wakeup!
wakeup!
stop daydreaming.
can't you feel it?
Can't you see it?
Get out of your head
stand up now
see what's around you
see what's true
distractions are your enemy
they defeat you
stop you
from moving
sleepwalking backwards
into fantasy
unreal
not true
he will distract you
cast shadows
to defeat you
lett you sleep there
camp there
defeating you.
I see you
drowning
falling
deep
in discontent
to maladaptive
malware
shortcircuiting your truth
rocking the cradle
disturbing our peace.
Rest
yes -
but watch!
Tag: maladaptive daydreaming
Freedom from maladaptive daydreaming
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that
Courage is the power of the mind to overcome fear
Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase
Martin Luther King Jr.
Maladaptive daydreaming is straying from God. The more we get caught up in our imagined make-believe world the less time we have to know God. I know I have been willing to spend hours creating a world of mine to the exclusion of God. The door was not opened in this world, and even if there was a knock, I was too distracted to hear and answer. I was the architect in my world and determined how far I could go. At that point, it felt like freedom, but the truth is I was trapped in my head.
The trick is to focus on God, the things of God, the people of God and less on the self. Focus less on what makes you anxious and what drives your fear, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 6-7, NKJV). Don’t daydream your life away, give everything to God, get out and live, not in your head but in the real world. There is nothing worse than deciding you and not God knows what’s best for you. That’s not true: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Once you break free you realise that daydreaming solves nothing and is just another prison. The word of God is clear: “For freedom, Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). There is no easy cure, however, the best remedy is spending time with God and the word of God. This for me is a work in progress, cause I am still and forever will be under construction. So, instead of seeking after the high of a make-believe world, one should, “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” Matthew 6:33-34).
Think about this, maladaptive daydreaming can lead you to become paranoid. You think things that are not true, everyone is your enemy and everything is against you. This is a nightmare, not a dream. The only way to overcome this is to focus on the word of God because as it says in Philippians 4: 8: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” What is true does not necessarily come from our imagination. Instead, we should do as instructed in 2 Corinthians 10:5: We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”
Your traumas do not define you unless you let them. You cannot drive out darkness by allowing darkness to drive or motivate you. Being a maladaptive daydreamer gives you a foggy memory – sounds familiar – you waste so much time and so you cannot get to your purpose and do the work God has called you to do and so it seems that you are moving cyclically instead on the straight path of progress, you may feel confused, have suicidal or lustful thoughts that really do not align with God or your purpose, you hate your reality and so to escape you start having suicidal thoughts. Does this have anything to do with God? If God is worthy how can we spend so much time on everything else except Him? Madness that we see as normal. Do not be lost in your thoughts as it may entangle you and trap you there for the rest of your life.
Nothing in life is easy and it seems there are a million things to trip you up. However, we have a God who is more than able to allow us to overcome them all. So, we need to trust him more and our imaginations less. Well, that’s all for now.
Maladaptive Daydreaming and God
I never thought that daydreaming was a problem. Yes, there were times when daydreaming became the best part of my day. When I couldn’t wait to get from school or later work, to continue with my daydreaming. When I did not want to be interrupted, or talk to anyone because I was good in this space I was crafting for myself. It was my space. There were nights when my dreams were based on my daydreaming, it was so good! So good in fact that I lost touch with reality and my daydreams seemed more real, feasible and comforting than my actual day-to-day life. Even in sleep, it was with me, continuing the escape and pleasure I experienced in my waking hours. Do you see the problem? If not let me tell you: daydreaming took me further from God as I relied on them to help me get through whatever struggles I had, not only did I escape the realities of my problems but the reality of God. Could I have developed a reliance on my daydreams to the detriment of my relationship with God?
