How to Daydream in Winter

I'm worried for the daydream. Its future seems bleak. All things seem to militate against its prosperity. It used to be that the only threats really hazardous to the existence of daydreams were chores and strict teachers. Nowadays though, its not just survival that's tough for the daydream; no, it's hard for a daydream even to get itself born! I mean, you've got your television, computer games, texting machines, overtime hours spent at work, you name it--all, all of which serve as daydream-contraceptives, all of which work fabulously well, but ah, but at what cost? It's an dreadfully sad thing to note, but in a world so full of external distraction, we're pretty much eliminating the original self-generated distraction. Yes, the ordinary, unforced daydream is becoming an endangered mental species, even among children and our youth who used to be its proudest, most prolific progenitors.

In my opinion, all of us ought to cultivate the art of daydreaming, and for at least three reasons. 

1. It's fun
2. It's fun
3. It's fun.

No further reasons need to be given. Although, to provide readers with an adequate measure of my passion for the subject, I'll set down the following as well:

• When you daydream, you do not argue with your spouse or brother or sister or friend.
• Daydreaming burns no petroleum.
• While you daydream, you can also wait for a train.
• So very many great minds have been committed daydreamers: Einstein, Thoreau, Li Po, Robert Schumann, Virginia Woolf. Such grand spirits, all of whom gloried in their propensity for mental wandering. Why shouldn't we? 
• Daydreaming is not taxable (at least not yet).
• When you are day-dreaming you are not weeding the garden or doing the laundry, neither of which is as pleasant.
• Because.

I'm sure my readers can supply many more reasons to praise the daydream, though I would hope none of these reasons touch on possible economic or practical benefits: for instance please, please, none of this: "Daydreaming has the potential to raise our test scores in Math and Science," or "Daydreaming reduces stress so that we can live longer, healthier lives;" or "Daydreaming ultimately makes us more creative, and therefore more competitive in the workplace!" Indeed not! How rash, counter-productive, and dastardly: to inject gross pragmatism into a supremely useless, and therefore supremely delicious pastime!

Now, many folks, I know, consider summertime outdoors--with the lawn chair and vacation time--to be the ideal environment for the cultivation of the daydream. But my own research has revealed that even winter works surprisingly well. In fact I have found that any aspiring daydreamer can even turn the cold to his or her advantage. Here then, by my lights, and without further ado, is how best to daydream in winter:

1. Turn off all media devices. 
2. Close all books, marking your current page for future reference.
3. Turn the thermostat down to whatever will seem unpleasant to you.
4. Locate the nearest favorite couch or recliner. 
5. Lie down thereupon with thick blankets and comfy pillow.
6. Snooze.
7. Wake up to a cold house, feeling groggy and deliciously warm beneath the blankets, unable to imagine getting up because of the ambient cold.
8. Take advantage of your recumbent position, your unwillingness to get mobile, and the absence of other stimuli, to...
9. Daydream!
10. Repeat step 9.

Note that this method is not only sublimely productive of daydreams, but (here's a small gift for the pragmatically minded) also has the benefit of saving on the heating bills. 

HB


Until Saturday the 30th!