Until recently daydreaming was generally considered either a waste of time or a symptom of neurotic tendencies, and habitual daydreaming was regarded as evidence of maladjustment or an escape from life's realities and responsibilities. It was believed that habitual daydreaming would eventually distance people from society and reduce their effectiveness in coping with real problems. At its best, daydreaming was considered a compensatory substitute for the real things in life.
As with anything carried to excess, daydreaming can be harmful. There are always those who would substitute fantasy lives for the rewards of real activity. But such extremes are relatively race, and there is a growing body of evidence to support the fact that most people suffer from a lack of daydreaming rather than an excess of it. We are now beginning to learn how valuable it really is and that when individuals are completely prevented form daydreaming, their emotional balance can be disturbed. Not only are they less able to deal with the pressures of day-to-day existence, but also their self-control and self-direction become endangered.
Recent research indicates that daydreaming is part of daily life and that a certain amount each day is essential for maintaining equilibrium. Daydreaming, science has discovered, is an effective relaxation technique. But its beneficial effects go beyond this. Experiments show that daydreaming significantly contributes to intellectual growth, powers of concentration, and the ability to interact and communicate with others.
In an experiment with schoolchildren in New York, Dr. Joan Freberg observed improved concentration: "There was less running around, more happy feelings, more talking and playing in the group, and more attention paid to detail."
In another experiment at Yale University. Dr. Jerome Singer found that daydreaming resulted in improved self-control and enhanced creative thinking ability. Daydreaming, Singer pointed out, is one way individuals can improve upon reality. It is, he concluded, a powerful spur to achievement.
But the value of daydreaming does not stop here. It has been found that it improves a person's ability to be better adapted to practical, immediate concerns, to solve everyday problems, and to come up more readily with new ideas. Contrary to popular belief, constant and conscious effort at solving a problem is, in reality, one of the most inefficient ways of coping with it. While conscious initial effort is always necessary, effective solutions to especially severe problems frequently occur when conscious attempts to solve them have been put off. Inability to relax, to let go of a problem, often prevents its solution.
Historically, scientists and inventors are one group that seems to take full advantage of relaxed moments. Their biographies reveal that their best ideas seem to have occurred when they were relaxing and daydreaming. It is ell known, for example, that Newton solved many of his toughest problems when his attention was waylaid by private musings. Thomas Alva Edison also knew the value of "half waking" states. Whenever confronted with a task which seemed too hard to be dealt with, he would stretch out on his laboratory sofa and let fantasies flood mind.
Painters, writers, and composers also have drawn heavily on their sensitivity to inner fantasies. Debussy used to gaze at the River Seine and the golden reflections of the setting sun to establish an atmosphere for creativity. Brahms found that ideas came effortless only when he approached a state of deep daydreaming. And Cesar Frank is said to have walked around with a dreamlike gaze while composing, seemingly totally unaware of his surroundings.
Many successful people actually daydreamed their successes and achievements long before they realized them. Henry J. Kaiser maintained that "you can imagine your future," and he believed that a great part of his business success was due to positive use of daydreams. Harry S. Truman said that he used daydreaming for rest. Conrad Hilton dreamed of operating a hotel when he was a boy. He recalled that all his accomplishments were first realized in his imagination.
"Great living starts with a picture, held in some person's imagination, of what he would like someday to do or be. Florence Nightingale dreamed of being a nurse. Edison pictured himself an inventor; all such characters escaped the mere push of circumstance by imagining a future so vividly that they headed for it." These are the words of the well-known thinker Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, and they show that people can literally daydream themselves to success. Fosdick, aware of the wonderful power of positive daydreaming, offered this advice: "Hold a picture of yourself long and steadily enough in your mind's eye, and you will be drawn toward it. Picture yourself vividly as defeated and that alone will make victory impossible. Picture yourself as winning and that will contribute remarkably to success. Do not picture yourself as anything, and you will drift like an abandoned ship at sea."
To get the results, you should picture yourself - as vividly as possible - as you want to be. The important thing to remember is to picture these desired objectives as if you had already attained them. Go over several times the details of these pictures. This will deeply impress them on your memory, and these memory traces will soon start influencing your everyday behavior toward the attainment of the goal.
While exercising your imagination, you should be alone and completely undisturbed. Some individuals seem to have the ability to tune into their private selves in the midst of the noisiest crowds or company. But most of us, especially when the experience is new, require an environment free from outside distraction.
