Dreaming of walking along a beautiful beach next to a turquoise blue ocean with the sun beaming down – while you are at work, that is. Don’t worry if daydreaming periodically takes you away from some of the more routine aspects of running your massage practice or spa. It’s perfectly OK. In fact, there’s considerable research that indicates daydreaming is actually good for your brain, which is why so many of us do it, especially when we’re not fully engaged in the task at hand.
As described in "The Virtues of Daydreaming," a study conducted by two Harvard researchers a few years ago found that people let their minds wander 47 percent of the time they are awake. They concluded by using an iPhone app that contacted the 2250 study participants at random times during the day.
Far from being a sign of laziness, daydreaming seems to be an essential cognitive tool. When we are slightly bored, we start to daydream about making up our own associations or scenarios. These thoughts that spontaneously spill into our brains can be very useful in helping us invent new possibilities.
While no one likes to do repetitive, unchallenging tasks – dusting retail shelves or unpacking boxes of supplies and putting them away, for example – the good news is that they leave you with plenty of mental resources to daydream, which can benefit you in several ways, says Huffington Post in "Hey, It's OK To Have Your Head In The Clouds.” Among them, daydreaming can lead to.
Improved creativity
Daydreaming can boost your creativity because it involves the same brain processes you use for being creative and imaginative.
Epiphanies
Daydreaming can lead to a sudden awareness – even a brilliant new idea -- because daydreaming is actually the result of your mind being active. Daydreaming is correlated with the working memory - that’s the memory you use to temporarily store, organize and manipulate information versus short term memory, which you use to store information for anywhere from 20 to 30 seconds temporarily. Another way of looking at working memory is to consider it part of your brain that allows you to make sense of what’s happening right now.
Better self-awareness
Daydreaming can lead to self-awareness. Daydreaming can be a great way to get in touch with you.
So rather than stifle your daydreams, let your mind wander when it needs to. Take note of the ideas you generate when you do. You may be surprised some of your best ideas happen when you daydream.