When was the last time you daydreamed? Do you remember what you thought about? What place did it take you to?
I suppose some people can beat themselves up in a daydream, but I think more often than not we're taking ourselves to somewhere we'd rather be. And I think the best part of it is it feels real.
Until we snap out of it of course and realize we're in class or walmart or in mid-argument with our partner.
People don't realize that their imagination can be a tool just like a hammer. You can use it to torture yourself, but you can also use it to better your situation.
If you've been cycling through your head all the ways you are unhappy with a situation, you are basically just playing the same gloomy film through your head a billion times. I think it happens pretty automatically, don't you?
But what if you played a different movie. What if you made the decision to say "this is what I would actually like to see myself do." Sit with that, focus on it, see one or two or ten things be different. Then realize that probably some of those things are quite possible for you. Being nicer, sharing more humor, giving more, appreciating more, being braver in sharing your thoughts and feelings, going to places that bring you both joy.
Are not the greatest works of art and pieces of human achievement first started in a think tank? Apollo 13 only had a space suit, some duct tape, and a plastic bag to fix (I believe) an oxygen sensor. Technical and creative. They had to see it before they could make it happen. Artists put down rough lines in their paintings and then surrender into putting color and shape and form on the canvas.
Is it worth it to take a few more moments in your life to imagine how to improve your situation? More importantly, in a world where it's so easy to be distracted and on autopilot, what do you get back by choosing to imagine something better for yourself?