The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast. Often considered the most wondrous of all mythical creatures, the unicorn is also a symbol of magic. The magical and enchanting unicorn appears to only a rare few and has the ability to bestow magic.
Can you remember back to a time when your days were spent lost in fantasy, trying to find unicorns? Than, usually in school, your unicorns were scorned?
In our society daydreaming is seen as frivolous and a waste of time. But have you considered daydreaming’s positive effects?
Physiologically speaking, you’re neither asleep nor awake during a daydream but, rather, in a peculiar in-between state where your thoughts are lucid but you’re still at serious risk of drooling. Daydreaming is how we access our big-picture state of mind. When your mind is able to wander, it is accessing memories, emotions and random bits of stored knowledge.
This visualisation can help us gain a new perspective on a problem or link two previously disjointed thoughts to come up with an original idea.
Why idle moments are crucial for creativity?
Many of the world’s greatest minds reached moments of true brilliance through the simple act of daydreaming.
- Einstein is thought to have begun his theory of relativity while he dreamed of riding or running alongside a ray of sun to the edge of the universe.
- Newton developed his theory of gravity after seeing an apple fall from a tree in his mother’s garden in Lincolnshire.
- Further back in time, the Greek philosopher Archimedes shouted “Eureka” when he entered a bath and realised the relationship between the rising water level and the volume of his body that was submerged.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.”
Albert Einstein
Our brains are simply not prepared to focus on a straight line all the time, and new studies and research reveal that daydreaming is vital to find and feed the unicorns. When you daydream you go into a trance. This trance state allows your subconscious to resolve problems that your conscious mind can’t tackle.
Daydreaming clears the brain’s cache, relieving fatigue and allowing new neural networks to be formed. These new networks are the source of inspiration, creativity and innovation.
Be Creative. Feed the Unicorns.
