Happy Sunday Friends! When I decided to do my next blog on daydreaming, I envisioned a diatribe in defense of myself and fellow daydreamers. Being the researcher that I am, I decided to go online and look for proof that daydreaming wasn't a bad thing.
I found it right away. Psychology Today even has a blog dedicated to daydreaming (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-daydreaming). I found articles galore discussing how helpful it was for sparking creativity. If you use different language and call it visualization, as some articles did, then it's an amazing tool to help prepare before performing a task or competing in athletics. Albert Einstein was a daydreamer. In fact, many great achievers throughout history were daydreamers. See I knew it!
Of course, I found some nay-sayers. I even found a website for parents warning about the consequences to their childrens' future. There were "warning signs" and tales of catastrophic events that happened to daydreamers. Still, I wasn't deterred.I was still sure I was right and had enough ammunition to prove my point.
Then I read an article in a psychology journal that stopped me in my smug little tracks. It brought up the Buddhist tennat about remaining present. As so many daydreams are about future desires or past occurences, when people spend a lot of time daydreaming they are losing their time experienceing the "now".
Okay now this was saying something. It got me thinking, when I daydream, am I missing my life? Am I spending too much time fantasizing about what I would like to happen to notice what's happening right in front of me? Truthfully, sometimes this is the case. I have such a rich imagination. It helped keep me from being lonely when I was a young, only child. My sister is 7 years younger. I spent at least 4 years before she was born and 3 - 4 years after, playing alone. I made up wonderful epic stories. I would daydream at school often because I was bored with the pace.
So, the other night I decided to ask this wonderful group of women I found myself in ~ what did they think about daydreaming? The answer was finally there. A young lady named Eli told me of her own experience with this Buddhist concept of staying present. It is not that you cannot daydream. It is that you choose when to do it. Do not use your daydreams to escape the present. Give yourself time to let your mind wander.
This made all of the difference to me! I know that all of the great thinkers attribute their daydreams to their innovative and creative thinking. So, I know it's not all bad. However, I could see how not chooseing your time to allow yourself that freedom could interfere with participating in your life.
Another woman expressed how she will sort of "check out" during conversations in a group because she gets lost in thought, missing when a new topic has been introduced. This observation explained to me why a woman I was acquainted with always seemed behind when we would all get together for a chat. She wasn't slow ~ she was lost in thought.
So, my challenge to you is to find time to daydream. Give yourself the freedom to make "illogical" leaps and take mental "flights of fancy". Your next journey on your path may be revealed to you. You may discover the solution to a problem getting "lost" in a daydream. And if not, it was a lovely way to spend 15 minutes while sitting at the DMV!
For those of you that could use daily doses of joy ~ please follow me on the twitter (Goddessofjoy). If you'd like to share your own experiences of joy, become a fan on facebook and post your own thoughts (The Joy of Being You)
Until next time my friends...
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