People find it really annoying when they see you daydreaming. Your teacher will tell you to snap out of it; your employer will tell you to buck up your ideas or face the chop, and your partner will tell you to avert your gaze back to her or she’ll go and find another man who appreciates her.
But our brains just aren’t wired to stay focused all the time. They’re wired to wander. And, fortunately, science has now given daydreamers everywhere a chance to dream all they like, with studies showing that daydreaming is a fantastic way to boost our creativity and imagination. This is not to even mention all the other amazing health benefits daydreaming can bring.
Enhances Our Memory
When we daydream, we are using our imagination. We’re pondering and thinking up ideas. According to the American Psychological Association, this imagining process is improving our memory and could be potentially life-saving for anyone who suffers brain injuries.
Increases Our Empathy
When we use our imagination, we picture all kinds of scenarios. According to research, this allows us to become more empathetic as people because we’re putting ourselves in the position of others. By using our imagination, we’re putting ourselves in fantastical situations we may have never experienced ourselves, but which will allow us to be more empathetic in the future to people who do experience them.
The research concluded that there is a link between our imagination and empathy.
Boosts Our Creativity
When we sit in math class and our mind begins to wonder, our teachers will tell us to snap out of it and focus on the matter at hand.
But what the fuck has algebra got to do with us?
Instead, by daydreaming, we are focusing on ideas that might lead us to some seriously creative outcomes. I mean, you seriously think Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein never daydreamed? Of course they did! Non-directed thinking allows us to come up with concepts in our heads that somewhere along the line will have some use.
Improves Our Mood
When we daydream, we have a tendency to think of good things. For example, we occasionally dwell on happy memories. Naturally, this puts us in a good mood. Which is ace!
And when we become happier as a result of daydreaming, our good mood infects those around us too.
We’re all daydream believers now …
