Thoughts on Linkzelda's Image Streaming Guide

Thoughts on Linkzelda's Guide:

Guide link for reference: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1guub6JF0OGVheUPzddtMyZKHqnrcnuWLYufwGhc3Fmc/mobilebasic?pli=1#h.1fob9te

First Impressions:
Guide layout feels very weird; there's no margins and the table of contents isn't numbered. Oh, and above that, there's two links, one to the Tulpa.info thread for the guide (*sigh...*) and the other to Dreamviews for some reason?
Overall, it feels basic but in a weird way. Because there's no margins, the blurbs are *really* stretched out.
Guide's also about 8,000 words, so for a narration guide, it's lengthy.
At least the table of contents has links to the individual sections, which is always a welcome addition.
Guide was released in August of 2013, so I need to keep that in mind.
Only reason I'm even considering this one because I can just share the google doc and not the .info link, else I wouldn't consider adding it to my recommendations list.
Looks don't mean everything, so I'm going to start reading proper.

Disclaimer:
Disclaimer is kind of unique. It mentions how the guide is from the author's experiences and opinions and how it should be taken as a "supplement" for your own progress? Not entirely sure what they mean there.

Contents at a Glance and What You Will Learn in This Guide:
One thing I'm noticing already is that the stretchiness of these blurbs makes it hard to gauge their length.
And this section is basically just a "what you will read in this guide" set of three blurbs. Nothing to say, really.

Image Streaming and The Theory Behind It:
Explains what image streaming is, the dude who coined it, and that it's theorized that image streaming can promote overall brain function and creating otherwise nonexistent neural connections.
They include links to learn more about the theory of image streaming, but the links are kind of scattered in an unorganized way? It's like someone just... glued them there. Though, I like that they include additional resources *alongside* the initial explanation.

Narration is a Mentality:
Interesting header name.
They explain that storytelling (which can be a form of narration) is a mindset where two events can transition seamlessly, and by developing that mindset, it can reveal unconscious thoughts and boost your ability to tell stories. I don't disagree with that. I've told and made stories for years and things just... naturally come to mind for stories and I don't have to think much about it. Don't know well this applies to others, though.
Their explanation on narration is solid, don't see much wrong with it.
Ugh, these sections are very short, so expect a lot of spaces.

The Importance of Timing Yourself:
Explains that timing gets you and even your tulpa to think more spontaneously, thus think faster, and with practice, be able to think with high speeds without the "muddy" or unwanted bits. Maybe that's why my systemmates and I can have fluid and quick conversation? Still, I'm fascinated and intrigued, and therefore willing to read further, so that's good.
They give examples of session frequency and time, but they also state that you should use your best judgment, which is nice.
Again, they mention that the concept and benefits is to be able to direct visualization easily and to what you and your tulpa wants, which I bet is ideal for a lot of tulpas and hosts.

Should You Type, Speak or Write Things Out in These Exercises?
Various methods of how to image stream are listed like mindvoice, physical speech, typing, various combinations and they give advice on how to make it seem like you're not being a weirdo like pretending to be in a call or practicing for oral speech.
Just some ideas before trying the exercises, but there's not much to say here, either.

How to Let Go of Self-Censoring and Running in Circles:
I can see why censoring yourself can ruin the flow, so they include ways to get past that.
The advice like going one step at a time to avoid going in circles is nice, and I feel like this advice can be applied to combat intrusive thoughts. For example, their advice on accepting the thoughts for what they are and not focusing on them too much.
For a 2013 guide, "they" pronouns are used for tulpas. If people in 2013 can do that, so can people in fucking 2020, almost 2021.
I like how they gave an example of how someone can be running in circles during their image streaming session and then gives advice on how to combat situations like this.

Prime Yourself to be in a Specific Emotion or Set of Emotions:
There are examples on how to be emotionally charged during the sessions and highlighting that enjoyment is very pivotal for these exercises, which I agree.

Listen to Music if you can:
That's good advice, basing the session and the length off of a song or some form of music. That's engaging, can influence emotions better, and even use it to focus on the host's and tulpa's mindvoice better. Music continuing to be helpful in Tulpamancy, I see.

