We often talk about the things that we want out of life. We talk about the house we will one day buy, the car of our dreams, the family. But in reality that conversation is just the practice of daydreaming and sometimes nothing more. Curiously though daydreaming is a mental tool that helps us face our realities a little bit better.

Just think about it for a minute here. Have you ever been in a stressful situation, dealing with a problem you have absolutely no solution to? At least not one that you can see easily? Have you also not imagined a perfect outcome to solve it, even if it doesn’t make sense? Like winning a bet, money all of the sudden appearing in your bank account. What are the triggers making us smile? If nothing has changed, why are we smiling?

There is a small trick to learn from these interesting events: Our ability to shape our reality. Not physically of course, but our perception of reality. Now I’m not making a case for living in a world of delusions, I’m simply pointing out how this curious mental feature we all have works.

It’s often because of this little trick that our mind can play that I think of problems in a different way, specially if they are the type to keep me from my sleep. You could say I’m practicing dishonesty, self brainwashing, but the intention behind the mental exercise is to pull myself from the precipice of pessimism.

In a recently spoke with a good friend that is going through some rough times. Many of the things that are happening are the type of problems that can’t be helped. The economy not being ideal, a relationship that ended are issues that sheer will can’t just fix. I was trying to explain to him the idea behind the mental trick: The ability to project ourselves in positive light.

Sometimes it takes very little imagination to see ourselves overcoming the challenges. Other times it requires a lot of mental work, but the challenge is almost always worth it. Ask yourself one thing. What could I possibly do if I was too stressed, too afraid to move? The answer is obvious, nothing. The cloud that we fall into, the confusing dust that now fills the room is too suffocating for us to attempt to think.

Maybe the goal of the mental trick is to find an emotional balance from which to build from. To achieve some clarity in order to make the right decisions. I suspect something very similar happens to one’s mind when we take vacations, and probably that’s why we seem to need them that often.

As they say, food for thought.

@chbartist

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