Day dreaming can be comforting. But exessive day dreaming can be annoying, scary, and/or confusing. I spend too much time day dreaming, and I’m always depressed. I also have a major problem with concentration.
To me, the lack of concentration basically is due to the thing which you’re seeing is so detached from the stuff that you’re dreaming. So top seeing the stuff that bores you to the guts; start to live your dream instead. Sounds impossible? Read my part of the poem in the topic named “Poetic Pool” in the creative writing forum. It has to be possible somehow, because simply, we don’t have an alternative.
I think I know what your saying, about spending too much time in your head and not enough out having a life. This happens to me all the time lol. Usually this is due to some unresolved problems, or insecurities or discouraging thoughts that are floating around my head. I try to remind myself that there is no known way to prove that anything is impossible (its true! think about it) and also sometimes I get stuck in finding problems mode, and in that state of mind, even the solutions I come up with seem to be filled with problems. Then it seems like there are millions of problems and no solutions. At that point my mind is totally painted into a corner, and I dont want to do anything at all, and I lay around and daydream all day or play games. But if I remind myself that the only reason that thinking about problems is worthwhile is because I can solve them, and if I remind myself that seeing the good things lets me know what my resources are, then I can look at the good things and see how they work and how they developed, and generally be more resourceful in solving my problems.
In defense of daydreaming, because I think it is underrated: I think that daydreaming is extremely important. I learn from it the same way that I can learn from books or movies. Its like, why wait to encounter the experience that teaches me something when Ive got a life simulator in my head that I can use to come up with a whole lot of random situations and see what I like about them and what I dislike. Not to say that life is worth less than the daydream, but just that I think daydreaming is generally underrated.
I also have a problem with concentration, and memory. It seems to be because I have so many of my thoughts connected to other thoughts... I will start in one place and end up in a completely different place, and sometimes this thought wandering is so fascinating to me that I fail to pay attention to whats happening around me. If I dont fully consciously notice what is happening then I dont remember it. I am sort of like the absent minded professor :slight_smile:
I also got the problem of wandering my thoughts, and even in some occasions which require a high degree of concentration, e.g. on the stage, during an examination. I always figure out how can I improve the situation and recently I have came across a meditation website: meditation.org.au/download.asp and I am trying out what it is descripted on that website. Hope that it helps! 
I recommend reading Krishnamurti if you find yourself constantly detached and stuck in your head. This arises from either fear of the moment, in which you do not wish to look at your own life exactly the way it is, or from monotony, where you have created a static view of your life, and nothing seems new. In either case you escape into your own head, I am very familiar with this type of escapism, and sadly if you don’t confront reality as it is, and negate the illusions you are living in, then they will never come to an end, and life will pass you by only being half lived.
But why does a person when they lack entertainment (aka boredom) start to day dream? I always catch myself daydreaming when im bored. Its weird how people want to escape into their own mind when the life outside them isnt good enough at the moment.
“Chuang-Tzu, a philosopher, once dreamed he was a butterfly. When he awoke, he no longer knew if he was a butterfly dreaming he was a man, or a man who had dreamed he was a butterfly”. Are you merely a vision in someone else’s day dream or is it actually your day dream.
???
Hi D,
IMHO it’s all to do with the nature of the daydream.
If we are in a depressive loop, ruminating on fear of the future and regrets from the past, our thoughts can become hellish. If, on the other hand, we are dreaming about sunny climes or a girl/boy that we fancy, our thoughts can be delightful.
I guess it’s the difference between daydreams and day nightmares.
Cheers, free.
I dream quite often for this reason. My life has no direction or purpose and it’s very very depressing. It just feels like I drag myself thru each new day moving towards absolutely nothing. Sorry to be such a bring down… the daydreams are amusing though. When I was 16 and I worked at K-mart I used to imagine that I was a weapons vendor on a space station and that all of the customers were aliens (this is not hard to do when you work at K-mart). It helped me get thru the day to image living in a different reality and having a job of greater purpose than that of a cashier. In my current situation I can think of no such daydreams to justify what I do, which is essentially telemarketing (although now that I think about it, it would be kind of fun to imagine that I’m about to deliver horrible life changing news to each person I’m calling, like that a loved one has died or that their house has burned down.) Anyway, now I dream about love and wild ambitions- the idea arose the other day to co-own a bar/art gallery of some kind. I think I would like doing it- taking ownership of what I do day to day would give my life meaning beyond what I could have ever imagined… it’s a wonderful thought, then I wouldn’t have to daydream anymore!
lol @ the weapons vendor on space station 
I do daydream some I have to admit, and I scold myself for doing it. Mainly I day dream when I’m running. Not when I can run outside, but when I’m on a treadmill I allow myself to daydream. Funny thing about any fantasy that you cook up, no matter how close you come to the realisation of said fantasy, it won’t be as good as you portrayed it in your mind, and the ego always wants more.
I think boredom isnt so much that there isnt anything to do, but that Im thinking in the box. There are a lot of reasons I can get stuck in the box. Insecurities, pessimism, etc, prevent me from acting, or even from desiring anything. A daydream is kind of like scrambling all the organization, breaking out of all the rules and usual constraints of every day life, it helps me figure out what I want, and what to do with what I dont. Its like it re-engages me in the types of thought processes that I need to get me to go about life. Dreams are good metaphors too, daydreaming is an art form, the place that artwork comes out of in the first place. English is so limited in how much we can say about our emotions, I think its necessary to have some symbolism we can use in order to sort out all the feelings and see what everything means in a conscious way. So since there arent good enough words, we daydream and use our own personal symbolism to sort of communicate between emotions and thoughts within ourselves.
I have been spending a lot of time daydreaming lately and I think its actually helping me put myself back together. I can go from daydreams to meditation to thoughts and just start putting everything back together. My mind is a mess. If I were to focus on the outside world all the time, I would never clean up what is in here.
My grandma said to me that when she was little, they used to daydream all the time. Instead of TV, instead of computers, theyd just sit on a hill together and daydream. Why be so busy all the time? Just because no one else can see what is going on inside your head doesnt mean you arent doing anything. This is why meditation is so helpful - exactly BECAUSE theres no one to direct you but your true self, no one to distract you but your own thinking habits, no one to tell you NO. I dont think you can know yourself without spending time with yourself and only yourself, and if you dont know yourself, how can you function at all?
Sometimes (very rarely though) when I get too busy doing stuff, I have to stop and take a break just to daydream. If I go too long without staring out the window then…well…it is just not good. Does anyone else ever feel like they have to daydream? I am not talking about breaks from work or whatever, but sit around with nothing but your thoughts.
k, am i crazy, or do i just not have enough 2 do? every day, for, oh, probably at least 5 hours worth of time, i daydream. i also run around and ill make music to whats happenin in my head, like in a movie. ive already tried 2 stop, but all of the sudden ill just b daydreaming as usual.