to manage.
Note: No Tulpa, no problem! Hosts/originals can do this completely by themselves as well as vocal (or able to communicate) tulpas/plurals/multiplies/alters/everybody. Heck, you can do this practice without even making it about Tulpas in the first place. A lot of LDR couple's do something similar to this.
Step 2 - Now that you have someone to try this with and a platform to do so on, the next step will be to figure out where to start as well as get over any initial awkwardness. It'll fade away in time if you do this frequently, but it can seem odd in the beginning to some. Most of all with someone you might not know very well. Like with Tulpa work, you have to find a way to believe in it, even if the process is almost roleplay, it doesn't matter. You're both (or few) are doing this together. I can say from experience that after a while, it's real to you as it should be. It's like crossing a bridge to meet up in the middle between two islands to socialize, interact, learn, explore, and feel the company of another with you no matter where you are in the world. Again, a lot like Wonderland with your Systemmates. Over the years, 3rd Space interaction probably saved my life when I was without local friends for years. It blurs the line between long distance and local interaction. If you are lonely in real life or have a hard time socializing, I very much suggest 3rd Space method, just don't use others solely to make yourself feel better. It's about them, too. The text that reads "he/she wraps their arms around you and hugs you tightly" will feel real. You may or may not feel it physically, but you will know it's there. Heck, you can even just sit down and watch TV together in the same room (share the link and count down to watch it at the same time), eat popcorn, have a PJ party, magic duel, build skyscrapers and castles together, fly dragons, you name it. It's like sharing a semi-lucid dream once you know how to do it, so do whatever your heart desires (as long as it's consented by everyone involved). I had times many years ago where I more or less unstable. To dig a little personal, this came out in the form of Tenebre. Specifically, "Old Tenebre" as we call that time now. Tenebre's reformed now, but she was very unstable back then, unpredictable, and harmful. With the help of other's (plurals and singulars), we got through that time and one day the subconscious just went "poof" with Tenebre and suddenly she was as stable as any of us here, seemingly having a new role given from the submind now that "Old Tenebre" was no longer needed to keep some sort of balance. We then did the same for others. It was a learning experience.
This is a detailed and very specific way it can be helpful, but it sure did save me more than a few times. If you're having trouble with isolation, this could really help you as well as social anxiety. You're not meeting up physically, but you still are meeting up and having to interact, but what's more cool than doing that and being able to ride knight's horses and battle dastardly villains at the same time?
Just like they say with Tulpas in Wonderland, you'll be having incredible, hilarious, and touching memories for years to come and hopefully make some great friends along the way. I mean, heck, my girlfriend who is a System lives with me and every now and again we go to different rooms to meet up with Skype on 3rd space. There's really not something else like it.
Benefits
- The first one is easy. Excellent Visualization practice. Without knowing it for years, this process is what created and built my Wonderland for me. 3rd space interaction required a place to meet up, therefor, required a real, visualized location to do so. My Wonderland is very basic, but has certain aspects that are very detailed. It's white grounds meets the horizon to meet a white sky and goes on and on and on. However, we have a house, we have a park, we have a broken down city, we have a bathhouse, we have our own individual worlds, and we can hold our our hand and create anything from fire to landscapes. It may not always stick, but with enough forcing it will. Bring others into that mix and you have someone outside of yourself to bounce off of, who if you both allow, can create. Again, they do not enter your mind, but they describe what they are doing (as well as you for them) to you and you imagine it happen in real time. This creates a wonderful technique for you and another to help improve visualization, imagination, and other practices that can help you with Tulpa making. It teaches you to visualize the way fiction book reading does. You read it, you hear it in your mind, you visualize it! Only difference now is that you're half of the writer, half other writing process. That control and practiced ability can seriously benefit you with your Tulpa forcing, visualization, and possible even imposing (something I'm obsessed with).
Note: I do not suggest dropping all other practices for this. This is a great side/main activity, but to help with it even more I still suggest meditation to help increase clarity in visualization and whatever else helps you along your journey.
