#neuronarration

[kiruliom]

ah the vicious cycle of "I feel like I dont have a place in the real world so Im spending most of my social energy daydreaming" but that leads to me losing my place even more in the real world

[dolleriumfluffle]

Daydreams, Ghosts, and Plurality - Experiences of a Dreamway System

I think, in writing this, our goal is just to give a glimpse into our personal experience with identifying as dreamway, and how deep of an impact being neuronarrative has on our plurality. We saw a post about someone wanting more plurals to just write about experiences - so, here's some of ours, to share about ourselves, to ramble, and in hopes that someone might connect.

Our first ever signs of plurality as a child were through daydreams.

For as long as we can possibly remember, we've been traveling. Even as a very young child we lived a constant life of daydreams, of worlds we could disappear into in our head - and, more importantly, the people we met in them. Some of them were fictional; the fairies of the Pixie Hollow movies and the cures from the existing Pretty Cure seasons, both things we grew up with and deeply loved. These were perhaps our first experiences of walk-ins, as they would appear in and leave our daydream worlds as they pleased. Others were self-made, and would continue to appear with us until we had our first syscovery - a grey kitsune and an angel, who would protect and care for us on our journeys.

Our daydreams have always had a spiritual component, one that we would never really understand until we became an adult and learned about astral travel. We continually had spiritual beings appear to us in our daydreams, such as yokai like the kitsune and fae-like beings - and, most concerningly to others, dead relatives of ours and friends. We once told a schoolmate in elementary school that we had seen her grandma who passed away a few years prior. Her deeply superstitious mother proceeded to tell our poor aunt that she believed we were cursed.

We used to journal to each other as a child, writing to each other by name and creating journal entries in the form of letters. People, including us, dismissed it as an overactive imagination. However, it felt so fulfilling to us to write about our day and know that somehow, the people in our daydreams would see it, and sometimes even write back.

As we got into our teenage years, we began to be aware of these daydream characters as more than just daydreams - they were alive, they existed separately and had their own thoughts and feelings. We confessed to an online friend at the time that we had "people in my head" that lived in "my own world", which would eventually lead to our first syscovery. This initial group is who we sometimes call "the original 12" - a series of 12 system members who have been around since we were very young, appearing as daydreams until we realized who we really were.

We were very confused about our origins at first. We hung out in tulpamancy groups for a brief time, wondering if this was maybe how we had come about. However, we soon realized it just didn't resonate, so we moved on to some general endogenic groups and forums. We really appreciate the people we met during this time, who were kind to us in a period where we really had no idea what was happening with us.

Having a headspace always came very naturally to us. We never really understood how to describe creating and interacting with one, because to us we had always been daydreaming about ours. It was an incredibly in depth other world with its own rules, its own people, its own life. Even before we knew the extent of it, daydreaming had a huge impact on how we interacted with each other and how we navigated our own plurality.

After some very stressful life events, the coming awareness of our amnesia, and a while with a good therapist, we were diagnosed with HC-DID.

This led to a long period of self hatred and fear, where we were less sure than before about our life and each other. Thankfully, with the help of therapy and finally having a good support system, we were able to recover from this part of our journey. However, even after this we still had a strong sense that there was more to our origins.

This was when we discovered the term dreamway and the origin paragenic, which hadn't yet been coined when we had our first syscovery. Suddenly, everything made sense! There were people like us! Our daydreams, paracosms, and paras were an essential part of our system, and this was a known experience.

We're extremely grateful for that discovery. Our paracosms are an inherent part of our headspace - many of our introjects used to be para versions of fictional characters. We are able to travel freely between them, continually encountering new people, new worlds, new lives. There is a strange spiritual component to them; we've often heard people say that "paras usually know they're in a daydream," and this isn't true for us. They exist autonomously of our daydreams about them, almost as if they really are in another world, unless they get pulled into the main system and gain awareness of it. Similarly, we can use our headspace for spiritual means, using daydreams and astral travel to encounter entities of all kinds.