Building a Collection of Stories and Themes:
Advice here boils down to being resourceful and keep a broad genre and story list, anything that's inspiring. Really, anything that the reader would find "useful" for themself, which encourages versatility and encourages a good habit of formulating new things. My internet just fucking died as I wrote that. G fucking G.
Advice here is solid and I don't see anything wrong with it.

Be Aware of the Highlights of Stories You Grab:
Mentions that the point isn't to commit thing to memory, rather just get the highlights to build creativity.
They use Naruto as a reference, but their advice to just grab common themes from it is nice.
Fairy tales are listed and I internally sighed when I saw "Damsel in Distress," the others are fine, though.
Oh, it also encourages the form of empathy where you place yourself in the minds of others, which is actually really good advice!

Allow Your Personal Stories to Ease into Your Sessions:
"You'll find that bits of you and your tulpa's personal life will slip in from time to time. And *if* it happens, let it happen!" sorry, but you just had an absolute statement by saying "you'll" as in "you *will,* then go on to say that IF it happens? That *immediately* contradicts the previous statement because you stated it as if it's guaranteed, but then you act like it's just a possibility. That's just bad grammar.
Other than that sentence, not much to say here other than your own experiences slipping into storytelling can still provide experience and learning like everything else.

Exercises:
Looking at this now, I feel like they could've defined image streaming better or in more simpler terms. It really just is, "Experienced-based learning from describing what you visualize in as much sensory detail as possible to get the brain to creative a positive feedback loop to develop cognitive skills like visualization or going through mental exercises to train mental capabilities like visualization as well." I don't know, their definition just feels a bit convoluted and maybe not suited for people with lesser reading comprehension?
I like how they say that you don't have to force with your tulpa to do these exercises, as in you can do these just to develop yourself.

Spontaneous World Exercise:
First exercise is simple, which is great for beginners, and I can see why they put that as the first method, as it's also great as a warmup exercise.
Also like how they emphasize that mistakes in typing/writing/speaking are okay and to have fun with it.

Don’t Worry About Aiming for Perfection:
"If there’s perverted thoughts, let them occur," of course. But to be fair, that's the case for most people and the best thing to do is not focus on them if they do happen, so not bad advice.
Though their explanation on why to let said thoughts occur don't make much sense? Something about connecting the dots? What does that do with having invasive and gross thoughts while doing these exercises?

DO, Don’t “Try:"
Good advice: put your heart into it and stop judging yourself. Don't disagree with it.

Word Pair Exercise:
Another simple method, just pick two words and keep them in mind, but not actively think of them, then just do image streaming stuff.
The steps are laid out clearly, there are examples, and there's a lot you can do with it. Don't have much issue with this one either, which is good.

It’s Okay to Go into Digressions:
This is good advice, not beating yourself up over going into different trains of thoughts or having to find two different words. I do really like the focus on being perfect *isn't* the point.

Three Word Association Exercise:
It's mostly the same thing, except doing three words instead. They give advice that you can do a sequence of several word trios for longer sessions.
This method also focuses on how do the three words tie into each other, and explains why this is actually a good thing in this scenario, as the previous two exercises train you to be able to do this. Not much else to say, though.

Quick Example of Three Word Association Exercise:
 This example showed the three objects and how they tied into each other.
Other than that, this reads like a fever dream, and that's probably the point.
None of the things completely stop being relevant, like the paper airplane and tulips.
I also really like how they explain how they could recognize elements without conscious thinking about them, like knowing it was their tulpa during the session. Kind of like... dream intuition where you just *know* things you probably shouldn't immediately know? Just reminded myself to do a reality check because of that. Thanks. Imagine if I was dreaming while typing this? Weird.
It's also good because these can act as forcing sessions, especially how just three words can be experienced so subjectively for nigh infinite combinations.
Also good that they even encourage people to break the guidelines they set because they're going to improve anyway, which is great advice! Make your own rules, whatever works best for you.

