10 BENEFITS TO DAYDREAMING
By lifehack.org
The sound of my heels on the hard floor, I find myself on stage, my face hot and eyes slightly squinting from the bright golden lights. I’m bowing before a standing ovation given to me by a much bigger room than I expected, full of admirers. The applause is overwhelming, and pride in my presentation bubbles up through my core. A wave of gratitude washes over me as I realize that my cheeks hurt from the work of smiling, then, suddenly, I am snapped back to my living room where I am writing an article on my Mac and the little cue card that pops up in the right upper corner notifies me of another reminder I had set weeks ago. So I collect my thoughts and continue my work.
We are mostly aware of the proven benefits of taking vacations. We are repeatedly and painfully reminded that our obsession with keeping up with the Jones’ and impressing our bosses is taking its toll on our efficiency, creativity, performance, and even our health! If we insist on leaving a couple vacation days in the bank each year, however, could taking a periodic trip to la-la land also be beneficial?
Daydreaming, according to Merriam-Webster, is “a pleasant visionary usually wishful creation of the imagination,” and by that definition, it is proving to be like a mini-vacaton that carries with it more than just a handful of scientifically proven benefits!
1. You can exercise your brain (not your mind)…
Neuroscientist Dr Muireann Irish says that daydreaming is hard work and serves some very important functions. The capability to remember the past and imagine the future is a very complex form of thinking—as far as we can tell, we are the only species with this remarkable ability. The way in which you daydream and think is actually the effect of your brain’s physical structure, which, in turn, is constantly changing in response to new information in the form of new neural pathways due to neuroplastisity!
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