# What do you daydream?



## Coburn (Sep 3, 2010)

Where does your mind wander when bored?

Do your daydreams fall in the past, present, future, or just plain out of this world?

And how often do your daydreams shake up your actual life?


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## phoenixmarie (Jun 28, 2013)

My daydreams usually consist solely of memories, both negative and positive ones. If it's not a memory that I'm thinking of, it's going to be about something realistic, like an event that would likely occur in the future. I'm not very imaginative, I like to think about practical things. I can't really understand people who just come up with random, fantastical thoughts.


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## monemi (Jun 24, 2013)

Not SJ but browsing forum and thought I'd add my own daydreams. I usually day dream during my runs. 

I like to daydream about sex, but unfortunately my daydreams don't usually stay on sex. 

Sometimes I daydream about odd pointless stuff, like the omnipotence paradox until my own thoughts annoy the crap out of me and I have to think about something else. Such a stupid way to spend my time but it happens. 

Sometimes I think about a date night with my husband or think about whether we can organize a weekend getaway. 

Sometimes I daydream about my nightmares and go back over them. Why is this bothering me? Why would I dream that? What can I do so I don't get that one again. I'm not a good sleeper, so taking time to examine my dreams seems to help with the quality of my sleep. Not a fun way to pass the time, but necessary. 

Other daydreams include where I want to take my kids next. I like showing them the world. Small things or big things. 

If I'm just sitting bored, I don't daydream. I start squirming and fidgeting and annoying people. It's better if my kids are with me, they'll play with me. I can draw people on our fingertips. Teach them how to snap their fingers or whistle. Make a competition of who can recite the alphabet backwards. Teach them how to blow bubbles with bubblegum. Draw with them. If we have space, get them to stand on their heads. Waiting is always easier for me when I have kids to occupy me. If it gets really bad, I'll meditate. Time isn't so painfully slow when I stop thinking and just focus inwardly and breathe. 

I suppose my daydreams are a mix of the past, present and future. They don't shake up my real life but they do impact my real life. 

I'm interested to see if more SJ's post on this thread.


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## jcal (Oct 31, 2013)

Typically, my daydreams are about the present or the immediate future... often playing out different scenarios that could result from a decision I'm in the process of making. Could be work-related or personal. The other common scenario is that I will find myself rehearsing how I think an upcoming encounter, meeting or conversation might happen. They don't often go exactly as planned, but it puts me in the right frame of mind for the expected topics. It's not so much like studying for an exam as it is loading the right vocabulary.

Fantasy scenarios and replaying of past experiences are virtually non-existent.


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## Wellsy (Oct 24, 2011)

My daydreams are usually about ideas more than myself or others specifically.
It's all rather general where some ideas come together to make me aware of a new view in a amalgamation.

I don't think they're in time because they're not about specific events though they help provide reference to shape the ideas.
I think my life being shook brings me to thoughts more than my thoughts shaking my life up.
Like a week or so ago I kind of blew up, I was as emotional as I was as a neurotic child, after I was able to let go and get over it, I was then able to explore what triggered it and I came to an improved understanding of others and myself.

Walking alone and long showers are good places to lose my mind.


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## niss (Apr 25, 2010)

This brings on that same deer in headlights feeling I get when SWMBO asks, "What are you thinking?"

I don't want to go through the trouble of verbalizing all of that...I'll just give my stock reply, "Nothin'."


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## Coburn (Sep 3, 2010)

niss said:


> This brings on that same deer in headlights feeling I get when SWMBO asks, "What are you thinking?"
> 
> I don't want to go through the trouble of verbalizing all of that...I'll just give my stock reply, "Nothin'."


How I feel reading your short and awfully lacking post:


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## niss (Apr 25, 2010)

Dumaresq said:


> How I feel reading your short and awfully lacking post:


Well, at least you didn't say, "We need to talk," which is where SWMBO takes it.


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## jamaix (Sep 20, 2013)

Since I am sitting here reading others comments and trying to figure out what it is I daydream about, I am forced to conclude I don't spend a lot of time daydreaming. I know it sounds sad but I really spend more time thinking about what I need to do and what I should be doing with my time. I know.............sounds boring!