We feel greatly at peace with ourselves having discovered daydreams and connected spirituality as an essential part of our system and its origins. There is a lot of joy to us in being mixed origin - in knowing that even there our initial splits were due to programming, there is so much more to us, so much that has in fact helped us cope and stick together since that initial split.

At the end of the day, we want people to know that being mixed origin can be amazing, and can be an essential tool to a system's growth. We hope maybe other neuronarrator plurals or plurals with MaDD may see this and relate, and also we just want to spread more posts about joyful in depth system experiences. Thank you for reading!

[foleys-help-blog]

Tips for handling a daydream block

It happens to all of us at some point, and it sucks. here are some tips on how to deal with it from my experience.

There can be different or causes to it. First, you have too many thoughts. Whether it's because you have a lot on your mind, because you're stressed, or whatever other reason, if your brain is too full, it can be hard to daydream. Second possibility: your brain feels exhausted, empty. You're tired and it's hard to think, period. Third, you're just out of ideas!

✦ If you can and like to meditate, meditation is one of the best ways to calm down your thoughts and give your brain some respite.

✦ Napping can help rest too! Depending on the person, this might not help if you're in the first case though - I know it doesn't for me for example.

✦ If you lack ideas, look up some prompts, or maybe get into a new series or book! You need to feed your creativity, along with letting it rest.

✦ Do something else! Go for a walk, do some coloring, try a new art form, change up your habits! This can both help you get inspired and rest your creative muscles.

✦ Chat with other daydreamers! Whether it's gushing or venting, not feeling alone is a great help in feeling better

Now, while those are great to help getting out of a slump, sometimes only time will truly get rid of the block. In the meantime, there are ways you can stay connected to your paras and paracosms!

✦Make playlists your paras would listen to ✦Make moodboards ✦If you've written or drawn things related to your daydreamns, look at those ✦Make your paras a list of books they've read, would like to read, would dislike, etc! This can work with hobbies, movies, cartoons, food,… ✦Create a timetable of a typical work/school day of your para if it applies ✦Make jewelry for your paras; you can wear it to feel like they are with you or to think of them. ✦Make collages or art inspired by your paras, paracosms and daydreams! It can be super abstract! ✦Create outfit boards for your paras ✦Make memes about your paracosm ✦Try a meal or snack your paras would like! ✦Fill in personality quizzes as if you were your paras

Rest well, and happy daydreaming friends! 🪁🌟🫧

[protectingtulpas]

Do you think redirecting my MADD (Mal-Adaptive Daydreaming Disorder) to create a Tulpa might work?

Meditation is difficult because I live with a lot of noisy people and animals, and my MADD already makes me more likely to stop what I'm doing and go on an imaginary rant about stuff - do you think this might help?

(I know it'd probably be way slower than conventional means, but still, y'know?)

Heyo! So this is actually a completely viable method long as you're careful, as lots of neuronarrators end up feeling like their paras are actually conscious after a lotta interaction. If you set up the beginning concepts of your tulpa within your paracosm and let em develop while using tulpamancy guides as a guideline, it'd probably work similarly to how a lotta tulpamancers start off by spending a lotta time in their headspace with their tulpa. When I was super "young" I loved just getting the choice on where I wanna move around and what I wanna explore. I bet a paracosm would be super awesome for a new tulpa just getting their bearings!

MaDD IS something that causes distress or dysfunction, tho, so make sure to remember a few things: for one, try and keep your proto-tulpa away from any disturbing or traumatizing things that could be in your paracosm- it really sucks to have avoidable trauma mixed into your creation, so if your paracosm is super unsafe, not a good idea to create a tulpa in there. On the OTHER hand, I know a lot of paras and sometimes paratives too are totally unaware there's a world outside of their paracosm, but I'm gonna go ahead and say it's Not Really Cool to intentionally do that to a tulpa. Don't keep them trapped in ur paracosm, or try and convince them it's their only place, or try and keep them from being aware of the outside world in any way. DON'T TRUMAN SHOW YOUR TULPAS, I think that's pretty obvious.

