白日夢還是少做為妙

Yes, it can make you more creative and lead to greater self-reflection, but one of the biggest upsides to daydreaming may be the one with the most immediate impact — namely, that it provides an easy escape from whatever boring thing you’re stuck doing. Your body may be trapped on the subway for another 45 minutes, but your mind can travel to any number of more enjoyable scenarios; letting your imagination wander can make mundane to-dos like cleaning or exercise a little more fun; there’s a whole Reddit page dedicated to the weird places your brain takes you while you’re in the shower.

沒錯，白日夢能讓你更有創(chuàng)造力，讓你進行更深刻地自我反思，但白日做夢最大的壞處之一可能也是它最直接的影響之一——它能夠讓你逃離自己不想做的事情。你的身體可能被困在地鐵里四十五分鐘，但你的心靈卻能夠到達任何比地鐵更有趣的場景中;讓你的想象馳騁能夠讓單調的待辦事項(比如打掃和鍛煉)變得更加有趣;Reddit還甚至為人們在浴室里想象過的奇怪地方貢獻了一整個頁面。

But as writer Libby Copeland recently explained in Smithsonian, daydreaming-as-escapism isn’t really as effective as we seem to think it is: Research has shown that it doesn’t make people any happier than just focusing on the moment, even when that moment isn’t really that great. In one 2010 study, researchers created an app that sent users seemingly random alerts over the course of the day, each time asking them what they were doing, whether they were thinking about the task at hand or something else, and how happy they felt. Copeland summed up the results:

但正如作家Libby Copeland最近在《史密森尼學會》上解釋的那樣，作為逃避的白日做夢并沒有我們想象中的那樣有效。已有研究發(fā)現(xiàn)比起專注于當下，白日做夢并不會讓人們變得更加開心，即便當下這一時刻沒那么美好。在2010年的一項研究中，研究人員們創(chuàng)造出了一種應用程序，它能夠在一天之中隨機給人們發(fā)送提醒。每次的提醒都會問人們正在做什么，他們是正在思考手頭的任務，還是在想別的事情，以及他們的開心程度。Copeland總結的結果如下：

Overall, people were less happy when their minds wandered. Neutral and negative thoughts seemed to make them less happy than being in the moment, and pleasant thoughts made them no happier. Even when people were engaged in an activity they said they didn’t like—commuting, for example—they were happier when focused on the commute than when their minds strayed.

總體而言，當人們的思想信馬由韁的時候并沒有專注于當下那么開心。比起專注于當下，中立和負面的思想會讓他們沒那么開心，而快樂的想法也不會讓他們更加開心。就算人們正在做自己并不喜歡的事情(比如通勤路上)，他們專注于通勤也會比各種白日做夢更加開心。

What’s more, people’s negative moods appeared to be the result, rather than the cause, of the mind wandering.

更重要的是，人們的負面情緒會成為白日做夢的結果而不是原因。

One possible explanation, as lead study author Matt Killingsworth told Smithsonian: “When our mind wanders, I think it really blunts the enjoyment of what it is that we’re doing.” Even if you’re not occupied with something enjoyable, there can still be small pleasures in it: interesting people-watching on the subway, for instance, or Copeland’s example of the feel of hot water against your skin in the shower — both things you miss when you let yourself zone out. Plus, there’s always the chance your daydream could turn into a worry spiral, sending your brain to a situation far less pleasant than the one you were trying to ignore in the first place.

該研究的主要作者Matt Killingsworth認為一個可能的解釋是：“當我們的思想信馬由韁的時候，它就會讓我們當下的享受變得模糊起來。”就算你沒做什么享受的事情，可能這事兒中間也會給你帶來一點小愉悅：比如地鐵上看到的有趣之人，或者Copeland說的淋浴時熱水流過皮膚的感覺。當你去想別的事情時，你就會錯過這些。另外，你的白日做夢也總是很有可能陷入擔心的漩渦，它發(fā)送給你的愉悅遠遠少于你想要忽略的東西。