You are sitting in a classroom on a warm spring day, listening to a history lecture. But the windows are open, and outdoors the birds are singing and the trees are budding. The urge to gaze out the window is irresistible, and you think about what it would be like to be out there, sitting on the grass, relaxing, chatting with a friend in the sunlight ... Then the professor interrupts her discussion of the Holy Roman Empire13 to say, “Mr. Smith, just what is so interesting out the window?” Suddenly you are startled back to reality.14 Only what is it, exactly, that you have come back from? ? It was not exactly that there was a specific thing out the window that interested you. Rather, the mood of the spring day set you off into daydreaming15. Daydreaming and fantasy are not quite the same. Fantasy is more self-directed (the “If I were ...” or “If I could ...” kind of thinking). In a daydream, your thoughts wander unconsciously in unexpected directions. ... Some psychologists16 believe that daydreams are a kind of wishful thinking17 that occurs when inner needs cannot be expressed in actual behaviour. We daydream, they claim, when the world outside does not meet our needs, or when we are motivated to do something but cannot realize our goals.... By contrast, other psychologists have stressed the positive value of daydreaming and fantasy. One of them suggests that daydreaming can build cognitive and creative skills18 and can help people get through difficult situations. They note that daydreaming helped prisoners of war to survive torture and deprivation. Her view suggests that daydreaming and fantasy can be a constructive way of providing relief from everyday (and often unpleasant) reality, as well as a means of reducing internal tension and external aggression. Even though psychologists do not agree on the value daydreams have for the individual, there is little disagreement about their frequency. Most people have daydreams every day, especially at bedtime. Interestingly, people who daydream a great deal report that the content varies widely from one daydream to the next. Although the specific content of a daydream is as unique19 as the individual, three daydream patterns have been identified. These patterns are closely linked to personality type. The first pattern of daydreams is characterized by considerable mind wandering and short-lived rather than extensive daydreams. The daydreams are often unpleasant and fearful. People whose daydreams fit into this pattern spend a great deal of time each day in idle thought, but, even so, they do not have a clear idea of what their daydreams are about. They have a great deal of trouble concentrating on any one particular thing. The second pattern of daydreams also involves unpleasant emotions such as selfdoubt, guilt, fear of failure, or angry or aggressive tendencies toward others. People who continually experience daydreams of this kind tend to brood and be riddled with self-doubt20. The third pattern of daydreams identified involves a range of positive and accepting feelings. The daydreamers in this group focus on plans for the future and on the details of their interpersonal relationships. They appear to have no serious emotional problems and use their daydreams in a constructive way. For most people, the majority of their daydreams fit this last category.