Guidance from Your Daydreams
I’ve always loved Rumi’s poetry, but every time I hear this one, I nearly stop in my tracks.
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other” doesn’t make any sense.
I’ve been thinking about this “field” Rumi refers to as dreams — and daydreams, specifically. Daydreaming has a bad reputation as an unproductive activity. But have you ever had a daydream about your own life so vivid that it gave you a sense of hope? Helped you see the solution to a difficult challenge? I find that my daydreams allow me to creatively resolve situations in my life that I couldn’t solve under the hard light of purely rational thought. Daydreams take us beyond an ordinary sense of right and wrong and encourage a far more open, heart-centered, and compassionate approach to life and the people we interact with. Once we snap out of it, though, our judgmental side kicks in and tells us what we “can” and “cannot” do, imagine, or accomplish.
Here is an article from WebMD that tells us something we already know, but can stand hearing again. “The beauty of daydreams is that nothing is impossible.” Daydreams are just like that field Rumi is yearning for, where past mistakes are pardoned, time stands still, and you can do whatever makes sense to you at the most fundamental level.
here is something discussing daydreams from WebMDs sister site, Medscape. Unfortunately, it just lacks ALL of the beauty of Rumis’ invitation to step through the now, to the field of dreams…
” distinctions between environmental and internal are arbitrary since a brain is an active interface with the environment. If you have a psychotherapy session and both the patient and the therapist remember something of the event – there are probably neurotransmitter changes that have happened. If you are in a combat situation and see some horrendous incident and start to experience flashbacks – there are probably neurotransmitter changes that have happened. If you are sitting in your office and daydreaming about a pleasant memory from the past – it is the result of neurotransmitters and neural circuits. Neurotransmitters are clearly only part of the picture – but the physical and chemical processes behind human consciousness are critical to everyday experience. “
How interesting, lada. The quote you shared is kind of like the neuroscience of Rumi.
I find that daydreaming helps me appreciate different parts of my life & helps me to come back into focus who I was born to be. Maybe it’s becuase I’m a Pisces but either way I grew up being told that daydreams were just beautiful flashes of possiblities for the taking!
So, maybe one day I daydreamed I was a superhero or sometimes I like to think of what my future children will be like. Either way daydreams are meant to be warm like sunshine so you can smile, sit back and enjoy.
Daydreaming is a way of relaxation from your everyday life. Anything can happen, and you can focus on things and events that can make everything happening. I myself, are a disable person, and have been for 20 years now. When I am very poorly, I do not know this myself, but my partner is telling me, Hilda, you are at your worst after beeing very sick. You always have a lot of plans and activities you want put in to life. And I guess it is true. I have a creative mind, and daydreaming is so nice, the sky is blue and the nature is beautiful and the air fresh and delightful. I always tell my children, – you can be whatever you chose to be. Anything is possible, – it is just to grasp it and go for the task ahead. Dream and think your wishes. Be grateful for something – anything – but get this beautiful feeling that you already have achived it and it is at hand, what you wish for. And except the gift it is to get what you have been dreming of and be thankful for receiving it. The daydreaming is something beutiful – it is for every body, rich and poor, children and adults. A wonderful thing in life! And for those who need it the most it can give hope in a hopeless situation in life. I wish all people to be grateful for the gift of daydreaming.
Sharyne – It sounds like you are a daydreamer in the best sense of the word.
Hilda – “This beautiful feeling” is a hard one to come by sometimes, but other days it’s as natural as waking up in the morning. I wish you best of luck in pursuing all those plans.
I love daydreaming, it is one of the most relaxing a creative parts of my day. Curiously enough it makes me feel like I am still in touch with my inner child. Sometimes I can find that I can find solutions like you said in you article and other times it just helps me use my imagination and becomes entertaining.