I picked up an article today from Straits Times dated September 23rd, 2009, called In praise of daydreaming, by Ho Kwon Ping. And it mentioned the fact that daydreaming isn't as mindless as convention supposes!
This is what neuroscientist Kalina Christoff has to say: "People assumed that when your mind wandered it was empty. But mind wandering is a much more active state than we ever imagined, much more active than during reasoning with a complex problem."And well, if there's one thing I admit to doing a lot of... it's daydreaming. So yay! :P I even remember when I was three or four, my granny used to scold me, "Oi, apasal termenung!" (Which literally translates to, "Oi, why are you daydreaming!") But for some reason, I managed to pay attention in class though. Because well, I've always loved to learn, and my mum probably inculcated in me a drive for excellence, unconscious it may be on my part.
Neuroscientists were able to measure far more brain activity in volunteers who tried to solve a problem through insight than in those who applied logic. "We often assume that if we don't notice our thoughts they don't exist," said Dr Christoff. "When we don't notice them is when we may be thinking most creatively."
Studies show that problem-solving by insight - when you suddenly feel the pieces click - requires both a higher degree and a different pattern of neural resources than methodical, logical thinking. Daydreaming seems to be a fundamental basis for insight.
I have this very vivid memory of the time when I realised getting As was a good thing - haha. I remember I was sitting next to Chia Min (who I met again recently and is now working at MCYS - amazing how we're so old) in Primary 1 and she was colouring some grapes. I think it was math class and we were allowed to colour in the pictures when we finished work. And I remember thinking how Chia Min did it well; oooh, that's pretty. Some time later, I remember my parents talking to me. And they kept bugging me about my classmates. I remember my mum asking, "So is there anyone in class you think is very smart?" And I'm like... ehhhhhh? I don't know... But I mentioned Chia Min. Haha! But right then... I don't know, I suddenly got it -- that it was about competition. That I was supposed to look out for those of my peers who were doing well, and do as well, or better. And thus, a large part of my childhood was about doing well in school. :O
I have digressed, eh heh. :P The point is, yes! Daydreaming is not a bad thing after all.
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