Daydream your way to happiness

via Daily Prompt: Pretend

Remember when you were young, and you pretended that you were someone else?  When I was little, sometimes I’d be a bus driver, sometimes a pilot, sometimes a doctor, sometimes a vet, sometimes a detective.

Just as  kittens stalk leaves and toys as imaginary mice, we mold our young brains by pretending.  Fortunately, it’s not entirely that deadly serious, or otherwise I’d be trying for a career as an elevator or trolley car!  However, we can shape our thinking by pretending.

As adults, many of us forget this.  We live our lives, rooted in the ordinary routine.  We might forget to stop and wonder what things would be like if we were other people, or acted in different ways.  We miss out on a rich buffet of possibilities.  Later, we see an opportunity and say “why didn’t I see that coming?  Why couldn’t I have taken advantage of that and live my dreams?”

We can get around this by pretending.

Taking a few moments to let your mind fly free, and imagine every detail about how things might be if circumstances were different can prepare you if things really do change.  Some might do this to roleplaying games, others through guided meditation, but daydreaming can be done most places, in just a few minutes, with no special equipment or partners. It’s also a form of meditation if you allow it to be.

If you take a moment and just wonder, pretend, it might open up doors to opportunity you never saw.  Who would you be if you could be anyone, do anything?  What would that feel like?  Is there something you can do right now that is more along those lines, instead of your mundane everyday?

Let’s pretend.