The Transformative Power of Daydreams

Have you ever found yourself gazing off into the distance? Do you tend to ponder the depths found in a single moment completely detached from the mechanistic hum of the everyday world buzzing all around you?

Are you a dreamer?

Are you drawn to places where two worlds meet?

Are you accustomed to wandering and wondering?

The incessant drumbeat of our lives can be a taskmaster tricking us into believing we are what we produce, accomplish, do. There's no doubt these things can bring us success and joy, but they can also wear us down and dull our shine. And, as it turns out we also counteract all this intensity by simply doing "nothing" at all. Well, that's how it appears on the outside anyway. In actuality, we really are "doing" something — we're connecting and creating on the inner planes.

What we're "doing" is daydreaming!

Reawakening the dreamer that lives within us can also reawaken our sense of adventure, bring us to a place of refuge within, help us to feel safe, and inspire a life of beauty and possibility, and even bring us solutions.

These times we're living in are ripe with opportunities for us to choose the daydreamer's path. Pain and struggle, either our own or another's, can bring about a particular response in us where our hearts become drawn to the closest source of peace, ease, comfort, and hope — be it a stone, a bird, a flower, or a seascape. Following our heart and daydreaming during these times of stress helps us recalibrate our body and come back into balance. Done responsibly and consciously, daydreaming in this way can be a healing balm to our tired and anxious nervous system.

"Daydreaming is the stream of consciousness that detaches from current, external tasks when attention drifts to a more personal and internal direction." ~Wikipedia

Sure, perhaps this is a form of escapism and yet, escapism is okay in moderation. We're all guilty at times of escaping our responsibilities by avoiding what must be faced. Yes, we are sometimes too afraid to do what needs to be done and actually find ourselves creating more pain and struggle instead of resolving the issue.

No, what I'm referring to here is daydreaming as a built-in survival instinct that helps maintain our inner equilibrium so that we can respond with a clear mind and a more expansive understanding of what's happening and how we fit into it all. Thankfully the natural world offers us a plethora of opportunities to daydream — to find solace and to gain clarity and renewal.

Daydreaming as a conscious act can be a choice that honors our own energetic system as well as the reality we're living in. It's similar to meditation in that it brings you into the moment and helps you reconnect with your soul-self.

Our soul finds strength and courage to face the realities of our world when we allow time to let our gaze settle on the distant horizon, or on a magical miniature world gently held within a flower's bloom, a seashell's spiral, or the sweeping flight of a gull. Each extends a compassionate hand to you from across the threshold inviting you to relax and trust.

Recently I found myself visiting a favorite place of mine — a long salty strand of beach that's very close to my heart. Throughout my life this beach has been a witness to many of my sorrows and struggles, as well as a myriad of joys and celebrations. I grew up playing in these waves and have spent countless hours with my head down combing for shells and pure white quartz stones along this stretch of sand and dune. It's a place on the edge where all the dreamers dream and where I know I can find a sense of ease and solace.

Each of us has a dreaming place — a place where we go to restore our strength and inner peace.

Dwelling on the edge and letting myself slip across into a daydream builds me back up. I reconnect with my soul and find that she resides just beyond the shores of this reality in a world where all is possible. My courage lives there as well and I'm reminded of the beauty of the world and rediscover my resolve and determination to uphold what is good and true.

When we gaze out across the horizon or down at our feet, as I did on my favorite sandy beach that day, we cross over into a world where our fears cannot follow, where our inner hopes meet our tired gaze, and we sink into a suspended moment of deep rest. Perhaps in your daydreams you'll be blessed with inspiration or a renewed sense of purpose, but one thing is for sure, when I stop and allow myself to daydream I return to the world with a strength and joy that is unique to living on the edge. I understand our current reality from a place of empathy and compassion and am not so easily swayed by the mainstream rhetoric. I see beyond its dense messages of fear and into the deeper truth, and its message of hope.

Daydreaming allows our souls to fly free — to dream a new dream! Within our daydreams lies hope for us all!

"You may say I'm a dreamer,

but I'm not the only one.

I hope some day you'll join us

and the world will be as one."

~John Lennon

Photo Credits: All photos are property of the author except the top photo which is the property of Shutterstock.