Daydream Addiction and Derealization/Depersonalization

While daydreaming isn't generally recognized as being something that can be addictive. It certainly can be, and many people are addicted to daydreaming. People daydream for a few reasons...

-To plan (typically a useful application)

-To feel good (a possibly negative application)

-To escape reality (a possibly negative application)

When we daydream, the awareness of our senses becomes greatly diminished. The weird thing about awareness is that we aren't aware of what we aren't aware of. When we lose the awareness of our sight--for example--we aren't aware of it. Fortunately, the brain still stores the information coming into the eyes (in a limited, unfocused way...because the eyes are either focused on physical objects or not, here the brain "fills in" the perceptual gaps). 

The reason reality (the self is part of our reality) doesn't seem real is because it isn't. The senses have gotten into the habit of ignoring (i.e. to escape reality) so much that the brain is in overdrive to "fill in the gaps". On a certain level, the brain is aware of the fact that much of the reality it is attempting to form is imaginary, thus causing the feelings of derealization. Derealization can be a very scary thing, and in order to cope, daydreaming can be used (again, as an escape).

Daydreaming can feel very good, a person can put together a story line that makes them feel a wide variety of emotions and psuedo-perceptions. It is the fact that it can feel very good and be used as an escape that creates the possibility of it being an addictive behavior. 

Daydreaming itself is a cause of derealization. In fact, it is the ultimate state of derealization. The best thing to do if you find yourself here is to stop daydreaming. The next best thing is to reduce it dramatically. Either way, the opposite of daydreaming is mindfulness. Use the search bar on this blog to look up some of my writings about mindfulness or even Google it. 

I like to keep my blogs posts short and sweet, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. 

How to instantly rid the self of delusion.

Humans, in order to function well in complex society, must possess a certain amount of useful delusions. The main delusion that allows for this is believing that a past and future exist. The reality is that the past and future are us believing that are imaginations are real (when people imagine the past and future, they often believe it is). All that is created by the imagination is imaginary, and when we believe it is something more, this is delusion warping the perception of reality. For example, people with anxiety problems often worry about the future, but what they are experiencing when they worry is imaginary (at the time it seems real, which is why it affects them).

So, in order to rid ourselves of delusion instantly, we must bring ourselves to the awareness that there is no past or future (such things are imaginary) and perceive the world only through the senses (anything "outside" of the senses is produced by the imagination). This can be done by repeating the following affirmation, and believing it...

"there is no past or future, and nothing exists that I can be aware of beyond my senses..."

Believable Day-Terrors

Day terrors occur when we are partially asleep (i.e. not mindful or awake). While it's hard to be fully awake, even when practicing meditation and mindfulness techniques. This is because most of us have become so used to not being totally awake (being lost in thoughts, which are really just dreams that occur while being partially awake). And sadly, this sort of habit leaves us vulnerable to stress and causes a weakening of our ability to be aware (i.e. mindful, awake, and so on).

The scariest of day-terrors are those that we find to be the most believable. Just about any day-terror has an emotional effect, but for the moments that we truly believe the day-terror is really happening, it has an effect nearly as powerful as if it were. Such as if we are worrying about something we plan on doing in the future, and some scenario pops up with some problem(s). The fact that we find it incredibly believable that this event will happen (it being based on a real-life plan), this is why it can cause an incredible amount of stress. I believe this habit is learned by-the-way, but that is a different subject all-together. In short, a day-terror (or "worrying thought") is much more emotionally disturbing if we believe it is real, and the closer of an association with reality the day-terror has, the more "real" it will seem. Whenever you worry about the future, this is a day-terror (it's not real, reality is what's occurring in the present moment as you experience via the senses, anything else is just a thought).

Be mindful.