Howdy critters and creatures! Welcome to my parts work sideblog! You can find an in-depth introduction here, but for the sake of brevity here’s the most basic info about me and the rats in my head:
⭐️ Star — she/her — Myself! Anchor, Blanket, Central, Mindkeeper (keeper of the rats /j)
The Rats
🆔 Name — pronouns — Is the personification of my…
🗒️ Piper — she/her — Self-love
🎙️ Hugo — he/him — Inner-peace
⚙️ Delta — he/bot — Logic
💣 July — she/her — Vitality
⚠️ Kyle — he/it — Intrusive thoughts
💐 Rams — ask — Passion
💢 Todd — he/him — Discomfort
☀️ Aster — she/they — Self-acceptance
🌧️ Rio — she/they — Anxiety
☔️ Dean — he/they — Self-preservation
[more general info below cut]
Why “The Rats”?
I call them “rats” rather than “minds” simply because it is the nickname term I got used to using before polymindence was coined. It’s an emordnilap of Star, since The Rats are aspects of myself personified. I might use the term “minds” to avoid confusion in general spaces.
Other Things of Note
It’s always safe to assume it’s me (Star) talking, as the rats only communicate internally.
I welcome all questions about polymindence asked in good faith! Obviously I cannot speak for every polymind, but I made this side-blog to share my own perspective and experiences :3
Organizational tags! (made for my own benefit)
#🏷rambles : posts/reblogs where I ramble a lot in the tags
#🐀posts : my original posts
#talking to the void : Untagged journal-like posts (often deleted later)
#cue the queue : Tumblr queue tag
I’m. known to disappear suddenly without explanation. Crossing fingers that won’t happen this time, but if it does do not be alarmed, it’s just the social anxiety iwi
1. Yes and yes. It feels like talking to myself and sometimes takes a bit of reflection to figure out who's saying what. I often talk to them through text/written word so even if I don't catch who's who in the moment I can identify their voices/tones later on when I'm looking back on it.
2. It's like shifting into a different mindset (dictionary definition, not polymind term). Different minds being active mainly just change how I think, but the difference in attitude and mood may result in me acting differently as well.
3. My minds are all aspects of me. Although some of my minds are also closely interwoven with each other (eg 🌧️ ☔️ ) particularly when they're parts of me that relate to or interact with each other often (eg 🌧️shame & avoidance☔️)
4. The only time a mind being active might affect how I want to be perceived/referred to is when it's 🐱Fluffy because she often coincides a cat-kinshift, but even then it's not a dramatic change from my baseline cat-alterhumanity, just leaning into it a little more.
Something I love, love, love about polymind coining posts is that they arise from someone filling out a need. Polymindence is a coping mechanism largely about naming facets of one's self in order to realize it and make any issues or emotions easier to work through, so each coining post is someone recognizing how their mind works and taking a step forward.
Idk. I believe in us. I believe we can get better. I can't go on like this forever.
hi! I don't wanna expose my identity because this might be a very embarrassing question, but id like to ask something.
I am alterhuman, more specifically fictionkin, otherlink and musickin. I have noticed recently that my personality tends to shift often, almost like my mind changes personalitys for certain things. I have also noticed said personalitys tend to line up with my kin/linktypes personalitys so I believe if I am polymind those would be the minds. Though I don't see them as minds really, or fictlings. I see them as my kin/linktypes still, just one is more prominent/active at the moment. If I am polyminded, is it valid for me to 1. Not be plural, 2. Not identify with the term fictling/minds etc. I just want a term that let's me understand myself a little better, if polymind isn't the term for me thank you for your help anyway. ^^
Hope this makes sense.
I'm not sure if I have the answer for you, but I'll try!
you can be polyminded and not identify as plural. I myself don't identify as plural even if I'm a polymind! and if you're a polymind, you don't have to use the terms either. you can make your own ^^
I do believe that your alterhuman identities can sometimes be stronger then the others, that's at least how it is for me, so it can also just be that?
