Spiritual beliefs/practice

[thetxbelle]

Does anyone practice prayer, meditation, etc to help you come out of your daydream world sometimes? If so how's it working for you?

[Truthful Alibi]

I'm Catholic but I tend to actually daydream in the middle of my prayers and sometimes in church - when I can actually stop daydreaming and haul myself out the bed in the morning to go there.

[thetxbelle]

Do you ever feel like your religious beliefs go against your daydreams? I don't mean daydreaming itself but sometimes I wonder if certain aspects of my fantasy romance or crimes (not that I want either, I just mean in story lines) concoct with my beliefs.

Truthful Alibi said:

I'm Catholic but I tend to actually daydream in the middle of my prayers and sometimes in church - when I can actually stop daydreaming and haul myself out the bed in the morning to go there.

[thetxbelle]

I meant conflict. I have a lot of questions & self doubts when it comes to reconciling these two.

thetxbelle said:

Do you ever feel like your religious beliefs go against your daydreams? I don't mean daydreaming itself but sometimes I wonder if certain aspects of my fantasy romance or crimes (not that I want either, I just mean in story lines) concoct with my beliefs.

Truthful Alibi said:

I'm Catholic but I tend to actually daydream in the middle of my prayers and sometimes in church - when I can actually stop daydreaming and haul myself out the bed in the morning to go there.

[roxanne]

I actually daydream about talking to my favorite saints.

[Ellen]

I have had a lot of conflicts between my daydreams and my beliefs.  I am a Christian, and I have always had problems with daydreaming in church or when I am trying to pray or read the Bible.  (Of course, I pretty much daydreams whenever I am reading anything, Bible or otherwise.)  When I was younger, I felt really guilty because I spent so much more time daydreaming than praying, reading the Bible, or thinking about God.  Now that I am older and have learned more about the gospel Jesus, I know that I don't have to feel guilty about not praying and everything.  But I still really want to pray and learn from the Bible- I wish that I could do those things without daydreaming.

I have had and continue to have conflicts between my moral convictions and the content of my daydreams.  I daydream about some pretty twisted stuff sometimes.  I recently came to the realization that, in addition to MD, I probably also have OCD.  For years I didn't realize I had OCD because I don't have a lot of the stereotypical compulsions about cleaning, organizing, and washing.  Most of my compulsions are more bizarre and less stereotypical, but the most disturbing part is my obsessions, which are linked to these crazy, twisted daydreams.  I hate these daydreams, but they keep coming back.  I had been clear of them for a couple of years, but a couple of months ago, they came back, and now I am struggling with them almost every day.  For me, the spiritual conflict with my daydreams has mainly centered around keeping my mind out of those purely destructive daydreams.

In response to your question about self-doubt, I guess the most beneficial thing for me has been realizing that God's love for me is based on God's grace through Jesus' sacrifice, not on whether or not I daydream.  Of course, that is coming from a Christian view, and I don't know what your religious background is, so it may or may not be helpful you.

[roxanne]

As a Christian, I agree with Ellen.  God/Jesus knows exactly who we are, what our strengths & weaknesses are, and so will be taking all that into consideration.  I believe we were born this way, at least with this capacity or tendancy.  On the other hand, if daydreams are really disturbing to you, I would try to brainwash (on this site, at least to start) ways to modify this.

[thetxbelle]

This really helps because I am in the exact same boat when it comes to content, etc of daydreams. Thanks!

[Julie]

I'm not very much into meditation, I think that praying is boring (you repeat the sentences that someone else wrote) but I'm probably a religious person. Although, as said, I don't like praying, from time to time I like to "talk" to God or deceased John Paul II  in my own way, like to a friend or a consultant. My own, personal Jesus, lol. But this is a part of my day-dreaming, actually. All my day-dreaming is about talking to smart people and Jesus and JPII were definitely smart. And this reminds me a joke: "When a man talks to God, this is called faith. When God talks to a man, this is called schizophrenia" :)

[thetxbelle]

Are you Catholic? Im Baptist and we dont pray the same prayers, for us you talk to God though I suppose some people probably add Bible verses. However we dont have any set prayers,

[Bibby]

I catch myself daydreaming during prayer, bible study, and services.  I enjoy bible study and I break it down into small bits so I can learn from it before the daydreams take over.  I ask God to teach me what he wants me to learn that day whether I'm aware of it or not.  Through it all, God is very good to me.

[thetxbelle]

This has all been really helpful, thanks!

[Delorean Jones]

I do kind of a blended smoothie of all of the above, essentially switching and altering my thought patterns into and out a myself.

 

Also known as internal ADD : D

 

Hmm I believe praying and meditation were meant to be enjoyed and extremely personal. I like to visualize my inner self sitting in a room re-reading and re-watching the junk i've kinda tossed my brain over the years, going over what's important, letting go of what's not.

 

Are you sure your daydreams are going against your beliefs, or what you've been told you believe?

I don't consider my spirituality too liberal (i'm kinda just a vanilla christian) but you can kinda notice when people are putting personal restrictions on themselves God never asked, ya know?

 

Interestingly, Jesus said to keep your prayers short, yet would still retreat from the outside world very often.

That's not even counting the whole 40 days in the wilderness thing.