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## niss (Apr 25, 2010)

jamaix said:


> Since I am sitting here reading others comments and trying to figure out what it is I daydream about, I am forced to conclude I don't spend a lot of time daydreaming. I know it sounds sad but I really spend more time thinking about what I need to do and what I should be doing with my time. I know.............sounds boring!


Pretty much the same for me. As a kid, I was quite a daydreamer, but anymore it is just thinkin' thoughts about stuffs.


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## Bugs (May 13, 2014)

Dumaresq said:


> Where does your mind wander when bored?
> 
> Do your daydreams fall in the past, present, future, or just plain out of this world?
> 
> And how often do your daydreams shake up your actual life?


My mind wonders all over the place. It's hard to pin down something exactly. It's typically about an alternate present or possible future. I've been known to take many 'mind vacations'. I often try to transform whatever is in my mind into reality if its a good enough idea.


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## Bugs (May 13, 2014)

phoenixmarie said:


> My daydreams usually consist solely of memories, both negative and positive ones. If it's not a memory that I'm thinking of, it's going to be about something realistic, like an event that would likely occur in the future. I'm not very imaginative, I like to think about practical things. I can't really understand people who just come up with random, fantastical thoughts.


Wow you're just like my ISFJ cousin/best friend. We both tend to daydream quite a bit but in totally different ways. He's looking back and focused on something concrete ( whereas I am way more abstract) like how he had buyers remorse buying a computer upgrade and thinking about little details on how it could be better. I am future orientated like if I have buyers remorse I'm thinking about some other application I could use a bad product for to turn it into a good one or at least make up a funny story about it . He's more serious than me. We are very much the same but so different. It's hard to describe. But there isn't another person growing up that I trusted more! That's a compliment to ISFJs if they are all like that


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## ESFPlover (Mar 1, 2015)

I think when I wander the most when I'm bored, I got something else better to do. I wander mostly on the past, it sucks, I get hung up on it sometimes, but I think to myself you can't change that shit, you gotta move forward and live in the present. That's all you have is the present, everything else will fall into place. 

My dreams and day dreams do have an effect on me, with relationships, I wish it didn't, but what can I say. You learn from your mistakes and see what happens. I'm just going with the flow right now, not to worry.


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## Buran (Nov 2, 2014)

I don't daydream a lot. Usually in idle moments I'm just thinking about upcoming events in order of how soon they are, soonest first, or not thinking about anything, just watching my surroundings, which is my way of mentally resting. Sometimes, though, I do daydream, and it's usually either something highly visual and visceral, or something hypothetical, like "What if half of the Earth were replaced with that part of Earth in the year 1900?" and other things like that- fun little thought experiments.


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## LavenderMoon (Mar 2, 2015)

I daydream all the time. ALL the time. While talking to people, while working, cooking, walking down the sidewalk, brushing my teeth...it's actually kind of annoying. I daydream about books that I've read, what would have happened if a character had made a different choice, what it would be like to be a different person, have different parents, be a different race or gender, have different talents, what would it be like to have a relationship with x person, what if my passions in life were different, what if I were President, etc. I daydream about speeches that I've heard and change them to make them more impactful according to me. Mostly I daydream about experiencing different things, like what I listed above and more things that I didn't. It's always centered around how doing or being something different would feel. It's kind of like I want to experience everything I can, but within the confines of my life I really can't, so I have to experience them in my mind.

I literally daydream so much that I find it hard to finish things sometimes because I'm so busy thinking, or I have a list of things to do and I only get one or two things done because I started daydreaming and a few hours went by. But now that I'm actually thinking about it, I'm wondering if maybe it isn't daydreaming at all. Maybe it's just how I think.


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## Tsubaki (Apr 14, 2015)

I actually see daydreaming as a way to plan my future actions during time, when I don't have anything useful to do. When I'm in the subway or something for a longer time, I like to make plans of what I could make for cosplay, steampunk or japanese fashion, what sewing patterns I could use, how I could make a top hat, what I could draw, what I want to serve at my next teaparty and stuff like this. Today, I spent a lot of time in the tram and I was planning a steampunk outfit in my head including how much fabric I will need, where I can get it, when I can go there and how much it will cost me ^^ Otherwise, I have to admit, that, when I have a really bad crush on someone, (hardly ever happens) I like to just do nothing and think about what he's doing, how I could get to know him better, what he could possibly like and something like that.


