What drives fantasy?

[Sugarcoat]

So for most of my life I have had this tendency of compulsively fantasizing about idealized versions of me expressing something I feel unable to express through my “ real” sense of self because of fear.

for example, when I was younger, I used to feel very shy, so I would be quiet.

I would compulsively daydream about a confident, funny, charismatic version of me interacting with people in my school I feel shy around. 

interestingly, when I overcame this shyness, and when I started to embody and express that in real life. Those fantasies stopped. 
 

I still have some compulsive fantasizing regarding other things I struggle to express , most of it is gone tho.

so what drives this?

So it seems like; the sense of self, which is like this claimer and owner of things, behaviors, looks, speech etc all these characteristics. When nothing is happening in the external world for it to claim, such as me speaking and interacting with poeple, the mind goes wild and creates scenarios for the sense of self to claim becuase the desire to express those things (humor etc) is there, but not able to be expressed irl. 
it’s like the sense of self is uncomfortable irl, for example, in certain social situations there would arise an awkward sense of self, so through this sense of self, humor, laughter, joy cannot be expressed becuase the sense of self is uncomfortable sort of.

so the fantasy seems to be a way for one to feel in control??

[Leo Gura]

@Sugarcoat You simply intuit your own infinite potential. And why would you settle for something less?

You are having visions of your higher self.

[Preety_India]

I think fantasizing is about wanting something that you don't have. 

Through fantasizing you reach your higher self. 

It's a form of poetry, basically expression of the self. 

 

[Sugarcoat]

44 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

@Sugarcoat You simply intuit your own infinite potential. And why would you settle for something less?

You are having visions of your higher self.

That’s seriously how it feels sometimes.

For all my life I’ve had an extremely rich inner world, just naturally been that way. Always been heavily inwardly oriented. 
 

I used to see my excessive daydreaming as a obstacle distracting me from everyday life, but I’ve come to see how every version of myself that I fantasize about is something that I long to embody and express irl, and until I do so, the fantasy will keep going. 

the fantasies are not random at all, there’s always something that resonates with it.

it’s truly fascinating how the mind can do that. 
It’s like my mind and emotional energetic body work together as one. It’s all intuitive, what resonates, emotional, sort of energetic .

it’s truly amazing. The mind is so utterly fascinating. All this talk about shutting the mind down, yea to a certain degree but it does wonders too

 

It’s like I’ve always been accompanied by a higher self in my mind waiting for me to embody it. Like my future self talking to me

I don’t settle for less. Sooner or later I embody that version of me I fantasize about, so that particular fantasy stops, that’s the general trend it seems.

 

 

 

 

[Leo Gura]

1 minute ago, Sugarcoat said:

All this talk about shutting the mind down

That's bad advice to listen to.

Minding is what reality is up to.

[Sugarcoat]

41 minutes ago, Preety_India said:

I think fantasizing is about wanting something that you don't have. 

Through fantasizing you reach your higher self. 

It's a form of poetry, basically expression of the self. 

 

It seems to be about expression yes, if it’s longed to be expressed , but it’s suppressed in real life, the mind is like this canvas for it to be expressed through fantasy. 
 

never thought about it as poetry, interesting connection. 

[Sugarcoat]

10 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

That's bad advice to listen to.

Minding is what reality is up to.

Yea in a way

[Matthew85]

4 hours ago, Sugarcoat said:

it’s truly amazing. The mind is so utterly fascinating. All this talk about shutting the mind down, yea to a certain degree but it does wonders too

@Sugarcoat Cultivating a focused mind is very helpful, but you don't want to shut your mind down. Work to align your thoughts and beliefs with your higher self. This will help you in letting go of your fears.

[Gesundheit2]

Not all fantasies are of the higher self. Some of them come from the shadow.

As a general rule of thumb, your imagination tells you who you are more than who you want to be. But you'd have to read between the lines to understand the communication.

As well, it's not always healthy to follow your imagination wherever it leads you. Sometimes, fantasies can become delusions and some of these can really be harmful.

It's tricky, and there's no one right answer for all cases.