I think it just depends what you're most comfortable with and/or how you "view" them. If you just want to identify as an alterhuman and not polymind, then that's 100% valid and does make sense! but if you want to identify as a polymind then that's also valid and makes sense.
with how you explained it here, I think its closer to alterhuman identities just becoming "stronger", but I could be wrong! you could also "test" using both alterhuman and polymind terms. when I'm unsure of things like that, then i like to "test it out" and see how I feel after some hours, days, weeks or even months (depending on different things of course)
sorry if this didn't answer much, but I hope you at least get what I tried to say here (´•ω•̥`)
polymind positivity is the joke-rivalry one of my minds has with a mind from a different mindset (huge help for figuring out when that mind is around or not)
Delta is the one mind of mine who is very uninterested in having an identity & appearance. (He only very begrudgingly has a name and pronouns I can refer to him by.) Usually I learn more about a mind through a two-way discussion with them, but with Delta I just have to pick up on things as we go since he refuses to talk about anything that isn't a task at hand. He is the personification of a solution-focused mindset and my desire to be productive. He doesn't want me to spend time exploring who he is because sees that as a distraction from his primary objectives of increasing productivity and functionality. So I've learned not to push him on it and accept I probably won't get to know him in the same way I have with my other minds.
So as a newer(?) Polymind I have a question for you, is it normal to like have conversations with your minds? But not in a system way kinda like talking to yourself in your head sorta thing.
one thing I didn't expect from IFS is that I would start perceiving myself the way I would a new friend. I get giddy about solo lunch dates. that's crazy and so exciting.
I do not practice or label myself as polymind. However, I do follow the tags. I am learning passively from what I have seen on tumblr these past recent months. This is what I have learned.
Polyminds are not copying anything from what I have come to observe, and they are trying to create their own footprint, away from current typical plural/CDD system spaces. Something that is harder to do now, especially when starting with such a small footprint. There is some cultural similarities with terms, flags, and finding roles/functions, and origin terms with plural spaces. But this is not a unique overlap. So many communities have these same creative outlets, and means of trying to create a written history/guide, and connecting with eachother.
To me, polymindance it is a nuaced mix of parts, modes, masks, self-states, and thoughtforms.
It is not a system unless it functions as one and someone feels it is accurate for their experience. Because "system" can describe many things without brining in plural systemhood.
Polymindance can be a very unified experience for those who's mindsets never interact with eachother, but are aware of their individual existence and how they function together.
It can be a very separated experience. An advanced method of self-talk, self-care, and self-awareness. It can be a way to conceptualize and interact with the different masks you wear.
It can be a lot of things that are neither plural nor a CDD. Perhaps it is median but to the left. Parts work expanding outside of the common therapy techniques? Masking made fun? Living characters tied to specific parts of your identity? Daemon-like but only how they are part of you? So many possibilities, and perhaps not even related to anything here.
Anyway. We once thought it was endogenic plurality but made clean for anti-endos. We were confused on why a new term needed to be made for an experience that looked so similar to other things we already closely understood or related to.
But now, we get it. Sometimes it does look the same, but it's not. This is a unique way of labeling something that is already hard to explain perfectly. Things involving the mind, personality states, and how thoughts work will always be...
Replace time with "the mind" and you get "wibbly-wobbly, mindey-wimey... stuff"
having a "community term" disclaimer on the wiki for an identity that has nothing but community terms is kinda wild tbh
Not all terms are actually community terms. Active [link] noticably does not have the community term tag, because active comes from subpersonality studies and wasn't made by the community. That is why we have that tag, to seperate the terms made by the community, and the terms that have scientific backing.
Also, Spectral was the one to implement this tag and I will not go against his wishes.
Funny thing about how I experience polymindence is that to me the terms "minds" and "mindsets" feel weirdly swapped in what they mean. My "minds" are mindsets (i.e. attitudes, states of mind, dispositions, ways of thinking) and my "mindset" is my mind (i.e. all of me, my psyche, my brain, my whole self)
I luv u polyminders, u r all so cool n kind and deserve more appreciation and recognition.
I hope some day more people become aware of polymindence and support it, and we can all get along and have a nice tea party realizing most polyminds dont mean harm :3
- 📞 Spam
Star & The Rats @emordnilap-rats - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
