1、Unit 8 Daydream a LittleEugene Raudsepp Daydreaming has always had reputation,but now scientific research has revealed that daydreaming may actually improve your mental healthand creativity. It can even help you achieve your desired goals.Daydreaming again, Barb? Youll never amount to anything if yo

2、u spend your time that way!Cant you find something useful to do? Many youngsters have heard words like those from theirparents. And until recently this hostile attitude towards daydreaming was the most common one.Daydreaming was viewed as a waste of time. Or it was considered and unhealthy escape fr

3、om reallife and its duties. But now some people are taking a fresh look at daydreaming. Some think it may bea very healthy thing to do.Attitudes towards daydreaming are changing in much the same way that attitudes towards nightdreaming have changed. Once it was thought that nighttime dreams interfer

4、ed with our needed rest.But then researchers tried interrupting the dreams of sleepers. They learned that sleepers whoarentallowed to dream lost the benefits of rest. They become tense and anxious. They become irritable.They have trouble concentrating. Their mental health is temporarily damaged. To

5、feel well again,they must be allowed to dream.Now researchers are finding that daydreaming may also be important to mental health.Daydreaming, they tell us, is a good means of relaxation. But its benefits go beyond this. A numberofpsychologists have conducted experiments and have reached some surpri

6、sing conclusions.Dr. Joan T. Freyberg has concluded that daydreaming contributes to intellectual growth. It alsoimproves concentration, attention span, and the ability to get along with others, she says. In anexperiment with school children, this same researcher found that daydreaming led the childr

7、en topay more attention to detail. They had more happy feelings. They worked together better. Anotherresearcher reported that daydreaming seemed to produce improved self-control and creativeabilities.But thats only part of the story. The most remarkable thing about daydreaming maybe itsusefulness in

8、 shaping our future lives as wewant them to be. Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser believedthat much of his success was due to the positive use of daydreaming. He maintained that you canimagine your future. Florence Nightingale dreamed of becoming a nurse. The young ThomasEdisonpictured himself as an inv

9、entor. For these notable achievers, it appears that their daydreams cametrue.Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick believed that the way we picture ourselves is often the way we turnout. He offered this advice: Hold a picture of yourselfin yourminds eye, and you will be drawn toward it. Picture yourself vividly

10、 as defeated, and that will makevictory impossible. Picture yourself as winning, and that will contribute immeasurably to success. Donot picture yourself as anything, and you will driftThe experiences of someathletes seemto confirm this belief. For instance, John Uelses, aformer pole-vaulting champi

11、on, used daydreaming techniques before each meet. He would imaginehimself winning. He would vividly picture himself clearing the bar at a certain height. He would goover all the details in his mind. He would picture the stadium and the crowds. Hed even imagine thesmell of the grass and the earth. He

12、 said that this exercise of the imagination left memory traces inhis mind that would later help his actual performance.Whywould a mental vision of success help produce real success? Dr. Maxwel Maltz, a surgeonand author, say this: Your nervous system cannot tell the difference between an imaginedexp

13、erience and real experience. In either case it reacts automatically to information that you give itIt reacts appropriately to whatyou think or imagine to be true.He believes that purposeful daydreaming builds new memories in the brain. These positivememories improve a persons self-image. And self-im

14、age has an important effect on a personsaction and accomplishments.Can you use purposeful daydreaming to shape your own future? Why not try? Here is howthose who believe in creative daydreaming recommend going about it. Choose a time when you canbe alone and undisturbed. Close your eyes, to permit y

15、our imagination to soar more freely. Manypeople find that they get best results by pretending that they are sitting before a large screen. Theyproject the desired image of themselves onto that screen.Now picture yourselfas vividly as possiblethe way you want to be. Remembertopicture your desired goa

16、ls as if you had already attained them. Go over all the details of this picture.See them clearly and sharply. Impress them strongly on your memory. The resulting memory traceswill supposedly start affecting your everyday life. They will help lead you to the attainment to yourgoals.Of course daydream

17、ing is no substitutefor hard work. If its athleticachievement you want, you also have to get lots of practice in your sport. You have to work hard todevelop skills.If its school success youre after, you cant neglectstudying Daydreaming alone cant turn you into your hearts desire.But incombination wi

18、th the more usual methods of self-development, it might makea critical difference. Itcould be the difference between becoming merely good at something and becoming a champion.If what researchers are saying is true, a life lived without fantasies and daydreams isnt as richand rewarding as life can be

19、. So they suggest setting aside a few minutes each day for daydreaming.By so doing, you may improve your physical and mental well-being. By taking a ten-or fifteen-minutevacation into the realm of imagination each day, you may add much to the excitement andenjoyment of your life. And who knows: You

20、might see your own daydreams come true.做點白日夢“巴勃，你又在做白日夢啦如果你那樣消磨時間，你將一事無成！你就不能找點兒有用 的事做做”許多年輕人都聽父親講過類似的話，而且直到最近，對待白日夢的這種敵視態度還是非 常常見的。做白日夢被認為是浪費時間，或者逃避現實生活及其職責的不健康行為。但是， 現在有些人對白日夢有了全新的看法。有人認為做白日夢也許有益于健康。人們對白日夢的態度正在變化，這與人們對夜間做夢的態度的變化非常相似。人們一直 認為夜間做夢打擾了他們所需要的的休息。 后來，研究者試圖打斷睡眠者的夢， 但他們獲悉， 不讓睡眠者做夢， 他們就不能從休

21、息中獲益。 他們變得緊張不安， 煩躁易怒， 精神難以集中， 他們的精神健康受到了暫時的損害。要恢復健康，就得讓他們做夢?，F在研究人員正發現白日夢對心理健康也很重要。他們告訴我們，白日做夢是一種很好 的休息方式。但它們的好處并不僅限于此，一些心理學家進行過實驗，得出一些令人吃驚的 結論。瓊弗雷伯格博士已得出結論，白日做夢會促進智力發展。她說：“白日做夢還可以 使人的注意力更集中，延長注意力集中的時間，并能增強與別人相處的能力。對在校兒童進 行的一項試驗中，這位研究人員發現白日夢能使孩子們更加注意細節，他們感到更加愉快， 能更好的合作。另一名研究人員報告說，白日做夢似乎能改善自制力和創造力。但這僅

22、僅是事情的一部分。 有關白日做夢的最引人矚目的事情也許是它們在按照我們的 愿望塑造我們未來生活中的用處。工業家亨利.J.凱澤認為，他的成功大部分應歸功于對白 日夢的積極利用。他堅持認為“你可以想象你的未來”。佛羅倫斯.南丁格爾曾夢想成為一 名護士。年輕時代的托馬斯.愛迪生把自己想象成一個發明家。對這些著名的成功者來說， 似乎他們的白日夢變成了現實。哈里.埃莫森.福斯迪克博士認為，我們想象自己是什么樣子，結果往往就成為什么樣子 的人。他個我們一個忠告，“在你心目中給自己樹立一個形象.這樣你就會向這個形象靠攏。如果你比真的想想自己被打敗了，單這一點你就不可能再獲得成功。如果你想想自己 勝利了，那將會對成功起到不可估量的作用。如果你不在以上中為自己樹立一個形象，你就 會隨波逐流”一些運動員的經歷似乎證實了這種看法。例如，前撐桿跳冠軍約翰.尤賽爾斯每次運動 會前都要運用白日做夢的技術。 他想想自己贏了， 他逼真的想想自己在某個高度越過了橫桿。 他在腦海里把所有細節都一一想象一遍。 他想象著體育館和觀眾， 甚至還有草地和泥土的氣