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Imagine that you have so much emotion that you need two bodies to contain them. That's what the image for this idiom is -- you're "beside yourself" with extreme emotion, such as anger or grief.
To be 'beside yourself' means that you aren't behaving as you normally do. For exapmle, to be 'beside yourself' with grief means that you are overcome with mourning and it is affecting your actions.

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12y ago

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