How much of your time do you spend in personal reflection? Do you find yourself sometimes focusing on your own internal thoughts instead of what’s happening around you in outside world? Often times, we call this daydreaming, and it’s rarely received as a constructive activity. Alas, daydreamers, fear not! What some may see as a less-than-successful way to spend time is finally getting some serious respect; touted as more beneficial to your well-being than you may think.
According to a recent Psychology Today article, many are considered to be ‘Happy Daydreamers,’ a term first identified in a half-century-old study headed by Jerome Singer of Yale. His team deemed daydreaming a “widespread and normal aspect of the human experience.” The article explains:
“Singer found that a major swath of society consists of “happy daydreamers”—people who enjoy vivid imagery and fantasy. They use daydreaming for plotting out their future. These daydreamers “simply value and enjoy their private experiences, are willing to risk wasting a certain amount of time on them, but also can apparently use them for effective planning and for self-amusement during periods of monotonous task activity or boredom,” Singer reported. He called this “positive-constructive daydreaming.”
Our ability to conduct this self-reflective “positive-constructive daydreaming,” becomes more limited, however, because of our continuous reliance on technology and stimuli from the outside world. Leading a life where we’re consistently consumed with external influences, particularly of the digital persuasion, we’re less interested and available to have real true interactive experiences, especially with ourselves, within our own consciousness.
From Singer’s research, we learn if we’re more aware of the attention that we pay to accommodating our own ‘self-generated thought,’ we become closer to living out the dreams that we wish to create for ourselves. Looking at it as a form of ‘mental time travel,’ daydreaming actually gives us the ability recognize, develop and manifest our deepest desires and aspirations in our external day-to-day lives.
Another study in the article suggests mind wandering can lead to increased ability to make good choices and trust our own judgment. Daydreamers, by nature, score high in being mindful, purposeful and nonjudgmental; they’re also positive and specific in their outlook of life. Children that are encouraged to daydream, and actively pursue it, have deeper and more meaningful connections with their surroundings. Daydreamers experience greater happiness and satisfaction.
Now imagine if you gave yourself a bit of time every day to let your mind free; to allow your inner peace to speak directly from your soul. Real desire will radiate out and guide you on a life path of purposeful joy – all by giving yourself the opportunity to escape from external reality for a minute and experience the reality within and experience real bliss.