Unit Twelve
Let Your Mind Wander
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Until recently daydreaming was generally considered either a waste of time or a symptom of neurotic tendencies, and habitual daydreaming was regarded as evidence of maladjustment or an escape from life's realities and responsibilities. It was believed that habitual daydreaming would eventually distance people from society and reduce their effectiveness in coping with real problems. At its best, daydreaming was considered a compensatory substitute for the real things in life. |
直到最近白日做梦通常被认为是浪费时间或者是神经官能症倾向的一种症状,而习惯性的白日做梦被认为是精神失调或者逃避生活现实和责任的证据。人们相信,习惯性的白日做梦最终会把人同社会疏远并降低他们在处理实际问题时的成效。白日做梦最好也不过被认为是对生活中实际事物的一种补偿性的替代。 |
As with anything carried to excess, daydreaming can be harmful. There are always those who would substitute fantasy lives for the rewards of real activity. But such extremes are relatively rare, and there is a growing body of evidence to support the fact that most people suffer from a lack of daydreaming rather than an excess of it.We are now beginning to learn how valuable it really is and that when individuals are completely prevented from daydreaming, their emotional balance can be disturbed. Not only are they less able to deal with the pressures of day-to-day existence, but also their self-control and self-direction become endangered. |
像任何事情过分都可能有害,白日做梦也一样。总有那么一些人,他们用想入非非的生活来代替从实际活动得到的好处。但是这类极端的情况较为罕见,愈来愈多的证据却支持这样一种现象,即大部分人受白日做梦过少而不是过多之苦。现在我们开始了解,白日做梦如何真有价值.并且人如果白日完全不做梦,他们的情绪平衡会被打乱。不仅他们应付每日生活的压力的能力会变差,他们的自我控制和自我导向能力也会受到损害。 |
Recent research indicates that daydreaming is part of daily life and that a certain amount each day is essential for maintaining equilibrium. Daydreaming, science has discovered, is an effective relaxation technique. But its beneficial effects go beyond this. Experiments show that daydreaming significantly contributes to intellectual growth, powers of concentration, and the ability to interact and communicate with others. In an experiment with schoolchildren in New York, Dr. Joan Freyberg observed improved concentration: "There was less running around, more happy feelings, more talking and playing in the group, and more attention paid to detail." |
研究表明,白日做梦是日常生活的一部分,每天白天做一定的梦对保持情绪平衡是必不可少的,科学已经发现,白日做梦是一种有效的松弛办法。但它的好处不只这些。试验证明,白日做梦对智力发展、注意力集中和同别人的交往和沟通有相当大的好处。 通过用纽约的小学生做实验,琼·弗雷伯格观察到孩子们的专心程度得到了改善:“跑来跑去的情况少了,愉快的心情多了,更多的人在一起谈话和玩耍,对细节的注意力增强了。 |
In another experiment at Yale University, Dr. Jerome Singer found that daydreaming resulted in improved self-control and enhanced creative thinking ability. Daydreaming, Singer pointed out, is one way individuals can improve upon reality. It is, he concluded, a powerful spur to achievement. But the value of daydreaming does not stop here. It has been found that it improves a person's ability to be better adapted to practical, immediate concerns, to solve everyday problems, and to come up more readily with new ideas. Contrary to popular belief, constant and conscious effort at solving a problem is, in reality, one of the most inefficient ways of coping with it. While conscious initial effort is always necessary, effective solutions to especially severe problems frequently occur when conscious attempts to solve them have been put off. Inability to relax, to let go of a problem, often prevents its solution. |
在另一个耶鲁大学做的实验里,杰罗姆·辛格博士发现,白日做梦导致自我控制的改善和创造性思维能力的增强。辛格指出,白日做梦是人们改善现实的一种方法。他得出结论说,白日做梦强烈激发人取得成就。 但白日做梦的价值并不到此为止。人们已经发现,它能改善一个人的能力,使他能更好地适应实际的紧迫的事务,解决日常问题并且更容易地提出新的想法。与一般人的看法相反,经常有意识地致力解决某个问题,实际上是一种效果最差的处理问题的方法。虽然最初的有意识的努力永远是必要的,但对特别困难问题的有效解决办法常常在这种有意识的努力遇到了阻碍的时候才会出现。不会放松,不会放过问题,常常妨碍问题的解决。 |
Historically, scientists and inventors are one group that seems to take full advantage of relaxed moments. Their biographies reveal that their best ideas seem to have occurred when they were relaxing and daydreaming. It is well known, for example, that Newton solved many of his toughest problems when his attention was waylaid by private musings. Thomas Alva Edison also knew the value of "half waking" states. Whenever confronted with a task which seemed too hard to be dealt with, he would stretch out on his laboratory sofa and let fantasies flood his mind. Painters, writers, and composers also have drawn heavily on their sensitivity to inner fantasies. Debussy used to gaze at the River Seine and the golden reflections of the selling sun to establish an atmosphere for creativity. Brahms found that ideas came effortless only when he approached a state of deep daydreaming. And Cesar Frank is said to have walked around with a dreamlike gaze while composing, seemingly totally unaware of his surroundings. |