Once I realised that my daydreaming was getting out of hand I started leaning into God more, or so I thought. Yes, I would read my bible. As a matter of fact, I have read the whole bible more than once but without much conviction. I learned specific scriptures, but there was no fire behind my efforts. I still went back to daydreaming. I chose it over building a solid relationship with God. There were times when directly after my devotion, I would go back to daydreaming. Trying to fit everything in my day, trying to hit all the checkboxes and getting nowhere it seems. And the inconsistency in my walk with God has become a cyclical dilemma that I have not gotten a hold of. I have been daydreaming it seems all my life, could it really be that bad?
It can be. When we spend too much time in our daydreams we spend less time with real people and even worse, we give little of our time to God. We expect God to wait until we are finished and we can use leftover time to get to Him. What a thought. What a terrible thought! It does take us further from God – But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:14-15). My daydream takes me to places and provides things I cannot get in my reality, desires that are not authentic to God. Simply put, daydreaming can actually reflect opposition to the will and truth of God. So what takes over? Well if left to its own devices our daydreaming can open our thoughts to be controlled by the devil. I remember I was so angry with a situation that did not work out in my favour that the person involved was violently killed in my daydream. I sought retribution on that person, and their family (who I did not know at all) and I threw in some imaginary enemy whom I eviscerated with much gore and took unnatural pleasure in. I totally lost sight that vengeance belonged to the Lord and in no way did I care about forgiveness. It took me down a very dark place and I was not even aware of it because it felt so satisfying. And don’t think I haven’t created situations where I am the victim and face great opposition from everyone and no one is to be trusted I have. I have even shed tears imagining how bad my situation could get! About how if I died that would be so sad but finally people would miss me but by then it would be too late. Man, this thing can get deep!
So think about it, have you allowed whether now or in the past, your daydreaming to take you to and has kept you captive in a dark place. also here is a sobering thought, daydreaming can become a disorder. Where does that leave our relationship with God? Hopefully, we can consider this next time.
Maladaptive Daydreaming
Do you know this term? I was today years old when I came across it and at first glance, I thought, “Well that sounds like some weird stuff, there is no way it could apply to me”. But alas it does!. I am not happy about this because of what it is. According to Medical News Today, “Maladaptive daydreaming is a term that refers to when a person spends an excessive amount of time daydreaming. Often, this behaviour may be developed as part of a coping mechanism”. Though it cannot be formally diagnosed it still bears some consideration and exploration. As a child, I went to live with my grandparents and I remember there was an empty lot right across the street from where I lived I somehow transformed the Macka trees into a landscape of rolling lush hills and green carpets of grass, where I was coming from in the country. In my eyes, it was the same place just in a different location and I did that for several places in the new environment I was living in. I missed my previous home and I wanted to go back but couldn’t, so I used my imagination to take me back there. Over the years I have lost myself in my many imaginations, daydreaming about alternate realities that combat disappointment, fear and boredom with my life. They were comforting and I felt necessary to tune out the pain and disappointment with reality. It was my escape.
I have tried over the years to daydream less as I try to be a big girl, but there are days when life seems too much and a quick fix seems to go a long way. However, it is not a healthy practice. It is a form of dissociation, simply put is a lack of connection to yourself and the world around you, it allows us to mentally take a break from reality. It separates us from our friends and family because we spend so much time in our own imagined world and affects our productivity. Guilty, guilty guilty! Now what? Where do you go with this information then? I am an adult so why haven’t I completely banished this seeming childhood escape mechanism. The simple truth is new traumas are added to our lives quite often. We each find our own way of escaping these traumas.
I learned that one coping mechanism is walking. I love to walk. Somehow walking makes me feel as if I am reclaiming my autonomy. I feel as if I am walking away from a prison to my freedom. Of course, at some point, I have to go back to my cage. But for a couple minutes or a few hours, I can walk of my own will, anywhere I want to without feeling pressed in. I also am distracted by what I see around me or of late the biting cold. Sometimes as I walk I talk to God and tell him how I feel and my worries. That helps me but it does not last. Hopefully, I can find out some more about this and how to cope with ways of dealing with stress and traumas from my past that now haunt me and share, but for now, that’s all folks.
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