Ummm other than that I'd say you know your disorder best! Daydreams can totally be a tool for a tulpa to give em a lot to do out of front, as well as an innerworld identity, which can be really nice! But be super careful not to put them in danger or treat them like unconscious entities like paras or NPCs. Hope that sums it up!

[obnebulant-mogai]

Made my own version of the Malagender (link) flag because the one I found didn't really resonate with me!

[Image ID: A flag with five equal horizontal stripes. In descending order, the stripes are navy blue, light blue, blue white, pink, and light purple. End ID.]

[wonderlightdaydreams]

AlterReality: A Coining Essay

This world has always felt like the wrong genre to me. Considering how many stories are based in this world, that sounds absurd. After all, we have free will and therefore the right to choose our own genre, right? One would think so; however, this is often not the case. There can be a myriad of reasons for this, but one large one is the hold that hegemony has on modern society. Despite our diverse world, this hegemony paints a coat of bland sameness over the world, creating a shared reality. This gives us, as beings living inside of hegemony, an interesting problem with a wide myriad of answers: how do we re-enchant our lives, considering the enchantment in question does not exist? My answer is that we alter our own realities, living in fantasy worlds of our own design and giving ourselves the adventure that we deserve.

When hearing the claims that were made in the intro, one would not be wrong to think of the alterhuman community. As a being who is part of it, I hold nothing but reverence for this amazing and wonderful group of diverse beings. They helped me and myself discover ourselves, helped us overcome great shame, and allowed us to evolve into the wonderfully diverse beings we are today. However, many members of this community live the lives of not their true selves but the form in which they exist bodily. While I do not fully blame them, as it is mostly out of necessity, I could not help but wonder if there is another option. Dragons don't pay taxes, after all.

Enter my term, alter reality." To clearly define it, it is having your current reality re-enchanted by means of living in a personal reality (which will be defined later in the essay) that is not the one shared by most individuals, whether voluntary or otherwise. This is about individuals who currently live in a personal reality, not those who don't live there due to their past lives or for any other reason. Let me reiterate that this can be  achieved through voluntary means and is a term that can be used by most anyone. You do not have to be alterhuman to be AlterReality, although those two can often intermingle with one another.

Another term that often overlaps with AlterReality is immersive daydreaming (ID). As an immersive daydreamer myself, I can say that one can be an ID and an AlterReality, but there are differences. For one, AlterReality requires the individual to live inside their reality, not watch it like a movie. As such, those who experience AlterReality have their true selves present in their reality, whom they live through. These factors often do not exist for immersive daydreamers.

Earlier, I brought up the idea of a personal reality. This is defined as any reality that is not a shared reality and is often customized to the individual(s) living inside of it. It can be shared, as I will address later in this essay. The nature of an alternate reality’s individual can exist as a hybrid of personal and shared reality, or it can exist entirely as a personal reality. However, AlterReality individuals do not live exclusively in shared reality (if you drank every time I said reality, I deeply apologize to your liver).

If you've made it this far into the essay, you're probably wondering how one can do this. After all, it is very possible for an individual to make themselves alter reality if they so choose. The methods are as infinite as magic itself; however, one common one is daydreaming. If you are interested in this method, please read my essay "An Introduction To Daydreaming V2", as it has very helpful advice in that. However, if you wish to take those methods further and have yourself make this reality real, it is simply a matter of mindset.

This topic is an essay in its own right, but this world is made up of constructs. Everything from jobs to family to even grocery stores is attached to stories. Take the latter: what do you think of when you think of grocery stores? Shopping for your dinner tonight? The dull tedium of the islands? Free samples? These are all items that exist in the shared reality that I am assuming that you, the reader, share as well. Now, what if we change one of these aspects or add one? Instead of going shopping for your dinner, the grocery store can be an epic quest to find sacred ingredients. Instead of the dull tedium of the islands, you can recreate them as sprawling dungeons filled with puzzles and traps. And of course, free samples are the spoils for all of your adventuring. This can be changed to fit your aesthetic and desires, but essentially, anything can be anything if you really want it to be.