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## inregardstomyself (Mar 21, 2014)

What do I dream about?

Usually I daydream about scenarios I wish I could have. When I was younger I used to daydream that I was a character in my favorite books or TV shows, and I'd probably add a bit of fantastical elements to make it more dramatic (but not too outrageous ). Usually if got so sucked up in the story of a book, movie, or show I couldn't help but substitute myself in it. Or, if after I finished reading/watching and I wasn't ready to be done with that world, I would make up my own stories to continue the plot.

I think now I mostly daydream about things I could do, or things I wish would happen. I think of funny stories I could have with friends, or random adventures I could go on. I daydream of fun events I wish I could have - like a fantastic summer bonfire/beachparty with all my favorite music playing and all my friends there. And I'd just be so fun and carefree  I think about what it'd be like to have the things I wanted - like what if I got the position I wanted, or got into that school I liked. What if I met a random stranger on a train and we ended up bonding instantly? What if I randomly ran into that person I met at the airport at a coffee shop across the country?

I also daydream about art. I love to dance so I often imagine myself dancing to a choreography I just spontaneously made up in my head.

Otherwise you'll probably catch me mostly think about God, life, myself, people, the world at large, and my ideas about the relationships between them all. I like to think of life as one big piece of art, so I often daydream about that  I'll also introspect on important elements in my life (I introspect too much, I think. I overanalyze anything and everything). I'll think about the current state of my life, how I feel about it, what it means (the implications), and what I intend to do about it.

Hope that's helpful.


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## ScientiaOmnisEst (Oct 2, 2013)

Mostly scenarios starring whatever fictional characters have taken over my thoughts lately. If it's not that, it's fantasizing about some idealized possible life for myself, imagining myself in different scenarios, etc.

Can't say I've ever daydreamed about memories.


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## sin is happiness (May 12, 2016)

I daydream about my crush most times. Or what I am wanting to do when I get home.
Sometimes i'll fantasize about being in an action sci fi movie. IDK it really depends.


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## artofbalance (May 19, 2016)

jamaix said:


> Since I am sitting here reading others comments and trying to figure out what it is I daydream about, I am forced to conclude I don't spend a lot of time daydreaming. I know it sounds sad but I really spend more time thinking about what I need to do and what I should be doing with my time. I know.............sounds boring!


This is me too-- I rarely ever daydream. I sometimes wish I had the "head in the clouds" thing, but I don't think I ever truly have.


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## myst91 (Sep 9, 2014)

I don't care about daydreaming. I prefer getting what I want in reality.


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## EJCC (Sep 7, 2016)

I envision the current situation playing out in an elaborate and unlikely way, through various hypothetical scenarios. Like, if the building I was in fell down around me and then I had to get out, then went outside and found that I was in a post-apocalyptic wasteland... My daydreams can get very exciting and sometimes fight scenes or love stories are involved.


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## Ajaz (Sep 8, 2016)

I don't daydream much during the day, but I do at night and have done so from a young age. It's usually around love, sex, acting out unpleasant experiences from my past/present... sometimes I change the story to make it positive, other times I wallow in self pity. I decided to stop though, because I think it's extremely unhealthy and counterproductive.


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## Gossip Goat (Nov 19, 2013)

I day dream too much. Sometimes about the past, present or future. Or sometimes its just entirely made up. Usually about certain situations happening. Interacting with certain people. I do it a little _too_ often.

"And how often do your daydreams shake up your actual life?" I don't know what this is referring to.


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## Popinjay (Sep 19, 2011)

I mostly fantasize about girls (not in that way you dirty, dirty people). I fantasize about interacting with that girl I bump into at the water cooler...what I might say...how she would laugh and twirl her hair and touch my chest lightly...how I would say all the clever one-liners that grease the wheels to a first date. Then we'd find out that we either have the exact same politics or radically different politics (either of which is acceptable with me...so long as the person is hyperpolitical). We'd argue which would lead to...

Yeah, I fantasize about girls.


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