(no subject)

[stealthdragon.livejournal.com]

If you're able to access memories from when someone else is in control of the body you share, do they tend to include a feeling of 'the general sensation of being person X'? If so, how does it influence your use of the memories?

(If the question is unclear, feel free to ask about it. This is one of those posts where English is fairly inadequate.)

Comments

[chaostiny.livejournal.com]

Personally, I don't get the feeling of being that person, I just have the feeling of remembering things from their point of view. The only time I get the feeling of being another person is when I am about ready to merge with that particular person. As far as the use of those memories, I think it still influences how I use them because often, feeling something from someone else's point of view is kind of like "walking a mile in their shoes" and it affects how I think about things and what my opinion may be.
Hope this helps

[ques-nova.livejournal.com]

We have certain levels of access, varying from a vague summary of what happened to all out reliving of the events. Since the more in depth the memories, the longer it takes to review them, we ussually stick to the breif summaries. When we do have time and desire to go in depth, it gives a better understanding of why ther person did what they did and occassionally causes confusion because reliving the memories in their shoes makes it a shared memory, even if I wasn't there. Because of this confusion, I will also try to avoid doing this. Hope that helps.

[lgrau.livejournal.com]

The memories have the feeling of someone else's point of view (because it *was*), and they're less than factual if the person presenting was emotional.

It doesn't influence use much. But then, our presenter isn't equipped very well to handle memories anyway, so that could help un-influence it.

[kasiawhisper.livejournal.com]

when I'm able to access the memories that someone else in the group has experiences (such as body history), sometimes I'll talk about the memories as if I was the one who experienced it, only for the purpose of not confusing a separate-bodied other I talking with..

other times, the memories can be so infused within my own that I'll have to stop and tell myself: "I know I didn't do these things, even if I have the memories of it"..

like, I wasn't a part of the group at all before '96, yet I can access the memories of before that time.. maybe it's because I front alot and being able to tap into those memories helps me deal with people while I'm here... could be..

now that I think about it, there are times when I do feel like I am another person.. in dreams.. there are times that I'll be able to dream what another is dreaming and it's as if I'm them and seeing things from their perspective.. but that's probably not what you mean.. :)

[stealthdragon.livejournal.com]

That last wasn't quite what I was asking, but it's an open-ended question for just that reason. ;)

[kasiawhisper.livejournal.com]

that's why I said that's probably not what you meant.. but I added it anyway.... :)

[stealthdragon.livejournal.com]

Now that I'm awake enough to think coherently, I've suspected that when I dream of being male, I'm eavesdropping on Quincies' dreams, or those of someone else in here on the masculine side. I don't recall it feeling like 'having the basic experience of being them', though.

[our-menagerie.livejournal.com]

Had to really think about this because I wasnt sure. No, as far as i can tell we dont get the feeling of being the other person when it comes to memories.

The thing we do get that bugs us is say if sj had been out and emotionally upset about something sometimes it will upset us all so that whoever comes out next will still be "stuck with" sj's feelings.
shawna

[kiya]

On those occasions that there is a single self in primary/sole posession of the body, the memories from that time don't transfer cleanly. If that self has a particular mindset or approach to things, that's missing when someone else is driving, and that makes things make less sense sometimes.

A specific thing: Stormy is extremely intense and emotion-driven. If she's not involved in the current gestalt running the body, then memories from when she was primary are extremely washed out -- nobody can process the intensity stuff, so it just gets elided.

[ridetothesea.livejournal.com]

It depends. We tend to front in groups the majority of the time, so most of the memories we have and share don't tend to get "personalized" by one person. We tend to get more of the perspective of whoever was at front than the feeling of being them when sharing memories, although it largely depends on the emotional side of things involved.

We've found that highly emotionally charged memories tend to carry more of the person's identifying energy, and emotions can easily bleed from one person to the next when sharing such memories, and cause a certain degree of blendiness. We've never experienced it to the point of being confused about identity, but we do know the feeling.

That alone doesn't stop us from sharing memories, though. Really it's up to the individual in question, and whether or not they want to share with anybody else.

[shadowechoes.livejournal.com]

It depends for us too. Sometimes it's a case like what exogenic described since we also front in groups most of the time. (Or at least there's always several people milling about the "living room".)

A lot of our memories from childhood have become all of our personal memories - as in even though I wasn't even around for the body's childhood, the memories feel like mine. We think this has to do with the fact that those of us that are around now split from those that were around during our childhood (some of us anyway) or that part of being "host" means integrating important memories into our own identity to better blend in as 'Janna version whatevernumberwe'reuptonow'.

Some of us have a harder time sharing memories and co-fronting than others. For example, BrokenWings often feels alone when fronting and afterwards the collective memory of whatever she was doing is fuzzy.

[stealthdragon.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I don't think anyone 'owns' our memories of childhood. But then, most of them have blended indistinguishably into the memory soup - I can only find some of the high points, and the others perhaps not even that.

[catskillmarina.livejournal.com]

Memories are indexed by emotional feelings. Different ones of us have
different sets of emotional pointers. If one of us does not have a pointer
to the bit of emotions they have to shadow a bit - so, yes it does include
the general sensation of being person X -- because they are present partially.

Well, sometimes it makes it interesting to remember things ;-)

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

They are "[person's name]-ish" memories, or "as seen through [person's name]-colored glasses." We may pay attention to different details and /or experience different emotions related to sensory input.

[fadingtogrey.livejournal.com]

Mostly, when one of us reviews someone else's memories of something they did while fronting, it's through a filter--more removed than memories we have of doing things ourselves.

On a related note... We each process memory-recording differently. Recently, I discovered the person I am dating was at the same concert my headmate ikeru was at. I tried reviewing Ikeru's memories to see if I could find this person, and was disappointed, as Ikeru seemed to mostly notice--and therefore remember--striped tights and interesting outfits, architecture, and funny cars that drove by. Not faces, which is what I was looking for. Oh, well. :)