The importance of showing affection to our dolls

Of course I misread that one part to read "I shower with all my dolls...."

I think it's always important to stay positive.... your thoughts affect your feelings and your actions!
Be well and always love, love, love!

 

I don't believe that inanimate objects are affected by positive thoughts, words etc... or negative ones. I think more likely that if you are enjoying your dolls and feel positive about them it will affect your perception of them. You will see them as more beautiful or their expressions as happier. Likewise if you are ignoring them or not happy with them then you may experience guilt and other negative feelings and then attribute this to the doll being unhappy. What i'm saying is that it is just your feelings and the way they affect your perception. With the doll yellowing you noticed it was more obvious because it was pointed out to you and you had not been looking at the doll as often as you used to. Like when you see something everyday you don't notice tiny changes but when you haven't seen something for a while the change is more noticeable. Also the guilt about ignoring the doll made you feel that the doll was sad when it was really only your own feelings.
I'm all for showing affection to our dolls (hell I do it all the time!) as they are something we care about and enjoy but I don't really believe that our thoughts or words really affect them one way or the other.

 

OP, I totally know what you're talking about. The same sorts of things have happened to me many times. If I have neglected my doll for a period of time, not moving her or playing with her, she will start to "feel" negatively. Especially if I, myself, have been in a bad mood. And it's not just me that notices. My girlfriend will come to my house and see her and comment "Nue looks sad...have you been paying attention to her?" She won't have any idea whether or not I've been neglecting my doll or showering her with affection, and yet she can tell just by looking at her. So yes, I do believe our energy and the way we interact with things changes them. Do I believe my dolls expression can change or that her body physically differs in any way when she has been neglected or surrounded by negativity? No. She's made of resin, her body isn't going to change based on energy around her. But I do believe that our dolls can absorb the energies around them and that we, and other people can feel those "vibes" when they interact with the doll.

 

This.

While I know that many people in the hobby like to believe (or at least pretend to believe-) that there's more to our little inanimate side-kicks than resin and string, the truth of the matter is that when you get down to it... There really isn't.

They're toys.
Toys that we all love and value very highly, of course, but still only inanimate objects without a single shred of life or motive will of their own. They don't have feelings and they don't care if they're tinkered with constantly or ignored for years on end. They're incapable of having opinions.

I find myself honestly concerned about people in this hobby sometimes.... I know that most of the "dolly soul" crowd are only playing, and know perfectly well what's real and what's not. But when you start to change your own behavior to cater to what you see as your dolls' wishes? That's walking a little too close to the edge.

 

I am guilty of this, but it's mostly all in jest.

I think there are other posts in the forum somewhere where people talk about how putting a lot of effort into their doll makes it seem as if their doll has a 'soul'; that one has given it life with all the hard work they have put into it. Of course they are still just dolls, but it's no different from the feeling artists get about their work. It can be pretty spirtual.

 

Positivity can't hurt, and it is good to be responsible toward taking care of something you have spent so much on, but I can't say I believe dolls "need" or benefit in some spiritual way from attention. They're not alive.

 

I agree almost 100%. I wonder how many people are serious when they talk about their dolls' feelings and how many just enjoy pretending that their dolls have emotions? Either way, I don't see it as harmful unless the person starts exhibiting behavior that actually interferes with their life. If pretending that the doll has feelings makes the doll owners happier, then great for them.

I don't think my energy affects my dolls in the slightest. However, on the topic of appearance, it's true that if you play with a doll regularly, then leave it sitting around a year or so before really examining it again that the doll could definitely look worse. I originally spent a lot of time with my first dolls, a WS Bobobie and WS Dollzone, and then put them away in a display cabinet for two years without looking at them closely. When I finally took them out, they looked so much worse that I remembered - the yellowing was very noticeable, and I could spot unappealing aspects of the sculpts themselves that I hadn't noticed before. If I'd handled the dolls every day, the yellowing would have seemed gradual and I doubt I would have suddenly thought, "Oh, I don't like this doll anymore". Also, when I first got them, they were very important to me, but after getting a dog, I lost a lot of my sentimental attachment to the dolls. So, my "neglect" of the dolls did lead to me to liking them less, but my neglect isn't what yellowed them and it certainly didn't change their sculptural features. It didn't make my Bobobie's wrists look like sleeves. (For those unfamiliar with Bobobie, their arms look a bit like sleeves rather than real arms, but I didn't even notice this when I first got the doll.)

Animals definitely seem to respond to positive or negative energy, though! I try to never get angry when I'm around my pets.

 

I don't think "thoughts" can influence inanimate objects, however I do believe that living things can leave energy imprints on said objects. I don't think a doll can become "sad" from neglect but I do believe that just owning and customizing the doll, even to make it just look pretty, and allowing it a bit of time and creative energy can do a huge difference to how that doll is perceived by others. It has nothing to do with supernatural phenomena but rather with natural ones, I'd guess, both in the case of neglect as well as that of good care.