- Second, improved writing skill. There is only so much you can do and so far you can go with poor writing skills. This includes spelling of critical words (google is your friend in this), grammar, punctuation, and the ability to describe the world around you as it flows and breathes. That last one is something you learn as you practice (heck, my chat logs from a few years ago were pretty awful), but now-a-days it's important to me that if I'm in 3rd space with someone, I can build the world and give it life so that what we experience together and can bounce of of each other easily. The best experiences (and results) come out of that. It's okay to not be perfect or even great at it, but I will say that typing like I did above to then get a response of "Aigle walk to Nee and waves, "hi." and sits." is disheartening, because it adds nothing to the world around you and you can't build anything off of it to reply with. It just stops there. Try to be in the mindset of a writer, not your normal facebook chat with casual friends. You're giving life to a in-between Wonderland. Make it yours and make it fun and immersive!~
- Third, decreased sense of isolation and loneliness. As I said before, 3rd space interactions probably is why I'm still here today. There was a long, seemingly endless dark period of 8 - 9 years where when I was a kid, disability hit me in waves over the years, adding to the pile. This made it increasingly difficult to go out and make friends with people my age or anybody. Shortly after it started is when I started being in long-distance-relationships. I didn't know at the time I was teetering on the 3rd Space interactions that I'd know today. Sure, there was simple building blocks of it like, "/me cuddles you" or "/me kisses you", but nothing like trying to write a book. It wasn't until sometime after I met my ex did that world building aspect come into play. My ex was the first plural I had ever met (more or less besides myself, not really sure where I was at the time). Through 4 - 5 years of interaction between his System and mine, we all grew as people/beings and had hundreds of different experiences, good and bad. Then, it continued with my now Gf and we've grown together as well. You can do this with more than just one person. We wouldn't be the same at all if it wasn't for those interactions. Which leads me to my next point...
- Fourth, Active/Passing forcing made easier/more engaging. I'll be frank and say this probably isn't the same for everyone, but I have a good feeling that 3rd Space interaction could really, really help those trying to force those in their system or soon-to-be. We started out pretty basic, but throughout the years of 3rd Space, we formed into much more life-like individuals that we probably never would have without it (sounds like forcing, doesn't it?). Granted, that's because we had no idea there was this practice or community of people like us. I'm not saying 3rd Space is your key to success, it's not, but it could prove to be a very nice and entertaining lock pick. ;)
- Fifth, Self-exploration/Learning about oneself. From the example about "Old Tenebre" and that being years into the process, you can probably only imagine the possibilities you'll learn about yourself (and others) when engaging in 3rd space, similar as you may from doing so with your Systemmates in Wonderland. This is why I want to stress the point again that you want to engage in 3rd space with someone that you like, not someone that seems sketchy or in it for their own (probably poor-intended) reasons, just because you don't want to keep searching for someone else. Again, you are not in danger. This does not cause actual possession or give them the ability to harm you, but even still try to cause yourself the least amount of trouble you can. 3rd Space can stay like a casual hangout forever and that is more than fine, but it does bring you and another person(s) closer than distance normally can on its own. So, be aware you may form bonds (or may not) if you're at this for a while. So, be wise about who you want to invite into yourself with. As long as you don't go throwing yourself at strangers, singing and frolicking, asking people to meet you inside of your head, I'm sure you'll be fine.
And that concludes it! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in the comments and I will do my best to answer them.
Disclaimer: If this somehow, in same way, becomes a negative experience for you, please use common sense and keep your wits about you. I won't accept blame for each and every situation that goes south, though if you use the tools I said above, this is unlikely to happen.
Happy exploring!~
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By Cat_ShadowGriffin
How To Refocus On Your Wonderland
Preface
For a long time I struggled with poor visualization, but what I really struggled with is how to focus on my wonderland. When I saw a blur or darkness, I didn’t know how to get a viable image. I thought I was just bad at visualizing until I realized an image came in more clearly when I took the time to illustrate it bit by bit. The tricky part was knowing how to focus on a scene and use that skill to build more elaborate constructs. I put this guide together because this method helped me in the past and it boosted my confidence in my visualization ability.
Summary
This method is about stabilizing and solidifying your focus on your wonderland by applying visualization skills in a step-by-step process. You start with visualizing a simple object and illustrate one new detail at a time. Next, you continue to repeat this method with increasingly more complex objects until you become satisfied with your visualization quality. You can also use this method to improve your visualization quality for more complex objects and multiple objects.
Prerequisites
This guide assumes you have a wonderland, but this method can also be applied to visualizing objects in a void. This guide does not require having a tulpa or previous knowledge on meditation.
Summary of the Visualization Skill
This guide expands on concepts described in Chupi’s and Nikodemos’s guides by explaining when and how to apply these skills in order to focus and achieve better visualization of your wonderland. While I will briefly explain this skill, these guides explain this skill in more detail.