It should be noted that this essay is in no way advocating for benign shut-ins or hikikomori. While personalizing your reality is often a solitary activity, it is enriching as well as encouraging to use shared reality as a prompt for your daydream. Being locked in your room on a physical level often creates a boring personalized reality, as your input is often limited. Go on quests, include your friends in your personal reality, and have fun!

Now, the only question left is: what should you even personalize your reality to be? One way to begin is by looking at your favorite pieces of media. You can simply make your personalized reality the media in question, or take what you like in that piece of media and create it based on these aspects. Of course, you can take any combination of media inspiration or none at all. The important thing here is that you enjoy your personalized reality and can feasibly live in it. One thing to consider is self-insertability, or the ability to add yourself to the fiction you create. These differ greatly depending on both the media and the individual, but they often come in the form of categories that the audience can split themselves into; think characters from Homestuck or elements from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Of course,there are many circumstances in which this trait would not apply. Overall, personal realities are just as diverse as their creators!

Many times, we, as an audience, are just passively observing other worlds. As an AlterReality practitioner, you don't only ascend beyond being an observer; you turn your life into a story. Modern life is filled with tons of stories. Stories about getting rich, having a family, and following the beaten path Why not Alter Your Reality someday and make your own story?

[objectlovernonhuman]

Veritbond Flag

Veritbond - this term has multiple definitions!

a) a para ("daydream character") the daydreamer has a deep emotional connection/attachment to

b) a para with a degree of self awareness

c) a para with a degree of autonomy

d) a mix of 2 or all of the above.

This flag can be used by anyone with Maladaptive Daydreaming Disorder or who is an Immersive Daydreamer or Neuronarrator.

Flags in order: main, 2 icon friendly square variants.

[kai-da-foley]

💭 Daydreaming Questions 💭

⏳How long have you been daydreaming for? What was your first scenario/paracosm? I've daydreamed for as long as i can remember. I dreamt of balls with characters i loved, i dreamt of going to magical schools (not Hogwarts, i hadn't yet discovered it), i dreamt of adventures fighting the shadows of the world and of being a lost boy. The In-Between though, dates back to the begining of me writing. In primary school, we had a personal notebook for when we were bored, and i started making my own world in it. That's the very beginning of the paracosm i still hold onto.

❓Would you rather: have your daydreams projected onto a screen attached to your head at all times or be entirely unable to daydream ever again for the rest of your life? The screen! It's not maladaptive anymore, so it wouldn't pop up anywhere anytime. Plus, it's be nice providing free movies for people i love and trust! And maybe i could use the screen like a movie director, and record it to make my own little movies! It's certainly be easier than trying to write it all down!

🪞 What para of your is most like you? Paraselves/self-inserts don't count! Probably a mix of Viaris and Lilly! I'm very artistic and jittery and flamboyant like Vi but also when I was younger I was literally a younger version of Lilly (didn't notice at the time-)

🏷️ How do you come up with names? Do they come to you or do you spend hours on websites? Sometimes they come to me, but it's quite rare! Most often I look at generators or websites until one rings right! For the main cast for example, Viaris came to me, the others i had to look.

🗺️ Do you do extensive worldbuilding for your paracosm? If so, what are some of your favorite elements? I do! I'm currently trying to sort that information and write it down actually! I coudn't really choose favorites right now though to be honest

🪽 If your paras found out you were their creator, how would they react? Viaris: Step 1: existential crisis. Step 2: dang that's cool, someone made me, so I have to be wanted! (yes he needs therapy) Nikolas: That boy would never be the same. His entire view on reality and purpose would be shattered. Lilly: Freaked out. As in, why the fuck would the equivalent of a god be so close to its creation, this feels parasocial Brue: Probably would find me a bit lame/weird for having that as a solution, but would do her best for me to feel supported Harvel: Would feel like he just got out of the cave from Plato's allegory. Would think they're taking it well, they're not, they're having an existential crisis.