 

I actually wholeheartedly agree with OP in that our own energy can affect those (animate and inanimate) around us in different ways.
Treat all things with respect and kindness

 

I can't really say that I agree or disagree with the original poster.
While I agree that negative/positive emotions/words/actions have effects on living things, the dolls aren't really living? But negative energy has an effect on situations and like, rooms? So it COULD be possible? It really depends on what you believe I suppose.

 

No, don't believe in positive/negative energy effecting inanimate objects. However, I do believe that showing affection to dolls can be a step towards showing affection to living things which is one of the reasons that baby dolls were given to young girls, that purpose beginning in the early 19th Century. And why mothers are now encouraged to give baby dolls to boys also.
But if the affection for the doll supplants affection for living things, such as punishing a child or pet who accidentally mars the doll, then you're heading in the wrong direction.
I love this quotation from Alberto Giacometti (artist), when asked which of his sculptures he would rescue from a fire, "It depends on what is in my house. If there was a cat, and my works, I would save the cat. A cat's life is more important than art."

 

I wholeheartedly agree with this. Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

Quite interesting to see everyone's thought's on this.

 

Very well said, completely agree !

 

Hmm.. What with new scientific theories on quantum madness, etc, no one should just dismiss the idea of human thoughts having energy that affect surroundings. That's an idea that does not require the supernatural anymore.
Plus, as many have said, positive thoughts are always a good thing
And please, generally speaking, calling collectible art objects 'toys' might be descriptive for a few, but for most of us it is NOT accurate. That will cause negative energies flowing out of me...

 

One fun thing to think about is to take this all one step further and think about how inanimate objects only appears to be so. Quantum physics and dolls!

To my way of thinking, OF COURSE the more I love a doll, the more it loves me back! ;-)

 

I like to shower affection to my dolls the same way I shower affection to my dog. It's all in your heart really and when you love something even an inanimate object will appreciate the time and care you give it. Keeping your dolls clean, buying them new items, and letting them go outside builds a sort of positive character for yourself and your dolls. Or at least that's what I believe.

 

I never really thought of myself as a deeply spiritual person, and never really believed in positive/negative energies, but when i think about it I have always had a deep respect for inanimate objects (it sounds weird, but it's true!). If my old soft toys are gathering dust I feel terrible for them. If I throw my shoe across the room or something I immediately feel bad about it. It sounds stupid...
But I always subconsciously feel as if my dolls can hear me. If someone asked me if I thought they were alive I would say no, but underneath it all I've never doubted that they can understand me on some level.
I sound crazy, haha! But it's literally a subconscious thing that I do. I believe it totally, against all my better judgement :P

 

Aaah, I love this thread. Such a fantastic topic.
I have a complex belief about the energy we create and put out into the universe, and that does extend to dolls and other objects.
I believe the objects we spend our time and energy on do, in fact, absorb some of who we are. We see dolls as representations of people -- sometimes characters of our own making -- and we imbue expectations, hopes, and other emotions on these dolls as we customize and develop them. I believe that this makes it so, for some people, dolls are in some capacity an extension of ourselves. In some cases, I believe that the energy we put into a doll can even remain there to a degree when we sell or give away our dolls after spending so much time with them, too! I make sure to never sell a doll out of unhappiness for that very reason, because the kind of energy we put into the objects around us can make them lucky, special, or even cursed if we aren't careful. Dolls are highly susceptible to that kind of thing: we project ourselves onto them, after all!
So for the most part, yeah... it's mostly just you. But part of you happens to be in that doll, so if your doll seems sad, it's because something about the doll is making YOU sad; if your doll is happy, then it's because you are happy for them!

 

I think if you fill something with positive energy, it will seem happy or give of a vibe. Like my doll Kaname... I had him once on my night stand for six months, I would move him of course nearly every day to pose, photograph, sew for him ect, but when it came time for bed, onto his stand he went and by my bed he went. I felt totally safe. When I wasn't feeling very happy, I kind of neglected Avalon and spent a lot of time with him once the bad things ended and felt better. Kazumi was my self "reward" for making it past several things: My parents separation, four "friends" stabbing me in the back and trying to ruin my online life as well, going as far as to black mail me, and my uncle passing away. I had gotten Avalon after my uncle passed but his passing was still a painful thing even months later, talking to Avalon as it were... Though in my head since I didn't want anyone to hear me, made me feel better. He would never respond back, but I like to think my dolls have positive energy in them.

When they don't...Well...They look like Kazumi did a month ago... Doing an eerily good impression of Kayako from The Grudge minus the croaking and moving. Attention, new hair style, and she looks like her happy self again. But that's just me and my beliefs. I come from a very spiritual background.