“Advantage Miss Brean. Championship
Point.”
The spectators hold their breath,
waiting for the reigning Queen of Wimbledon to save herself from an unexpected
and humiliating defeat. Surely, her 15-year old opponent, this wild card child
with a devastating backhand volley, the perfect figure, flawless complexion and
really beautiful hair, won’t be able
to hold her nerve! Slowly, carefully, the older player tosses the ball into the
air, draws back her arm, positions her racket and Wham! The ball zings across
the court and skims over the net, spinning wide of the young girl opposite. Jacy
reaches out, every sinew stretched towards the round yellow object and....
“Jacy Brean! What’s the square root of 945?”
Startled by this unwarranted intrusion, I find myself back in the classroom
with an empty exercise book in front of me. Miss Sheehan is not amused. “Write
out one hundred times, ‘I must not daydream during double maths!’”
From as far back as I remember my life
has been divided into three main states of consciousness. When I’m asleep, when
I’m working and when I’m daydreaming. The first two activities together account
for...oooh, 33 percent of my time. The rest of my time, if I’m honest, has been
spent in a parallel universe.
But I’m getting better. Motherhood, the
need to earn a living and do the normal things of life – such as eating – have
forced me to ‘get real’, a state of consciousness to which I used to be a total
stranger but where, for the most part, I now reside. I’ve not stopped
daydreaming completely, though. After all, daydreaming has its uses. While
waiting in a queue at supermarket checkouts, I’m actually galloping across the
desert on a beautiful Arab stallion; when confronted by a dull and
over-talkative acquaintance, I’m mentally preparing for the next assault on Everest;
and train journeys fly by when I’m auditioning for my latest West End play.
Last time this happened, Judi Dench took so long over her soliloquy, she made
me miss my stop!
Daydreaming is such a wonderful way to
escape the problems and tedium of day to day life, I’m surprised more people
don’t indulge. But there you have it – the world is separated into practical
people who concentrate on realities and actually achieve something, and people like me whose successes are merely
imagined.
People from all walks of life have
imagination, of course, but daydreaming goes beyond the normal ability to envision
situations. It puts the dreamer centre stage where he or she can actually feel the
relevant emotions, as though living in a novel or film. Such virtual experiences can help a person to
develop empathy and to explore outcomes to real-life problems. And, according
to a recent study by Daniel Levinson, a psychologist at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, USA*, people whose minds wander during tasks may be more
intelligent, with greater ‘working memory’ which enables them to do two things
at once.
But there’s a downside. Spending most of
one’s time on ‘another planet’ may prevent us from confronting issues in the
here and now. It can distance us from others and result in an unrealistic,
overblown view of ourselves and our abilities. Does every XFactor hopeful
really have what it takes, or are they merely chasing the ‘dream’? Sadly, you
only have to watch the initial auditions to see how few competitors possess the
necessary talent – talent invariably honed by the finalists through years of
sweat, tears and training.
Lack of concentration can be
embarrassing too. I’ve lost count of the number of people I’ve offended by
chuckling after they’ve told me their dog/cat/grandmother’s died! It’s not that
I’m heartless, mind – just that I lose track between setting sail for Fiji and
winning the Nobel Prize for Literature.
And, while daydreaming may seem harmless
on the whole, much depends on their content. A craving for riches, for example,
can lead to gambling, fraud or other dubious practices. Romantic fantasies may revolve
around another person’s partner, resulting in broken hearts, homes and
families. Or they may lead us to follow a glamorous but highly competitive
career to which we may not even be suited.
A few years ago, I asked a group of
friends whether they daydreamed. All did. One girl had the very natural dream
of marriage and children, the proverbial cottage with roses round the door. One
(rather aggressive) young man imagined battling with a faceless opponent over a
parking space – an incident that led to violence and a highly dramatic court
case.
During the discussions, my best friend, Lynda
arrived and listened intently without adding any revelations of her own. But
then, no one could imagine Linda daydreaming, she was far too down-to-earth. “Of
course I do!” she exclaimed. “Really?” we asked, by now completely agog. “What
about?” Linda’s eyes narrowed with concentration, as we awaited her
pronouncement. Finally, she remembered her most cherished fantasy:
“Tax rebates.”
*Published in Psychological Science
See also: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2116032/Lost-daydreams-It-sign-youre-intelligent-absent-minded-children-sharper-brains.html
