Let Your Mind Wander

　　Until recently daydreaming was generally considered either a waste of time or a symptom of neurotic tendencies, and habitual daydreaming was regarded as evidence of maladjustment or an escape from life's realities and responsibilities. It was believed that habitual daydreaming would eventually distance people from society and reduce their effectiveness in coping with real problems. At its best, daydreaming was considered a compensatory substitute for the real things in life.

　　As with anything carried to excess, daydreaming can be harmful.

　　There are always those who would substitute fantasy lives for the rewards of real activity. But such extremes are relatively race, and there is a growing body of evidence to support the fact that most people suffer from a lack of daydreaming rather than an excess of it.

　　We are now beginning to learn how valuable it really is and that when individuals are completely prevented form daydreaming, their emotional balance can be disturbed. Not only are they less able to deal with the pressures of day-to-day existence, but also their self-control and self-direction become endangered.

　　Recent research indicates that daydreaming is part of daily life and that a certain amount each day is essential for maintaining equilibrium. Daydreaming, science has discovered, is an effective relaxation technique. But its beneficial effects go beyond this.

　　Experiments show that daydreaming significantly contributes to intellectual growth, powers of concentration, and the ability to interact and communicate with others.

　　In an experiment with schoolchildren in New York, Dr. Joan Freberg observed improved concentration: "There was less running around, more happy feelings, more talking and playing in the group, and more attention paid to detail."

　　In another experiment at Yale University. Dr. Jerome Singer found that daydreaming resulted in improved self-control and enhanced creative thinking ability. Daydreaming, Singer pointed out, is one way individuals can improve upon reality. It is, he concluded, a powerful spur to achievement.

　　But the value of daydreaming does not stop here. It has been found that it improves a person's ability to be better adapted to practical, immediate concerns, to solve everyday problems, and to come up more readily with new ideas. Contrary to popular belief, constant and conscious effort at solving a problem is, in reality, one of the most inefficient ways of coping with it. While conscious initial effort is always necessary, effective solutions to especially severe problems frequently occur when conscious attempts to solve them have been put off. Inability to relax, to let go of a problem, often prevents its solution.

　　Historically, scientists and inventors are one group that seems to take full advantage of relaxed moments. Their biographies reveal that their best ideas seem to have occurred when they were relaxing and daydreaming. It is ell known, for example, that Newton solved many of his toughest problems when his attention was waylaid by private musings. Thomas Alva Edison also knew the value of "half waking" states. Whenever confronted with a task which seemed too hard to be dealt with, he would stretch out on his laboratory sofa and let fantasies flood mind.

　　Painters, writers, and composers also have drawn heavily on their sensitivity to inner fantasies. Debussy used to gaze at the River Seine and the golden reflections of the setting sun to establish an atmosphere for creativity. Brahms found that ideas came effortless only when he approached a state of deep daydreaming. And Cesar Frank is said to have walked around with a dreamlike gaze while composing, seemingly totally unaware of his surroundings.

　　Many successful people actually daydreamed their successes and achievements long before they realized them. Henry J. Kaiser maintained that "you can imagine your future," and he believed that a great part of his business success was due to positive use of daydreams. Harry S. Truman said that he used daydreaming for rest.

　　Conrad Hilton dreamed of operating a hotel when he was a boy. He recalled that all his accomplishments were first realized in his imagination.
　　"Great living starts with a picture, held in some person's imagination, of what he would like someday to do or be. Florence Nightingale dreamed of being a nurse. Edison pictured himself an inventor; all such characters escaped the mere push of circumstance by imagining a future so vividly that they headed for it." These are the words of the well-known thinker Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, and they show that people can literally daydream themselves to success.

　　Fosdick, aware of the wonderful power of positive daydreaming, offered this advice: "Hold a picture of yourself long and steadily enough in your mind's eye, and you will be drawn toward it. Picture yourself vividly as defeated and that alone will make victory impossible.

　　Picture yourself as winning and that will contribute remarkably to success. Do not picture yourself as anything, and you will drift like an abandoned ship at sea."

　　To get the results, you should picture yourself - as vividly as possible - as you want to be. The important thing to remember is to picture these desired objectives as if you had already attained them.

　　Go over several times the details of these pictures. This will deeply impress them on your memory, and these memory traces will soon start influencing your everyday behavior toward the attainment of the goal.

　　While exercising your imagination, you should be alone and completely undisturbed. Some individuals seem to have the ability to tune into their private selves in the midst of the noisiest crowds or company. But most of us, especially when the experience is new, require an environment free from outside distraction.

　　A life lived without fantasy and daydreaming is a seriously impoverished one. Each of us should put aside a few minutes daily, taking short 10- or 15-minute vacations. Daydreaming is highly beneficial to your physical and mental well-being, and you will find that this modest, inexpensive investment in time will add up to a more creative and imaginative, a more satisfied, and a more self-fulfilled you. It offers us a fuller sense of being intensely alive from moment to moment, and this, of course, contributes greatly to the excitement and joy of living.

