Spiritual Forum

At its simplest, daydreaming (or mind wandering, if you prefer that term) is just another information-processing system but a highly creative one. Ideas and associations seem to come to us from nowhere, but they are not a bolt from the blue so much as a bolt from the stew--the stew of knowledge and experience you've been slow-cooking over the years but which you are now able to link together in novel ways courtesy of daydreaming.

Daydreaming, in essence, is a deep form of meditation. It’s uncontrolled because it often happens without you knowing and is often about something you may not have intended.

Many brilliant individuals--from Einstein to Mozart--credit their imagination as the source of their creativity and genius. Einstein often compared his creative process to that of poets and musicians, describing his insights as "a sudden rapture." He famously said: "When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come close to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge."

Of course all the knowledge has to be there to tap into and later the hard work has to be done. But to make the connections--that takes imagination and vision. Without imagination, knowledge would just be a set of facts and figures going nowhere.

This adds to the argument that it's worthwhile to cultivate and examine your daydreaming state of mind, especially in terms of problem-solving and innovation. Figure out when you do your best daydreaming and build it into your schedule. Probably the best and easiest way to trigger daydreaming is to start walking. Give your mind time to roam and see what new connections you can make. If anyone gives you a hard time, tell them that Einstein did his best thinking while taking long, rambling walks (often getting lost in the process!). And let's quit badgering people and children for being daydreamers. At the very least, daydreaming is a natural thought process; at its best--it's probably our greatest hope for breakthrough thinking.

There is an interesting thing about daydreaming and fantasy: Sometimes it works to manifest what you want in life, and other times it keeps you stuck in your life. What makes the difference?

The difference has to do with your intent.

It is fascinating to see different outcomes depending on the intent. Just as we can use meditation to connect or to avoid our feelings, so can we use fantasy and daydreaming to manifest what we want or to abandon ourselves by avoiding responsibility for our feelings. Being aware of our intent to learn to love ourselves or to avoid responsibility for our feelings has far-reaching effects on our lives.

When painting landscapes, Matisse would sometimes pause to study his subject matter and reflect on it. His peaceful pausing would arouse his subconscious mind and he could return to his canvas with clearer, fresher perspective.

Space out or Look Up - Stare into space. Look out windows. Study ceilings. Leonardo encouraged his young followers to focus on random stains on walls.

Walk around - Walking provides a clear path for pausing. It’s a great way to free the mind, “The object of walking is to relax the mind,” - Thomas Jefferson

Pause - Pausing can be analogous to a fallow field—a calm, silent place of restoration, with imminent growth just below the surface.

Daydreaming helps process information and explores ideas.

Mind Wandering Enhances Creative Problem Solving.

The brain has 4 different brain wave frequencies they are the following

Beta- 14 to 28 cycles per second- at this level you are walking, talking, carrying on a conversation. A fully awake frame of mind.

Alpha- 7 to 14 cycles/ second. At this level you in an altered frame of mind- day dreaming, doing energy work such as Reiki or other healing modalities.

Theta- 4-7 cycles/ second. At this level you are creative, inspirational, and can have spiritual sensations.

Delta- 0 to 4 cycles/second. At this level you are deeply asleep.

Theta waves are associated with dreaming sleep, super learning, creativity, daydreaming and deep meditation. They are also associated with emotional surges, self-reprogramming and spiritual experiences. If you’re interested in becoming better at problem-solving, be more spiritually connected, intuitive, imaginative, creative and physically relaxed, you’ll want to spend more time in theta.

It is connecting up to Creator, Source. In order to do this you must be in a Theta state, which is where your brain waves are operating at a frequency of 4to 7 cycles/ second. This state of mind is similar to what you feel right before you dose off to sleep. The healing work can be removing old beliefs and replacing them with new positive beliefs. This is getting rid of old programs that ones that were taught when one was younger it also has to do with the cell memory that is in the body. Your cells contain all the information that your ancestors have/had as beliefs, fears, past history.

These changes can be made and then have all the cells changed to accept the changes. One of the laws of the universe is that when something is removed something needs to take its place. So removing the old programming and replacing with new programming makes a more, better positive you.

If you want to be focused on any task, though, you don’t want your brain in theta.  Theta is NOT the ideal state for concentrated, focused mental activity. If you’ve ever been bored out of your mind in school and you drifted off to imagination-land, you know how impossible it felt to concentrate on your work. You had to shift back to the normal waking beta state in order to be able to focus. Most people have no trouble shifting from theta (daydreaming) to alpha or beta (focused) when they need to concentrate; but people with impaired attention have trouble making the shift. An inability to shift from the daydreaming to a focused state can cause problems in learning and in work situations.

Mental openness is your gateway to super-learning. The mind automatically judges and categorizes every new bit of information and a lot of what is new gets rejected because it doesn’t fit into the current programming. Using your imagination in theta removes the judgments and constraints of the logical mind, and allows for unbridled creativity. The world’s most awe-inspiring inventions were created because the logical “that can’t work” didn’t get in the way. Think about how much creativity went into the technological advances humans have made in the past 100 years. All innovations start as ideas, and the inventors have to get their ideas from imagination into practical application.

Imagination is the creative force within you. You know that if you want to see a dream come true, you have to have the dream first. You have to create the idea of that dream before you do anything to make it happen. Learning to use your imagination constructively means directing it, without the censorship of your logical mind, which will very effectively keep you stuck where you are because anything different and new is automatically considered wrong.

Most practically, theta is the brainwave state most associated with self-reprogramming. It is amazing how you can imprint new ideas and beliefs into your subconscious when you’re in theta without the constraints of the logical mind that is focused on the current situation. Imprint a new idea as a mental image/emotion, and practice often so it becomes part of you. Spending more time in theta also helps you become less stressed and less prone to anxiety and wild emotional swings.

Source: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-daydreaming