🦦 If you have a self insert/paraself, how similar are they to you? Pretty similar! Braver, more reckless. And, well..; not stuck in a static human body-

🕐 Is there any time of the day where you can't/don't daydream? The morning! It can't be the first thing I do after making my coffee- however I can write about it first thing in the morning, just not daydream in itself for some reason. I think it's because I love calm chill mornings so much and even if my daydreams are chill/slice of life sometimes, I move a lot when I daydream, so it doesn't really fit the vibe X)

📜 Are your daydreams linear and structured, or do you jump all over the place? Pretty structured! The jumps are more of a "in the meantime, with X character(s)" kind of thing, but even if there's flashbacks and all it's pretty linear and organised despite me improvising the whole time

🎶 What's a song you've been daydreaming to lately, and what's your favorite moment in said daydream? I've been daydreaming to "Labour - the cacophony" by Paris Paloma. Always for revolts of opressed people, often queer (or queer coded) or feminine people (like the fae or shapeshifters) That song and the feminine rage I feel while listening make me shiver everytime, it's such a powerful song

🐣 Do your paras age with you, or are their ages static? They age with me! And we have a whole history together, we grew up together pretty much! When I include fictionnal characters that I got to know younger, they aged with me too. I don't really think about it much, but if I met them for example 3 years ago, they're aged too since then.

🚀If you had the opportunity to leave this world and live in your paracosm forever, would you? Why or why not? I'm very torn, because this world and these people have been with me for around 10 years, b ut I've found great people in this verse and I'd feel bad abandoning them… I'd rather just float in between them, since the in-between is linked to all worlds theoretically.

🏃 Do you move a lot when daydreaming, and if so, in what ways? I walk (unless I'm in a moving vehicule, as the world already moves around me) and gesticulate a lot, as well as make faces and mouth things.

🎬 Have you ever wanted to make a piece of media of your paracosm (comic, animation, visual novel, novel, tv show, etc.)? I'd love for an animated series and a book series to be made!! But also I could never look at any criticism, not matter how constructive and kind, because it's too much of my baby

💫 When you actively want to start daydreaming, what is your mind's process? I'll look at fanarts and tropes and stuff I like on Tumblr or Youtube, put on some music, and usually it comes easy like this!

👻 Do you ever daydream about yourself (not a self insert, just you)? Yes, but mot in the usual way I daydream. It's more when I'm bored waiting, or even lost in my thoughts, where I'll daydream about what I'll do the next day, or when/if I get my dream cottage, what would my day be like, stuff like that. I don't move, I just sit back, and music isn't necessary for those.

🧱 When you experience a daydream block or crash, what are things you do to try and fix it (or ways you cope)? Consume series, books, movies, animatics, etc, anything that I love and inspire me! I don't usually look at prompts or tropes like usual though. And if it's still blocking, I'll try to discover a new thing I'll love, and that usually gets me out of it. Otherwise, now that it isn't maladaptive anymore, I just do other things (even if I miss my paras, they'll be there when I'm unblocked ❣️)

📖 For fictparacosms, do your daydreams affect how you perceive the media and/or the fandom? The In-Between being in between worlds, I sometimes mix it with some characters and worlds from things I like, so while it's not quite a fictparacosm, I'm still answering this ^^ Yes it does. I'll usually seperate my version and the canon one, as like, an alternate timeline yk? That's the best way I've found, as that way I can enjoy both my daydreams and the source, no matter how different or what happens!

💅 If you have tried to make your paras in character makers (picrew, meiker, etc), what is an aspect of your para that these makers never/rarely have? The colorful glowing tattoos the Bitweenians get when they get "adopted" by the in-between!! There's sometimes tattoos, but they're always in back ink TwT Still looks good, but not quite my vision

👁️ Are your daydreams clear in your mind's eye? Yes! Like a movie/series! Sometimes animated, sometimes live-action!