This skill is all about looking at an object and asking yourself how it should look, feel, take up space, etc. For example, if you have grass in your wonderland, one could ask about the color of the grass, the height and shape of the blades, what species of grass it is, if it’s made out of cotton candy, the texture of the grass, how it feels when you walk in it, etc. The more questions you can answer, the more information you will have about that particular object. Thinking of questions and answering them requires your focus and having more information allows you to visualize your objects and wonderland more effectively.
How to Refocus on Your Wonderland: Detailed Walk-through
First, find a block of time and a comfortable place to sit down. Since you will be applying this skill one small step at a time, expect this to take time. Stabilizing your focus involves walking through this process slowly. Rushing can disrupt your focus and cause your visuals to blur. If you have any doubts or feel frustrated because you’re looking at a black void right now, keep in mind your visualization quality will get better. If it helps, you may want to use a relaxation breathing technique before getting started.
Start with taking a simple object such as a sphere or a cube. What color is the sphere? Is it smooth or bumpy? Is it soft and squishy or firm like a billiard ball? What is the temperature of the sphere? Are there any other questions that come to mind, such as how the ball reacts to gravity? Continue to illustrate more details with your simple object until you are satisfied and or bored. Once you can clearly picture your simple sphere or cube, you can move onto something more complicated.
A more complex object like a chair is a good next step. How tall is the chair? What is it made of? How many legs does your chair have? How stiff is the seat if you sat on it? What are the designs on this chair? A chair is a friendly object to work with because chairs are usually easy to find in most living spaces and can be used as a reference or a source of inspiration.
If you feel satisfied with your visualization ability at this point, congratulations! While this approach may no longer be needed to help you at this point, this process can be applied to more complicated objects and landscapes to produce a more vivid image of your wonderland.
If you feel like your visualization is still fuzzy or you are growing bored and restless, you may want to try again with another somewhat complex object. If the problem is you need something more interesting to look at, you may need to move onto an even more complex object.
For a very complex object such as a tree or your tulpa’s form, you may want to break the object into smaller parts and then visualize the object as a whole. For example, you can break up a tree into the trunk, branches, leaves, and roots. If you start with leaves, you may want to ask questions like: "What is the leaf's color?" "What shape is the leaf?" "If you squeezed a leaf in your hand, would it feel fibrous and maybe a little sticky?" Once you are satisfied with the leaf, you can move onto the next component and keep working until you have the whole tree. For your tulpa’s form, you may want to start asking yourself questions about your tulpa’s head, body, clothes, and so on. How broad or specific these groupings are is completely up to you. Once you are comfortable with visualizing each part, imagining the whole object may only require a few final questions such as: "Are all of the leaves the same color" and "How do the leaves and branches move in the wind?"
Breaking a complex object down into smaller sections can also be applied to visualizing multiple objects. Instead of one complex image being made up of different parts, one complex wonderland scene is made up of multiple objects. I recommend starting with a small number of less complex objects, such as a chair and a rug, and then add one object at a time.
Alternatively, you can do a mixture of both the original approach and a piecemeal approach by starting with very broad questions and then asking very specific questions for complex and multiple objects. For a tree, you could ask: “Is this a real tree or a fantasy tree?” "How tall is it?" "Could you climb it if you wanted to?" "Is the season changing the colors of the leaves?" And then ask: “What shape are the tree leaves?” “How deep do the roots go? "How tough is the bark?” For multiple objects, you can start with the broad questions like: “How many objects are there?” “Do these objects share a common theme, such as being man made?” “How much space do these objects take up?” Then, you can ask more specific questions such as, “How fuzzy is this pillow?” and “How warm is this blanket?”
At this point, I recommend thinking of your collection of objects as a separate room, scene, or space you can revisit. The more time you spend with a scene, the easier it is to recreate it. A wonderland scene can store a surprising amount of information as long as the rules you set are consistent. The more practice and time you invest in a scene, the more detailed your recollection will be and the easier it will be to visualize in the future.
