Are you someone who often finds themselves with their heads in the clouds? Or maybe you find it increasingly easy to let your mind wander when you should be focusing? For a long time, daydreaming has been looked down upon as unproductive or an idle hobby. I can’t tell you how many hours of classes I passed by drifting off to another place. But daydreaming has an unnecessarily bad rap, especially if you’re someone who thrives on creative energy. So the next time someone tells you to “come back to earth,” share with them the benefits of daydreaming.
Daydreaming helps your mind relax
Think of daydreaming as a mental break. Daydreaming allows your mind to take a break for the duration of the entire time you allow your mind to wander, often returning from a bout of daydreaming with a refreshed and renewed mind. It can actually help you get back on track and return to a task to complete it.
Daydreaming leads to ideas
When we daydream, our mind becomes free from constraint and limitations. It’s free to roam and travel down unknown paths into uncharted territory and to create new realities. Daydreaming is a powerful tool, inspiring us to try something new and encouraging us to pursue unfulfilled desires.
Daydreaming can heighten your emotional intelligence
We can release emotions safely in our imaginary world rather than in the real one, where the consequences would be problematic. But when we daydream, we can rehearse social interactions, leading to greater intimacy and more mature relationships. This is actually known as “organized daydreaming,” and helps you visualize and prepare for all different types of interactions.
Daydreaming can improve your working memory
While it might sound counterintuitive, daydreaming may enhance your working memory, which is the ability to retain and recall lots of information at once. Scientists from the University of Wisconsin and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences found that participants who performed easy tasks that promoted daydreaming were more likely to remember information on a tough memorization task later, even when they were distracted. In other words, your wandering mind bolsters your storage-and-retrieval skills.
Daydreaming helps you make better decisions
We already know that daydreaming helps your mind relax, but when your mind is at ease, we are more likely to make wiser decisions around our health and overall wellbeing. Daydreaming gives us the ability to conceive and build our soul’s deepest desires and to think through a variety of possibilities.
