Problems with visualization (No mental images at all)

[Tryed]

Hello, I'm new to the forum and to this whole tulpa thing, and when I learned about it I got quite excited to try it. The thing is I'm not able to visualize stuff. I don't know if it's because I never practiced any kind of stuff like meditation and all. When I read the guides, it explains the visualization process in a way that makes it seem easy, but for me it isn't.

I can't even start the personality phase because I can't visualize the traits.

 

I found this image on DreamViews, and it shows exactly how bad I am at visualizing right now:

 

 

That image illustrates levels of definition when visualizing a simple, flat shape with your eyes closed. Normally I can only get to number 2 level of 'definition', maybe not even that. I just get the sense that I am visualizing a shape but I can't exactly know if I'm really seeing it.

 

As for when I'm almost falling asleep, I can get close to image 4.

 

If I have an immense difficulty at visualizing even simple shapes, how will I be able to visualize an entire person?

I found an interesting thread on reddit that described the OP's process of creating a tulpa. He said "At first I could see the outlines, kind of like light on someone’s shoulders when the sun is behind them. This gradually bled over until I was looking at a vague figure. Next I defined its general shape, removing any irregularities and filling in gaps."

 

Could that be how it works? Has someone with no skill at all at visualizing managed to create a tulpa here?

 

The farthest I got at this thing was that, after trying to visualize for a couple dozen minutes, I felt a presence on the spot where I was visualizing, that lasted a couple minutes, before I snapped out of it and went to do something else.

 

I'm very anxious to succeed and I really need help with this.

[Charlotte]

You don't need to visualize at all to make a tulpa (though you need to for the body). All you have to do is talk to them and acknowledge they exist, and it doesn't hurt to predefine traits (thinking about them when thinking about the tulpa, telling them these are their traits, thinking certian things that the tulpa would usually do or wouldn't do). The "visual personality" thing isn't nessisary at all and in fact I don't really get it.

[Tryed]

I talk with myself inside my head all the time. I parrot responses but I've been doing this for so long that it seems automatic, although not alien. Do you mean I have to keep doing that but do not think about any answers?

[G|d30n]

Guided visualizations can help when you're first just learning how to visualize. They're commonly used in meditation classes or classes where meditation is used (I took a really traditional martial arts class where we practiced meditation regularly--that's how I learned originally). If it's not practical for you to take a class, due to finance or availability, there are a lot of guided visualizations from hypnotists and meditation enthusiasts on Youtube. Just try and immerse yourself in them and let your mind wander. Practice that a while and you'll be able to create images and scenes inside your head all on your own in no time.

---

I talk with myself inside my head all the time. I parrot responses but I've been doing this for so long that it seems automatic, although not alien. Do you mean I have to keep doing that but do not think about any answers?

 

Most discourage parroting. Just talk to it and don't even expect a response. It'll take a good while before you feel anything, and longer until you get a response. I've done 20 hours of personality work, narrating throughout the process for over a week with no responses whatsoever, and I only just felt something I might possibly classify as an alien feeling today. Don't rush it, and don't try to control your tulpa with your mind either. Just give it attention and focus on defining it and let it develop when it's ready.

[Charlotte]

I talk with myself inside my head all the time. I parrot responses but I've been doing this for so long that it seems automatic, although not alien. Do you mean I have to keep doing that but do not think about any answers?

 

Pretty much. Try to imagine a seperate entity around/in you and direct your speech to that. When I say imagine I don't mean visually, you know, that feeling that someone else is around you. Also don't forget to try to figure out how the best way for you to do this since it's a very personal matter.

[Tryed]

Thank you, I'll look into it. Also, how does "sound visualization" works? I mean sound hallucinations. I can imagine tacticle sensations like I can with visual images, but I have no clue on how to work with sound.

 

@Charlotte, you mean I should feel the presence or not? Sorry my english isn't flawless.

[Charlotte]

Just pretend there's a presnece there, the tulpa. Just imagine it being metaphorically there with you, like a watchful god or something I guess.

 

I don't know what you mean with sound, but you don't need to work on sound, it comes naturally. doing anything with sound could be parroting and that's not a good thing.

[Chupi]

Tryed: Are you by any chance expecting an image to appear on the back of your eyelids? Because it won't, and so far most people who can't see a thing are trying to do this.

 

Try to shift your mental focus from your eyelids to your mind's eye. For me, this feels like looking at something farther back in my head rather than in front of me. It felt odd at first and was really hard to do, but I got more used to it. After you get it and visualize something for a while, your mental vision and physical vision seem to blend a bit, so it feels more like you're actually seeing it. (This also happens if you can get into a semi-sleep state, but at least for me that's a lot more finicky.)

[Tryed]

Chupi: You mean when you stare and it seems like the blackness of your eyelids gets kind of 3D, as it has depth? I know how to do that, but visualizing is still pretty hard for me, even in that state

[tulpatalk]

Could you link to where you heard about tulpas on reddit?