I like the description of types of daydreaming. I find myself to be more productive when my daydreaming is, as they put it, "positive constructive" daydreaming. e.g. imagining my goals for the future and what fun I could have, thinking about how I'll grow as a person and how I might reflect on myself after having grown each year. The more I think about these things the 'lighter' I feel.
I suffer from PTSD. When I first started allowing myself to think about my dreams in a positive light, I would distract myself or cut myself off mentally with the excuse that 'Those daydreams aren't real enough. There's no point.' And I would quickly divulge back into negativity.
Because of trauma it can be easy to feel that negativity is what I 'deserve', which leaves a sense of futility that I desperately want to overcome.
In searching for some balance, I discovered the same is true about (again, using their term) "guilty-dysphoric" daydreaming:
it's not necessarily representative of facts or absolute truth in my life, even if it does feel more real. By reminding myself of this and practicing mindfulness (focusing on the present moment) I'm able to pull out of bad daydreams and flashbacks a lot faster.
Anyways, I don't know if there is one answer for the title of this article - I think that it is just clickbait. But to humor it, I know personally my 'default mode' might gravitate towards suffering because of trauma. But I also know I have a lot of room to change if I am patient enough, while new neural pathways/networks are formed.
Thanks for sharing your perspective on PTSD and mindfulness, I share your feelings on negativity, at times I can find it perversely 'attractive' yet I know it's effect will be disruptive to my mental well-being. It helps to practise a regular news blackout, as while being conscious of world events and culture is a certainly a positive, the day to day news feed seems a divisive and dis-empowering font of dubious value.
I suffer from PTSD. When I first started allowing myself to think about my dreams in a positive light, I would distract myself or cut myself off mentally with the excuse that 'Those daydreams aren't real enough. There's no point.' And I would quickly divulge back into negativity.
Because of trauma it can be easy to feel that negativity is what I 'deserve', which leaves a sense of futility that I desperately want to overcome. In searching for some balance, I discovered the same is true about (again, using their term) "guilty-dysphoric" daydreaming: it's not necessarily representative of facts or absolute truth in my life, even if it does feel more real. By reminding myself of this and practicing mindfulness (focusing on the present moment) I'm able to pull out of bad daydreams and flashbacks a lot faster.
Anyways, I don't know if there is one answer for the title of this article - I think that it is just clickbait. But to humor it, I know personally my 'default mode' might gravitate towards suffering because of trauma. But I also know I have a lot of room to change if I am patient enough, while new neural pathways/networks are formed.