Music Association Exercise:
The variance with this method is great because so much of it is just preferences, but there are some solid things like focus on immersion to inhibit critical judgment and not having it too quiet or too loud.
Music can really help people get into specific moods, and this can be added to other methods to maximize the experience. I like that.

Music Association Exercise Video Examples:
Video examples? Wow. That something you don't see every day in a Tulpamancy guide.
There's a link to a .info thread about "digital drugs"??? What?
"Well this wouldn't necessarily solidify whether or not a tulpa would feel the effects of any drugs as the host would. These are of course not actual drugs nor do they come anywhere close in effect. However, I've experimented with them because I'm interested in toying with the entire spectrum of 'binaural beats'. How affecting brainwave patterns (if that actually happens) effects states of meditation and the like. I think this would be an interesting survey in how these types of 'beats' and 'sounds' effect an individual's tulpamancy and their tulpa." - from the .info thread. Ohhh, like binaural beats? Ah, I see.
The author in their thread reply stated the various effects they experienced using these beats, which is mostly them being more relaxed than usual and that the experience was overall positive, and maybe that it could be used for imposition if they did it while having their eyes opened? Very interesting *notes that for my guide as a potential method.*

Language Patterns to Consider in Narrating with Your Tulpa:
Language patters can apparently tie into hypnotherapy...? Okay... Further digging states that language patters are basically patterns seen in the word choice of a author's work to convey deeper meaning, or basically a writer's style on how they want to get a meaning across. You learn something every day.
Like, this part is basically just giving you language patters to experiment with, which is actually really nice.

How to Use Language Patterns:
Oh, they even instruct how to use them. Double nice.
"Thank your Tulpa for listening and interacting with you," this is nice because yeah, your tulpa does have to put up with you during some of these sessions.
Also, this language pattern here is great because like they said, you treat your tulpa as a sentient and sapient individual, which helps build the connections that they *are.*

Example of Using Language Patterns in a Session:
Oh, that's long.
Their explanation of narration and how you have to build confidence that your tulpa is truly listening is solid, as you have to start before reaching the point where your tulpa can join in with you on these sessions.
Weird how they tell you to really relax and focus reading someone *else's* image streaming session, I guess for learning purposes? Hm.
Example of narrative style to someone includes frequent mention of them and interacting with them.
And like they said, there are spelling and sentence structure errors in it, which proves that yeah, perfection and being neat isn't the point.
The unconscious mind is also mentioned like, a lot, so there's also that.

Review of Language Patterns Example:
Only thing of note here is how they encourage you to engage your tulpa and get them to contribute as well, which is nice.

Video of Using Language Patterns for Narration:
Damn, another video example?
Only bit of advice here is to slow down if you're asking your tulpa their thoughts during sessions, but you don't have to slow down as much if your tulpa can talk rapidly, which is logical.

Bunch of Resources:
Grouping this into one thing because it's mostly links.
I mean, I think it's really considerate to link resources that can help the process.
They also link another video of the examples, which is again, really nice to see it in motion for people who struggle to learn via text.

Final Thoughts (in the guide, not my actual final thoughts):
Nothing but a short closing statement thanking the reader and saying that they hope this guide is helpful. Nothing special.

ACTUAL FINAL THOUGHTS:
Though the formatting still feels legitimately weird to me, there is VERY little issue I have with this guide. I mean minor things like the Tulpa.info link and the definition for image streaming not being the most clear/too wordy.
These exercises are ones I can definitely see being helpful to people, and they're also simple and easy to follow, which is great.
For a 2013 guide, I'm shocked to see mutual tulpa-host respect and use of they pronouns for tulpas.
Guide is flexible and encourages deviation from the steps, and the methods allow nigh infinite creativity, which is really good for strategies like this that need session after session to be effective.
Includes various resources and VIDEO TUTORIALS to enhance the experience, which there are not many guides at all that do this, especially the video part.
Again, though this is a 2013 guide, this guide doesn't feel like it. All of these methods can be used today with no problem and none of the terminology is outdated, which is wonderful.
Overall, yes, I think this guide is definitely worthy of a recommendation. There's a lot of gain from it and very little to lose.