　　讓頭腦暢想

　　直到最近白日做夢通常被認(rèn)為不中浪費時間就是要患精神病的征兆。習(xí)慣性白日做夢被看作精神失調(diào)的證據(jù)或是對現(xiàn)實生活和責(zé)任的逃避。人們相信，習(xí)慣性白日作夢被認(rèn)為是代替生活現(xiàn)實的補償品。

　　任何事情做得過分都可能有害，白日做夢也是一樣�？傆心敲匆恍┤�，他們用想入非非的生活來代替實際活動得到的好處。但是這一類極端的情況極為罕見，愈來愈多的資料都能證明這樣一種看法：大多數(shù)人的白日夢做得太少了，而不是太多了�，F(xiàn)在我們才開始了解到它確實是那么有價值。當(dāng)一個人被禁止做白日夢時，他們的感情平衡就可能被攪亂。不僅使他們更難以對付日常的生活壓力，而且他們的自我控制和自我定向變得岌岌可危。最近的研究表明，白日做夢是日常生活的一部分，每天做一定數(shù)量的白日夢對保持平衡是必不可少的。科學(xué)已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)白日夢是一種有效的消遣技巧。但它的有利影響不只這一點，實驗表明，白日夢特別有助于智力的發(fā)展，有助于全神貫注的能力和與人交往、交流的能力。

　　在紐約對學(xué)童的一次實驗中，瓊·弗雷伯格博士觀察到了注意力的改善："四處亂跑的現(xiàn)象少了，孩子們更開心，更愛一起談話，一起玩了，而且更多地注意細(xì)節(jié)。"

　　在耶魯大學(xué)的另一個實驗中，杰羅姆·辛格博士發(fā)現(xiàn)白日做夢可以提高自我控制力和增強創(chuàng)造性的思維能力。辛格指出，白日做夢是個人超越現(xiàn)實的一種方式。他得出一個結(jié)論，白日做夢對成功是一種強有力的刺激。

　　但白日夢的價值并非僅限于此。已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)，白日做夢能提高一個人的能力，使他能更好地適應(yīng)實際的、緊急的事物，解決日常問題，并能較容易地提出新的想法。與普通的觀點相反，不斷的、有意識的努力常常是必需的，但在放棄解決問題的有意識的嘗試時，對于特別嚴(yán)重的問題的有效的解決方法常常才會出現(xiàn)。不會放松，不會對某個問題置之不理，常常妨礙問題的解決。

　　歷史上，科學(xué)家和發(fā)明家似乎屬于充分利用放松時刻的群體。他們的傳記提示了他們最好的想法似乎產(chǎn)生在他們放松和幻想的時候。例如，眾所周知，牛頓在其注意力被個人深思打斷時解決了許多棘手的難題。托馬斯o 愛迪生也知道"半清醒"狀態(tài)的價值。不論何時遇到似乎太難對付的任務(wù)，他都要舒展四肢躺在他實驗室的沙發(fā)上，讓幻想任意在腦際流淌。

　　畫家、作家和作曲家十分依賴對內(nèi)心幻覺的敏感性。德彪西常常盯著塞納河和落日的金色反光來建立一種創(chuàng)造性的氛圍。勃拉姆斯發(fā)現(xiàn)只有當(dāng)他陷入一種深深的幻想狀態(tài)時，各種想法才會毫不費力地泉涌而出。據(jù)說塞薩爾o 弗蘭克作曲時，像做夢一樣凝視著四處走動，似乎完全意識不到他周圍的事物。

　　許多成功者實現(xiàn)他們的成功和成就前，實際上早在做白日夢了。亨利丁凱澤堅持說："你能想象你的未來。"他相信他的大部分商業(yè)成功是由于幻想的作用。哈利杜魯門說他利用幻想來休息。當(dāng)他還是小男孩時，康拉德o希爾頓就幻想經(jīng)營一家旅館，他回憶他所有的成功都是首先在他的想象中意識到的。

　　"偉大的生活開始于人們想象中的圖畫，這就是有一天他愿意去做的事或成為的樣子。弗洛倫斯o南丁格爾想做一名護士，愛迪生反自己描繪成發(fā)明家，所有這些人都通過生動形象的想象未來為之追求，從不幸壓力中解脫出來。"這就是著名思想家亨利愛默森福斯迪克的話，這些話表明人們簡直可以用幻想并使自己成功。福斯迪克意識到幻想的強大力量，提出了這樣一條建議："在你心目中，盡量長期并穩(wěn)定保留你自己的形象，你就會被驅(qū)使著向這個方向發(fā)展。把自己生動形象地描繪成失敗者，僅此便可使勝利成淡泡影。把自己描繪為勝利者，就會極大地有助于成功。如果不去描繪自己的未來，你就會像大海上的棄船一樣隨波逐流。"

　　為了獲得成功，你應(yīng)該把自己描繪成你想要成為的樣子--盡可能生動形象。要記住的重要一點是描述這些形象的細(xì)節(jié)，這將深深地把它們銘刻在你的記憶中，這些記憶痕將很快影響你的日常行為，直至達到目標(biāo)。

　　在想象時，你應(yīng)該獨處，而且絲毫不受外界干擾。有些人似乎能在最嘈雜的人群中進行自我調(diào)節(jié)，進入安靜狀態(tài)。但我們中的大部分人，特別是在剛開始做白日夢時，需要一種免受外界干擾的環(huán)境。

　　沒有想象和幻想的生活是極為貧乏的生活。我們每個人應(yīng)該每天拿出幾分鐘時間，讓自己享受10到15分鐘的假期。白日做夢對你的身心健康有益，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)這一小小的廉價的時間投資最終帶來的是一個更有創(chuàng)造性、更富想象力、更心滿意足和更躊躇滿志的你。它常常便我們更充分地意識到生活的緊張激烈，這當(dāng)然大大有助于增加生活的興奮和樂趣。