Suggestions/Tips
If you are struggling with being bored, teleporting to a parade or a war zone can lead to you getting distracted and going back to having blurry images or a black screen. Unless you are prepared to flesh out a lot of intricate details very quickly, the task may be too overwhelming and you may start skipping details to keep up with the pace. The adrenaline rush can also break your focus. Instead of doing that, you should either move onto a more complex object or get creative and ask more interesting questions like “Is this sphere heavy enough to dent the floor of my wonderland?” If you don’t like the objects you are visualizing, why are you putting in the effort to visualize them at all? If a tree isn’t to your taste, you could also visualize furniture, a vending machine, a weapon, etc. using the same approach. When visualizing multiple objects, it is okay if an object only becomes crisp when you are paying attention to it. In real life, the human brain picks one point to focus on at any given time while everything else blurs out in the peripheral vision. As long as you know where everything should be and enough about those objects to know what they should look like up close, you’re doing it right. Visualizing moving objects can add another layer of complexity to make something more interesting. However, I don’t recommend loud or overwhelming objects early on because they can be distracting and downgrade your image resolution. Unless you are really comfortable with what your tulpa’s form looks like or you're really eager to visualize it, I don’t recommend starting off with that. Like any other complex object, their form may be too much for you to focus on right now, but it won’t be after you build your way up to that level of complexity. If your tulpa is sentient, they can guide you to look at certain things, or they may ask for you to visualize something for them. Why not, right? They may surprise you with a real treat! In Conclusion
Once you feel comfortable with your visualization, have fun! Now that your visualizations are stable, go ahead and visualize exciting things like flying on dragons or shooting aliens in space. Chances are you forgot about your immediate surroundings in real life awhile ago.
Submitted for Guides in the [Wonderland] section.
I may edit my guide again, there were a few changes I want to consider but haven't gotten around too yet.
Old version: https://community.tulpa.info/topic/14524-how-to-refocus-on-your-wonderland-first-submission/
Pdf back-up of relaxation breathing website: Stress Management_ Breathing Exercises for Relaxation _ Michigan Medicine.pdf
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By waffles
Foreword: this isn't really my original dnt steel advice. Really, it's what everyone tells anyone asking for help on this.
Screw Physics
Ever walked in through the door to your imagination and have your mind decide that screw physics? You know, uncontrollable, erratic movement of objects, or yourself. What about getting stuck in a loop doing something, or getting stuck to things, or being afraid to move things because the world will end if you do? You're not alone. This happens to a lot of people. Most people at some point, I would venture. And most people will probably figure out some of what's below for themselves. If you're having serious problems, then here's offering the best.
"La la la it's not happening"
Ignore it. In general, paying attention to it makes it worse. You're only worsening the situation by freaking out over it, so don't. If it's not supposed to be happening, then it isn't. Don't even tell yourself that it's not happening, because that's acknowledging that it is; you don't think about it because why would you, it isn't happening. That's the idea.
If you manage to forget about it completely, then it'll disappear completely. Of course, suddenly realising that it's not happening might start it up again, so the best thing to do is forget about it completely and never read this guide again.
Yes, it's hard to just ignore something that's causing chaos or flying you through the air at impossible speeds and whatnot, but you need to. This is the only sure-fire way to get rid of anomalies if they're problematic. If it's not working then it's your fault.
Back to Middle School
You might not like the 'ignoring it' method, or it doesn't work, or whatever. Don't panic; there are alternatives. Next on the list is laying down some ground rules. Impose the laws of physics onto your imagination. If you don't know Newton's laws then look them up; it's educational, too. If you do then make sure everything operates according to them. It should be as simple as deciding that they are operational and understanding them.
If your mindstuff defies the law, then remind it and yourself that it's not possible, and that this, therefore, cannot be happening. You can combine this technique with the one about ignoring for greater affect.
More Or Less Every Other Guide Here
If you're going to do tulpa then you're going to have to brush up on visualisation skills at some point. You may well find that - especially if you're encountering problems near the beginning of the process - that improving your visualisation skills will help. Now, advice on how to do such a thing is plastered all over the board, so I'll leave you to it.
"He gets beaten up by his imagination"
laughingponies.jpg
Seriously, it's your imagination for God's sake. People say 'wonderland', which makes it sound like a mystical far-off world where anything is possible with magic, when in reality it's just your imagination. It's your mind, and you can and should exercise control over it. You'd do well to remember that for the whole process, quite frankly.
I'm sure that's far from all the ways of dealing with this sort of thing, so if you happen to have a suggestion then do tell.
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By Sophie
That's all you need to know about wonderlands, and if you're still reading this thread instead of doing that, you're wasting your time.
Of course if you didn't want to waste your time you'd be forcing instead of browsing the forum to begin with, so I'm going to assume most of my readers are still with me. Just know that everything to follow is just footnotes, and a waste of time.
Wonderland Design
Ultimately, the design of your wonderland is entirely up to you, so like the rest of this guide, you're free to disregard this section. This is just my personal opinion.