在历史上,科学家和发明家是似乎能充分利用松弛时刻的一类人。他们的传记揭示出,他们最出色的想法是在他们放松和白日做梦时出现的。比如,众所周知,牛顿的很多最困难的问题都是他的注意力被个人的遐想打断时解决的。托马斯·埃尔瓦·爱迪生也懂得“半醒”状态的价值。无论什么时候他遇到一个似乎解决不了的问题时,他会躺在沙发上,四肢舒展,让各种幻觉涌满他的脑海。 画家、作家和作曲家都十分依赖对内心幻觉的敏感性。德彪西习惯于凝视着塞纳河上落日的金色倒影来确立一种创造的气氛。布拉姆斯发现,只有当他接近一种深沉的白日梦境时,他的乐思才轻松而来。据说赛萨尔·弗兰克在作曲的时候,走来走去,朦胧凝眸,仿佛毫不意识周围的一切。 |
Many successful people actually daydreamed their successes and achievements long before they realized them. Henry J. Kaiser maintained that "you can imagine your future,'' and he believed that a great part of his business success was due to positive use of daydreams. Harry S. Truman said that he used daydreaming for rest. Conrad Hilton dreamed of operating a hotel when he was a boy. He recalled that all his accomplishments were first realized in his imagination. |
很多有成就的人实际上在他们取得成就之前很久就梦寐以求地幻想过功业。亨利·凯泽主张“你应该想像你的未来。”他相信,他事业成功大部分应归功于积极利用白日梦。哈利·杜鲁门说过,他把白日做梦当成一种休息。康拉德·希尔顿还是个孩子的时候就梦见过开旅馆。他回忆说,他的全部成就最早都是在想像中实现的。 |
"Great living starts with a picture, held in some person's imagination, of what he would like someday to do or be. Florence Nightingale dreamed of being a nurse. Edison pictured himself an inventor; all such characters escaped the mere push of circumstance by imagining a future so vividly that they headed for it." These are the words of the well-known thinker Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, and they show that people can literally daydream themselves to success. Fosdick, aware of the wonderful power of positive daydreaming, offered this advice: "Hold a picture of yourself long and steadily enough in your mind's eye, and you will be drawn toward it. Picture yourself vividly as defeated and that alone will make victory impossible. Picture yourself as winning and that will contribute remarkably to success. Do not picture yourself as anything, and you will drift like an abandoned ship at sea." |
“伟大的生活起始于一个人在想像中幻想自己有朝一日能做出什么事业或成为什么人物。弗洛伦斯—南丁格尔梦想能成为一名护士。爱迪生把自己想成一名发明家。所有这些人都如此生动地幻想自己的未来,朝着这个即定方向前进,从而避免了单纯地受环境的推动。”这是著名的思想家哈利·爱默生·福斯迪克所说的话。这些话说明,人确实可以通过幻想自己而取得成就。福斯迪克知道积极的白日梦的神奇作用,提出了如下的意见:“如果你经久地、坚定地在你的想像中给自己描绘一个形象,你将会被引往这个形象。你如果把自己生动地幻想成一个战败者,单单这一点就能使胜利成为不可能。你要把自己幻想成一个胜利者,这将显著地有助你取得成就。你要是什么也不幻想自己,你将像一条被遗弃的船,在大海上四处漂泊。”
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To get the results, you should picture yourself — as vividly as possible — as you want to be. The important thing to remember is to picture these desired objectives as if you had already attained them. Go over several times the details of these pictures. This will deeply impress them on your memory, and these memory traces will soon start influencing your everyday behavior toward the attainment of the goal. While exercising your imagination, you should be alone and completely undisturbed. Some individuals seem to have the ability to tune into their private selves in the midst of the noisiest crowds or company. But most of us, especially when the experience is new, require an environment free from outside distraction. |
如想得到期望的结果,你应把自己——尽可能生动地——幻想成你要成为的人。重要的是要记住,你幻想这些期望的目标时就好像你已经实现了他们那样。要把幻想的细节在脑子里反复想几遍,这样它们会深深地印在你的记忆中,而这些记忆的痕迹将很快影响你每天的行为去实现你的目标。 在幻想的时候,你应该独处一处,完全不受外界干扰。有些人能做到在非常喧闹的人群中调节自己,进人自我。但我们中的大多数人,特别当我们这样做还感到生疏时,需要有一个不受外界干扰的环境。 |
A life lived without fantasy and daydreaming is a seriously impoverished one. Each of us should put aside a few minutes daily, taking short 10- or 15-minute vacations. Daydreaming is highly beneficial to your physical and mental well-being, and you will find that this modest, inexpensive investment in time will add up to a more creative and imaginative, a more satisfied, and a more self-fulfilled you.It offers us a fuller sense of being intensely alive from moment to moment, and this, of course, contributes greatly to the excitement and joy of living. |
人的一生如果没有想像和梦幻,他的一生将是十分贫乏的。我们每个人每天都应留出几分钟来,享有一次短短的10或15分钟的休闲。白日做梦对你的身心健康大为有益。你会发现这份小小的花费不多的时间投资最终带来的是一个更有创造性,更富有想像力,更心满意足和更踌躇满志的你。它时时使我们更充分地意识到强烈的活力,这当然会大大有助于我们生活的激奋和欢乐。 |