Since I have been on my dreamy fairy tale kick musings this last week, I fear I have one more take I must toss around here on my currently blank page. <Yes, I have no problem over filling blank pages>
I very rarely watch TV. There just isn't time in the day for me personally to be lost doing nothing. So my personal moments are always spent reading, writing, drawing and well various other projects. I'll catch the occasional movie. I have a point here, I really do............
I view spending as much time as I do reading, or the occasional movie, I can't help but say my mind spends a lot of time in "other" worlds. I think back to a little book I read when I was young, Alice in Wonderland. I'll mention that one, because I'd bet most at least saw the movie. When I read that, I was whisked off to another world, full of surprises, quirky characters and mind twisting visuals.
Anytime a person reads a great book, if the author has done their job, you can't help but feel transported into that world. If a movie is done just right, you can walk away with a lump in your throat, a feeling of hope, despair or elation. I love a good science fiction movie, it can show a whole different world someone else has dreamed up, what could be more fun for the mind to digest?
If I've given the impression I'm a walking fantasy disaster, I can assure, that most people think I'm pretty squarely placed on my shoulders. I am perfectly able to place reality and all it encompasses into my day to day. No real choice in that matter.
I don't expect fairy tale endings and "The Notebook" type of love story. I don't expect things to rise and fall like an authors perception of life in their dream world. I understand there is no one plot to my life. But I do think I am always in the midst of my character development. I do not expect to have extraordinary prose in my life. There is no real theme other then getting to the other side of this life happy, and content. All right, with just a touch of happily ever after :o)
So my wonder of the day is this. Do those who spend a regular amount of time inside the fantasy worlds of another <books and the occasional movie can produce similar results>, find themselves daydreaming about "what if's" more then the average person? I really doubt this is an exclusive Rebecca quirk.
In fair comparison, lets take a person who lets say, rarely reads, watches their statistical American quota of 4 hours of TV a night and never writes a thought down. Do those people find their minds wandering around the world of creative prose and just don't let the rest of us in on it? I just have to ask, it's what I do. Tonight I am most curious what others think on this notion.
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
Reading
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13 comments:
Are you asking if people wonder more in "creative worlds" when reading, than not while watching tv. If so, I will have to say. Reading is an escape for me. A chance to get away. make my own movie in my mind. TV, doesn't hold the same appeal to me, I rarely watch it. Except for American Idol, and Alias.
Books transport me away from my life.
and I have to say, honestly....it's very needed at times.
So, I do not think your alone in this. at least not with me.
:D
You can say that I'm a dreamer...
I think everyone has their own method of "escape" now and then. I think that those who spend excessive amounts of time in that "escape" are more unhappy with their lives, so I think that they probably dream about the "what ifs" more than the average joe. And I think that there are just people in the world who aren't "creative" types and don't need that kind of outlet. Maybe they express themselves through their careers or family....or maybe they just don't have anything much to express to begin with...lol. I guess some of us are just more creative and need to express ourselves more than others.
But that's just my opinion. ;)
~Erika~
I think everyone has a creative side, they just may not always use it. As far as thoughts go, I`m sure most people do have very creative thoughts, perhaps they just don`t have the confidence to share it. The old still waters run deep adage.
What an interesting question.
Right now I am reading books set in medieval Ireland, contemporary fundamentalist Massachusetts, and contemporary liberal San Francisco. I read almost nonstop and I think about what I'm reading all the time. I do watch tv -- I'm thinking maybe 10-12 hours a week --, but I can't say that it transports me anywhere -- it's mostly just a way to let the brain debrief for awhile. I think that the only show I get mentally entangled with these days is American Dreams, which I'm sure is because it reflects my adolescence in many ways.
Anyway, my mind spends A LOT of time in other worlds!
I am fairly guilty of watching way too much TV. It's a wintertime activity as I am usually tired and cold after work...so I escape that way...but I also have lively discussions with my husband. I am a big time day dreamer...always have been since I can remember. When the weather is better you can find me camping, hiking, gardening, and of course on the Harley with hubby...rose
I keep the TV on as counterpoint, tuning in at times when I want to hear something, ignoring it as background noise the rest of the time. I watch the shows that have stellar writing, West Wing, and, occasionally now, Law and Order, and these days, Deadwood, almost Shakespearean in its vulgarity and formality. The rest of TV, including the news (as if!) is mind candy...all calories and no value. I read volumes, at times having 3 to 5 books going on, fiction, history, psychology and the like. I fail to understand how ANYONE who considers themselves moderately intelligent or better, DOES NOT read! Cowboys on the plains a hundred fifty years ago carried Blackstone, Plato and Shakespeare, to read by campfire light. I do not think of it as fantasy or escape, I consider it mental exercise necessary for the imagination to grow. The mind is a terrible thing to waste, or to let wither by inactivity and challenge. Another intriguing read, Rebecca, it is always a pleasure to come her and be piqued by the curiosity of your divertissements. Bruce
Lately I have been turning on the TV for some mindless entertainment because I feel like my brain had reached maximum output/input capacity by 6 PM. Funny thing is, my mind often wanders and the TV ends up watching me instead of the other way around. http://journals.aol.com/dcmeyer420/DearDiary/
Hmmm... I don't watch a lot of TV...although it is usually on in the background and I will sometimes 'tune in' if I hear something interesting. And, I have a couple of shows I try to catch each week... The Friday line-up on the Sci-fi channel being my current MUST see. I used to read -a lot-, and Sci-fi/fantasy are my main choices, although I will read almost anything... and then something wonderful/awful happened... I discovered Journals. Now I seem to spend 2 to 3 hours every night on the internet reading about these fascinating people with there wonderful shiny ideas, and stories of their lives. I'm soooo hooked. G. Laughs and says he is going to have to start rationing my computer time <LOL> But, I do think I have an active mind and imagination. I just need to harness it <g>
http://journals.aol.com/astaryth/AdventuresofanEclecticMind
My "day dreams" are spent imagining what all my mind would be capable of, if I could turn off the static and noise, and be quiet enough, and attentive enough to hear the teachers around me.
Peace, Virginia
Being a creative type, I often wonder how, and what, my counterpoints spend their time contemplating. Do they visit make-believe destinations (other than the daily 4 hours of television); do they think linearly without deviation? Or, do their contemplations take random twists and turns and encounter an infitite array of colors? I don't know the answers to these questions, and perhaps they are all too rhetorical. I find it delightfully ironic, however, to intellectually converse with the non-creative minds about creativity. To encounter, teach, explain, explore, question, and reveal (possible) insights of the mysteries the creative population encounter seem genuinely amazing to someone inexperienced with such imagination, be it a child or adult. I oftentimes think being creative is a curse, but considering the alternative, I wouldn't trade it for the world!
Best,
Judith
Well said, and transport imminent. Are you sure you aren't an author yourself? Maybe, you should be.
Tammy
http://journals.aol.com/tschamberland/lifeliveitormissout/
No "what-ifs", no "could-haves", no "might-of-beens" for me... At least, not anymore... And even when I did past self-reflection hypotheticals, it was done rarely... Mostly, I live by the day-by-day mode of "I could do this NOW, or that NOW, and then JUST DO IT"... Sometimes, every now and then, I squint real hard and take a look a yonder forward and say, "Wow, when I'm older I'll..." ;o) ... Diane.
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