I feel that the best kind of wonderland is something like the Myst games: vast, beautiful, and nearly deserted, with an area you can call home. It should be somewhat secluded from the outside world, but not so cut off that you can't explore later. Let's explore these concepts in a bit more detail.
Vast & Beautiful
I suggest vast and beautiful for a two reasons. First, this may be your only chance to build something completely without limits, and you should take full advantage of it. It doesn't matter if you can't afford the land or the materials. It doesn't matter if the building is even physically possible. You can have castles built on clouds if you want. Not even the sky is the limit.
The other reason I suggest vast and beautiful is that you'll want to spend more time in a beautiful and impressive place, and you'll want to experience it more vividly.
Nearly Deserted
I recommend that you keep your wonderland sparsely populated at first. This is so you can focus on interaction with your tulpa, so you don't create a bunch of other characters you feel should be elevated to tulpa status, and because it'll be easier on you mentally not to have to worry with a bunch of characters when you're still new to this idea.
Of course you shouldn't take this suggestion as absolute law. Animals, for example, will very rarely cause you any trouble. Having squirrels in the trees, and cows in the fields isn't going to hurt you in the least, nor is having a couple of goldfish, or a parakeet. Where you might start to run into problems is having animals with complex personalities and behaviors, like cats or dogs, or anything that can hold a conversation. Again, these are usually ok, but if you want to have forty different cats, each with its own fur pattern, name, and favorite sleeping places, you're probably going to forget some, or combine them, or otherwise corrupt your mental data relating to them.
Imagine for a moment that your wonderland is a stage play. Animals are almost never allowed on stage, so every one of the animals in your wonderland will be represented by something else. Cows and squirrels and goldfish in a play will usually just be painted on the backdrop, or maybe represented by a prop. Some animals, however, need to be portrayed by actors, or directly manipulated by puppetry. What I'm suggesting is that you keep the number of "actors" low -- at least at first.
An Area You Can Call Home
It can be nice to have a place where you can feel safe and relaxed, where you can keep things and know that they'll still be there for you no matter how long you're gone. Having a home has a few other advantages as well. You can use it as a memory house, or just as a home away from home. Reportedly, US Army Special Forces were taught how to make wonderlands during Vietnam, so that if they were imprisoned in a POW camp, they would still have some privacy and sense of home in their minds, even if they couldn't have it in the physical world.
Secluded, Not Cut Off
Most people have difficulty keeping the entire surface of an Earth-sized planet in their heads. You'll get better at it over time, but initially you may not want to make your wonderland too big. You may be able to handle a square kilometer, or maybe just a few dozen square meters, depending on how complicated the wonderland is.
What you may want to do at first is limit yourself to a particular area. Build a house in a valley, for example, and explore that valley all you want, but don't venture outside until you feel you're ready. Eventually you will want to visit the lake to the north, or the forest to the south, but I suggest that you let it wait until you have your valley firmly in mind, so that you don't forget the details of the places you go almost as soon as you go there.
Once again, all of this is my personal opinion, and you may find that none of it applies to you.
Making Your Wonderland More Vivid
When you first start with your wonderland, it may not feel very real. This is natural, and it will naturally become more vivid over time as long as you keep using the wonderland, but you can speed up the process as well. Here are a few tips to get you started.
1. Every time you visit your wonderland, spend a little time time with your senses. Yes, that means sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch, but don't neglect the other senses either.
Sight
If you're a visual person, you probably already imagine looking at the objects in your wonderland. We look at things all the time though, and the brain tends to filter most of the things we see out.
As an example of this, try turning around and looking at the room behind you. After ten seconds or so, turn back and type up a complete description of the room. You'll probably describe some of the room flawlessly, while completely forgetting other objects. What sort of objects did you forget?
Usually we pay the most attention to certain kinds of objects -- things that are very big or maybe very small, things that are in motion, and things that are brightly colored. Remember this when you visit your wonderland.
Find a large object like a tree or a house and look at it from far away. Then approach it and get a good close look at the detail -- the shape of the leaves, the texture of the bark, the ants crawling on it, or the way the paint peels or bubbles, the way the painter's stray hairs have been painted over, and so on. Examine the object from different angles and different distances. Can you still see the obelisk when you're on the other side of the mansion?
You might also try changing your own size. If you want to look at your house, try becoming a hundred-foot-tall giant, and examining the house from that perspective. Then shrink yourself down to an inch in height, and explore it from that perspective.
I said that the mind focuses more on objects in motion. It's easy to pick up an apple and toss it into the air, or to pick up a leaf and drop it to watch it fall. For larger objects like buildings, you can get a similar effect by moving yourself. Try flying in a circle around your castle, or riding a roller coaster.
