Questioner: Sir, how to get rid of the problem of daydreaming?
Acharya Prashant: Are you day dreaming and knowing that it is day dreaming?
No! It’s not possible. You know that you have been dreaming only after the dreaming ceases. Right?
Now you are obviously helpless when the process of dreaming is on so I have nothing to say in that matter. You see if a sleeping person asks “how do I wake up”, now when he is sleeping, at that moment can he do anything to wake up? When you are sleeping, can you do anything to wake up?
Listeners: No.
AP: You are sleeping. Can you do anything to wake up? You can’t. You can do something to wake up only when you have already woken up, and you know that you are likely to go into sleep sometime soon, and you know you are likely to go into dreams pretty soon. Are you getting it?
What you do then? How do you ensure that you will wake up in time, even when sleep is warning you? What can you do?
What do you do?
L: Set up an alarm.
AP: You set up an alarm clock. So don’t ask me that how do I take care of my sleep . After having lapsed into sleep you can’t do much, but you can do something when you are awake. If you have known that you have this tendency to day dream then do something when you are not day dreaming.
What to do?
Create Alarms.
What is an alarm?
An alarm is a reminder. Create reminders.
These are small techniques. Have something written as a detailed signature. Subscribe to a web service that sends you daily quotes. You open your inbox and you find something there which will wake you up.
Surround yourself with people who are awake, who don’t keep day dreaming.
Have something nice written upon your wall. Are you getting it?
Create Alarms. Create reminders. Set something nice as your wallpaper on your laptop which reminds you instantly.
Excerpted from a ‘Shabd-Yog’ session. Edited for clarity.
