Daydreams, Fantasies, and Imagination

In Eleonora, Edgar Allan Poe wrote, “They who dream by day

are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream
only by night.”[21] And surely that’s true. Daydreams can help
us harness our creativity, reach our full potential.
Do you dream by day? I do. In fact, some days, I do it a lot,
especially when I’m in the process of crafting a book. Or as I
prepare for a presentation, I go over the material in my mind,
adding ideas as they come to me. Or as I anticipate a vacation
or an encounter with someone, I imagine what might happen.
God gave us this wonderful gift—a twofold ability to see.
We can visually observe what goes on around us. We also can
“see” pictures in our minds. The latter ability, especially, can
help us achieve wonderful things, as in Janice’s case. Or, that
same imagination can hold us back, when we use it in a
negative way, like Sue.
Our imaginations are busy with pictures and ideas all day
long. It’s too bad we don’t have a device that’s able to record
and recall all of these “pictures,” and track the time we spend
on them. On second thought . . . perhaps it’s best we don’t.
There are times when we retreat into the safety of our
daydreams when our real world isn’t pleasant. Children do this
when they live in a hostile or unsafe environment.
But there are differences between imagination, daydreaming,
and fantasy. Imagination is a creation of the mind, the ability to
form a mental image. Daydreaming is usually a wishful creation
of the mind. Fantasy is using the imagination to create mental
images that are often unrealistic.
When our real life is drab or boring or unfulfilled, we may
slip into the recesses of our thought life for satisfaction.
Unfortunately, this can become such a convenient escape that
we begin to choose it over real life. And then we may fail to
make real changes that would make life more fulfilling.
For example, a man may envision himself moving up in his
company. In his mind, he enjoys that “success.” But he fails to
participate in training seminars, read books that could help him
improve his skills, or attend company classes that could help
him truly achieve that success that fills his daydreams.
And many a marriage relationship has been fractured
because the husband chose to live in a world of sexual
fantasies fed by pornography, rather than focus on his wife
and the real world.