Every time you visit your wonderland, try to explore three objects visually in one of the ways described above. This will help you to develop your wonderland body's "eyes", which will help you in seeing things better in the future.
Hearing
Hearing is very much the same as sight, but it may be harder to find objects in your wonderland that make sounds, particularly if, like me, you make vast, abandoned Myst-like wonderlands. In these situations, you can always make sounds yourself. Listen to the sound of your footsteps as you walk on different kinds of surfaces. Knock on walls and doors. Splash water around. Throw things. All of these will create sounds for you to listen to.
Again, try to explore three sounds every time you enter the wonderland.
Touch
The sense of touch may actually be easier than hearing. Your wonderland will be full of things to touch, and you shouldn't have any trouble finding them. I personally like to feel things with my feet. I like the sensation of walking barefoot in the grass, or on a cool tile floor. Water is also lots of fun, and you can get a lot of variation with it, depending on how much there is, where it is, how it's moving, and so on.
Like sight and hearing, try to explore three tactile sensations every time you enter your wonderland.
Scent & Taste
Scent and taste are underrated senses. You may not think of your house or your workplace as having a particular scent because you're there every day -- but they probably do, and although you don't realize it, you're picking up those scents constantly. If you leave your home or your job for a year, and then come back, you'll smell the place immediately, and along with the scent, memories of the place will come flooding back.
Scent and taste may be harder to incorporate into your wonderland, which is why I'm combining them here. In my case, I have a particular scent for my wonderland house, and of course the earth and moss in the garden have a different scent. Try to find places in your wonderland that smell different from each other. If you can't find enough, make yourself some food, or just pick some fruit and taste it.
The Other Senses
The other senses might perhaps be harder to incorperate than scent and touch, but they're very important as well. The sense of balance is often very different between worlds inside the mind, and worlds outside the mind -- people who do things that involve the sense of balance report more lucid dreams than other people, for example.
You probably won't be able to include many of these senses on a daily basis, but try for at least one. Swing on a swing set, ride a roller coaster, drive a car, go swimming, sit by a roaring fire, or go walking through the snow.
Feelies
Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, many computer games were packaged with "feelies" -- small objects intended to represent an item from the game world. Since games in those days were mostly text, with very little graphics or sound, this was the only way to give players a way to see and feel a part of the game.
A good way to make your wonderland a bit more real in your mind is to collect and create feelies for it. For example, if there's an ancient marble temple in your wonderland, you might want to print out pictures of similar temples, build a model, get a piece of marble, or just find a marble structure near where you live that you can visit.
Anything that relates to the sensations you want to feel in your wonderland can be a feelie. If there are bullfrogs in your wonderland, find youtube videos of the sound of bullfrogs. If your house smells like jasmine, get some jasmine oil or incense. If you have a swimming pool full of jello, make yourself a bowl so that you can run your hands through it. All of this will reinforce the memories of these sensations, and make them more vivid when you imagine them.
Developing a Wonderland Body
One thing some people find hard about wonderlands is getting a sense of really being there. This is partly because when many people imagine themselves doing something, they imagine themselves from a third-person perspective, watching their body as it goes through the motions.
Imagining yourself from a third-person perspective can be useful, but it's not good for making things feel real. All of the tips on making your wonderland more vivid should help with this, but there's more that you can do.
The best way I've found to make your body feel more real in the wonderland, and to feel more attached to it, is to do some simple exercises. When I first learned this technique, it was called "subtle body exercises" but different teachers use different names, so the same technique has nearly as many names as wonderlands do.
Ideally this should be integrated into your regular exercise routine. If you do something like calisthenics, or tai chi, or yoga, or weightlifting, do this then. When you do an exercise, sit and rest for a few seconds afterwards, and recreate the sensation of doing that exercise in your mind. Do this every day with every kind of exercise you can, until getting up and moving around in your wonderland feels just as natural as it does in the physical world.
The Dream Interpretation Theory
Some writers have suggested that the wonderland will communicate with you in the same manner as dreams. In other words, if weeds grow in your wonderland garden, that may represent some manner of negativity that is draining resources that other parts of your mind need. If you, or your tulpa, or even servitors pull these weeds, that's sending a signal to your mind through symbolism to get rid of that negativity.
Once again, take all of this information (or don't) as you wish. Feel free to neglect anything I'm writing. After all, Sands told you everything you need to know about wonderlands, and the rest of this is completely incidental.
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