A life lived without fantasy and daydreaming is a seriously impoverished one. Each of us should put aside a few minutes daily, taking short 10- or 15-minute vacations. Daydreaming is highly beneficial to your physical and mental well-being, and you will find that this modest, inexpensive investment in time will add up to a more creative and imaginative, a more satisfied, and a more self-fulfilled you. It offers us a fuller sense of being intensely alive from moment to moment, and this, of course, contributes greatly to the excitement and joy of living
直到最近白日做梦通常被认为不中浪费时间就是要患精神病的征兆。习惯性白日做梦被看作精神失调的证据或是对现实生活和责任的逃避。人们相信，习惯性白日作梦被认为是代替生活现实的补偿品。
任何事情做得过分都可能有害，白日做梦也是一样。总有那么一些人，他们用想入非非的生活来代替实际活动得到的好处。但是这一类极端的情况极为罕见，愈来愈多的资料都能证明这样一种看法：大多数人的白日梦做得太少了，而不是太多了。现在我们才开始了解到它确实是那么有价值。当一个人被禁止做白日梦时，他们的感情平衡就可能被搅乱。不仅使他们更难以对付日常的生活压力，而且他们的自我控制和自我定向变得岌岌可危。最近的研究表明，白日做梦是日常生活的一部分，每天做一定数量的白日梦对保持平衡是必不可少的。科学已经发现白日梦是一种有效的消遣技巧。但它的有利影响不只这一点，实验表明，白日梦特别有助于智力的发展，有助于全神贯注的能力和与人交往、交流的能力。
在纽约对学童的一次实验中，琼·弗雷伯格博士观察到了注意力的改善："四处乱跑的现象少了，孩子们更开心，更爱一起谈话，一起玩了，而且更多地注意细节。"
在耶鲁大学的另一个实验中，杰罗姆·辛格博士发现白日做梦可以提高自我控制力和增强创造性的思维能力。辛格指出，白日做梦是个人超越现实的一种方式。他得出一个结论，白日做梦对成功是一种强有力的刺激。
但白日梦的价值并非仅限于此。已经发现，白日做梦能提高一个人的能力，使他能更好地适应实际的、紧急的事物，解决日常问题，并能较容易地提出新的想法。与普通的观点相反，不断的、有意识的努力常常是必需的，但在放弃解决问题的有意识的尝试时，对于特别严重的问题的有效的解决方法常常才会出现。不会放松，不会对某个问题置之不理，常常妨碍问题的解决。
历史上，科学家和发明家似乎属于充分利用放松时刻的群体。他们的传记提示了他们最好的想法似乎产生在他们放松和幻想的时候。例如，众所周知，牛顿在其注意力被个人深思打断时解决了许多棘手的难题。托马斯o 爱迪生也知道"半清醒"状态的价值。不论何时遇到似乎太难对付的任务，他都要舒展四肢躺在他实验室的沙发上，让幻想任意在脑际流淌。
画家、作家和作曲家十分依赖对内心幻觉的敏感性。德彪西常常盯着塞纳河和落日的金色反光来建立一种创造性的氛围。勃拉姆斯发现只有当他陷入一种深深的幻想状态时，各种想法才会毫不费力地泉涌而出。据说塞萨尔·弗兰克作曲时，像做梦一样凝视着四处走动，似乎完全意识不到他周围的事物。
许多成功者实现他们的成功和成就前，实际上早在做白日梦了。亨利·J·凯泽坚持说："你能想象你的未来。"他相信他的大部分商业成功是由于幻想的作用。哈利·S·杜鲁门说他利用幻想来休息。当他还是小男孩时，康拉德·希尔顿就幻想经营一家旅馆，他回忆他所有的成功都是首先在他的想象中意识到的。
"伟大的生活开始于人们想象中的图画，这就是有一天他愿意去做的事或成为的样子。弗洛伦斯o南丁格尔想做一名护士，爱迪生反自己描绘成发明家，所有这些人都通过生动形象的想象未来为之追求，从不幸压力中解脱出来。"这就是著名思想家亨利·爱默森·福斯迪克的话，这些话表明人们简直可以用幻想并使自己成功。福斯迪克意识到幻想的强大力量，提出了这样一条建议："在你心目中，尽量长期并稳定保留你自己的形象，你就会被驱使着向这个方向发展。把自己生动形象地描绘成失败者，仅此便可使胜利成淡泡影。把自己描绘为胜利者，就会极大地有助于成功。如果不去描绘自己的未来，你就会像大海上的弃船一样随波逐流。"
为了获得成功，你应该把自己描绘成你想要成为的样子--尽可能生动形象。要记住的重要一点是描述这些形象的细节，这将深深地把它们铭刻在你的记忆中，这些记忆痕将很快影响你的日常行为，直至达到目标。
在想象时，你应该独处，而且丝毫不受外界干扰。有些人似乎能在最嘈杂的人群中进行自我调节，进入安静状态。但我们中的大部分人，特别是在刚开始做白日梦时，需要一种免受外界干扰的环境。
没有想象和幻想的生活是极为贫乏的生活。我们每个人应该每天拿出几分钟时间，让自己享受10到15分钟的假期。白日做梦对你的身心健康有益，你会发现这一小小的廉价的时间投资最终带来的是一个更有创造性、更富想象力、更心满意足和更踌躇满志的你。它常常便我们更充分地意识到生活的紧张激烈，这当然大大有助于增加生活的兴奋和乐趣
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