Drawing strength from Soulbonding for mental/emotional support
Sometimes the best friend, and the best support, is someone so close to you, they’re sharing your body with you.
Soulbonds can be an amazing source of emotional and mental support, and they are something that pretty much anyone can experience to a greater or lesser degree.
Soulbonds are a type of fictive headmate that has an attachment to, or some kind of emotional stake in the wellbeing of the soulbonder who hosts them. They are a spiritual phenomenon the originates outside the mind/body of the soulbonder, who calls or attracts the soulbond to them from another world. Being a soulbonder is like being a channeller or medium, except instead of spirits of the dead, one shares mental space with the spirits of fictional characters.
(Soulbonding can be compared with creating a tulpa. The difference is a tulpa is created inside the mind as a deliberate act of creation, and created for a specific purpose, with no existence before they are created. Soulbonds on the other hand are real people before one comes in contact with them.)
Because soulbonds have an emotional attachment and stake in their bonder, they can be an excellent source of emotional support for people in a difficult position in life, or who have experienced trauma or abuse.
A soulbond can be there for you, when no one else is there, to give you words of comfort, advice, or praise. A bond can hold you mentally when you need a shoulder to cry on. Soulbonds can offer their own wisdom and experience to you in unfamiliar situations.
Some bonds can even take over your body for you in times of stress, and deal with situations that would cause you discomfort or distress.
Soulbonds can act as guardians, advisers, friends, and even lovers, and their presence can be a great comfort.
Even if you have never had a soulbond, or any other type of headmate before, you can probably call one. Not everyone can get a soulbond, but I have found that most people who have the desire to find one have the ability for it. Even people who are normally singlets and/or neurotypical can have soulbonds, though singlets usually (not always) are not able to let their bonds use their body completely.
People have all types of characters for soulbonds. Even characters that are typically unpleasant or hostile can make good (if sometimes standoffish) bonds, because they have an emotional link with their bonder. Though, sometimes villainous bonds tend to give advice that sounds good to *them* but would be impractical at best, and illegal/immoral at worst. Still, they are often comforting to have around because they can be very mentally ‘tough’ and ward off a lot of external stress.
Here are some tips if you’d like to get started soulbonding:
Soulbonds tend to link up to people in one of three ways.
1) Permanent resident: The soulbond attaches to you , and moves in completely, becoming a new, permanent headmate. They are unable or unwilling to return to their original realm, and are now a part of this one.
2) Day tripper: The soulbond links up to you, and uses your mind like a time share. They go back and forth between their realm, and this one. Sometimes they can communicate from a distance while they’re in the other realm, sometimes they can only talk to you when they’re here.
3) Internal Cellphones: The link between you and your soulbond is like a permanent phone connection. You are here on earth, doing your thing, and they are in their realm living their own life, and the two of you talk back and forth as if over a shared phone mental phone line.
The advice I would give someone looking to become a soulbonder is this:
pick one character, a character who resonates with you, and you have a lot of feelings for. Not a character necessarily that you think is a lot like yourself, but a character you admire for their strength, or sympathize with for their problems. Essentially a character that you have strong “feels” for.
Ruminate on that character. Try to ‘get to know’ them as deeply as possible. View/read/listen to all their source material, and any fanfiction that speaks to you as ‘true to character’. Collect pictures of them. Do anything that keeps your mind focused on them, as if calling out to them. Keep the character in your mind during the day, maintain your feelings for them.
Ask during the day (in your mind) what would X do? What would X want? (Getting ice cream? ask them what flavor they want. Having difficulty with something? ask what they would do)
Eventually if you’ve established a bond, they will answer back from the back of your mind. It may be faint at first, and you may be inclined to dismiss it as you pretending, but don’t do that. Keep asking questions and talking back when you receive an answer. This will strengthen the bond.
Another way to do this would be to do it on paper instead of your mind. Write a scene with you and the character, as descriptive and detailed as you can make it, and write a conversation back and forth between you. Eventually, if you’ve established a bond, you’ll start to 'hear’ their answers before you write them.
If none of this works after a while, pick a different character. It may be that the character you’ve been focused on just isn’t receptive/isn’t the right bond for you right now.
The number one key to soulbonding is to be in tune with your inner mind, and to listen! sometimes you will be surprised and the soulbond who turns up will not be the one you are expecting. But I guarantee they will be the one you need.