[plurality-questions]

hi so idk if something like this has been asked before, but ive been questioning whether some of my “ocs” might actually be alters? so basically i made them like three years ago and they kind of just continued taking more and more personality and stuff and now they feel like actual people more than fictional characters.

i don’t really think i have much control over them, and they don’t really follow any plots or anything ive made for them so ive never written about them.

i don’t think i have madd so is it still possible for ocs to become alters?

yeah ocs can totally become alters!!!

usually they are called Octives!!/gen

also a small note if you connect to some of teh symptoms of MaDD check out the term Neuronarration and Immersive Daydreaming bc that may help you figure outt what type of alters and/or how your alters formed(did that make sense? oh man i hope it did/gen)

-Omori+Kel(??)

[ur-fave-daydreams]

Sup welcome to my blog thingy

How to submit and whatnot under cut

Basically just send a character, their source, and say which they have (MaDD (Maladaptive daydreaming disorder) or Neuronarration)

ALWAYS SEND SOURCE idc if they're popular just do it

And don't do an acronym (unless you also include the non-acronym)

No dni and I don't block people (our host does block anti endos but idrc if you're anti endo or pro endo)

Links to what MaDD and neuronarration is:

[nnw-creative]

Just now realizing I count under the neuronarration definition and can therefore use the name “paracosms” instead of “worlds, bubbles, universes, stories, (snow) globes,” et cetera

[alyssasmaddworld]

that sickly sweet feeling you get when daydreaming a love scenario and it almost makes you a bit nauseated at how sweet it is >>>>>>>>

[sophieinwonderland]

On the topic of long-term systems: I only really discovered enough about the plural community to understand I had a place in it in 2023. But I'm a median system with origins in neuronarration, and recently when I was going through my stuff I found a document I saved with information about maladaptive daydreaming - and the 'date modified' of the file said 2012.

In 2012, I was only familiar with the very shame-based term 'maladaptive daydreaming' - I don't think 'neuronarration' had been coined yet - and I wasn't aware of the connection between neuronarration and plurality. But I was already using a LOT of mental health strategies based on making use of my headspace and my median systemhood, enough to know that the neuronarrative cognitive behaviours were really not something to just get rid of, they were a strength. The plural community has an understanding of how headspace tools can be used for mental health, so having the terminology to find this community has felt like coming home. But clearly I've been living in this way for at least 12 years.

Thanks for the addition! Glad you've been able to find language and a community suited to you! 😁

[protectingtulpas]

Back when I (System Host) was in a DID hyperfixation, I came up with an idea for a book where a girl went into a coma and she was so lonely she created an elaborate world in her head.

Anyway, looking back she definitely made Tulpas, because the people in her head gained sentience. The plot was going to be that they were trying to stop her from waking up, but then they come to terms with losing life, only to realize they’re still around.

Sick story idea! This reminds me a lot of paragenic systems:

"The term paragenic describes a system's or headmate's origin as having been caused or influenced by Maladaptive Daydreaming Disorder, neuronarration, immersive daydreaming, or other similar neurodivergencies." - Pluralpedia

[running-on-daydreams-and-spite]

Me when a character canonically has a decently okay mental health instead of being on the verge of collapsing every two seconds like they do in my paracosm:

[wonderlightdaydreams]

Hi! This is not going to be a long post, just more of a post explaining some things that have been brought to my attention. First and foremost, let me just say something that I failed to say in my coining essay on alterreality: Involuntary alterrealities do exist. I do not know much about them; however, I do wish for the term alterreality to be inclusive of those who experience this phenomenon involuntarily. In the future, I will be clarifying between voluntary personal reality (VPR) and involuntary personal reality (IPR) in order to make a distinction between these experiences. As well, if you do wish to share anything about your IPRs, please do! My DMs are open, as is the alterreality Discord server, which I will mention in a bit. Thanks so much to @mtonette for bringing this to my attention, and if there's anything else I can do to accommodate those who experience IPRs, please let me know!

As well, I want to talk about the Alterreality Discord server called Transcosmica! This is a growing space in which you can talk about, get advice on, and even experience alterreality with others! I'm very proud of this space, and you can join at the link below. 

Stay magical, believe in the impossible, and have an amazing day.