Distractions and daydreaming

[Veritas1994]

I have been having a hard time not letting myself get distracted. I tend to have an easy time in this as well as falling into daydreaming. It seems that throughout the day my mind starts wondering for different reasons. Sometimes my mind remembers different parts of the day, and I usually visualize what had happened. At other times I just start simply daydreaming random things and such. The biggest problem with these distractions is that it can be easy for me to let myself have an impure thought or thoughts.

I went to confession earlier today and for most of the day it went pretty good, but just a moment ago I found myself distracted remembering something that had happened yesterday and I am pretty sure that I let myself have an impure thought, and thus I feel that I did not control this thought. I feel that I need to go to confession tomorrow, and feel ashamed since it has only been one day since I would have gone to confession

I have scrupulosity and thus I need to be careful making sure that I don’t see sin were there is no sin and thus that I don’t exaggerate venial sin, since I have a tender conscience, but I still feel pretty sure that I need to go to confession the next day.

 

[crystal_waters]

I have the exact same problem

 

[VoiceofTruth]

First off, welcome to CAF, from a fellow scrupulous day-dreamer

I know what you mean about getting distracted easily, daydreaming, thinking random thoughts, not controlling them well, etc. I also know what it feels like to have to go to confession right after having gone the day before…sometimes I’ve felt like confessing twice in one day!

But the thing is, that’s just how we scrupulous day-dreamers feel, but not how we should think about what objectively matters. In other words, a large part of our scrupulosity has to with feelings that are–though well-intentioned in themselves, since they make us want to be as pure/holy/pleasing as possible–necessary for us to moderate. And to have them moderated by God’s grace, I would add.

In my opinion, it would not be essential or wise for you to go back to confession. Another part of scrupulosity is not trusting in the Lord’s mercy and limiting Him and His mercy through our overly meticulous self-perception. God is not counting every little impure fantasy, thought, and daydream, and so long as it is fleeting and that you are displeased by them, He will be pleased and full of mercy.

My advice in a nutshell: trust, let go, keep busy as much as possible (with prayer, other people, useful activities, etc), and as a wonderful priest recently told me before absolution: “Your penance is to be more joyful and to give thanks to God.” (Then he gave me an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be to say for good measure ) Best penance ever!

Good luck & may the peace of Christ be with you.

 

[Don_Juan]

I have been having a hard time not letting myself get distracted. I tend to have an easy time in this as well as falling into daydreaming. It seems that throughout the day my mind starts wondering for different reasons. Sometimes my mind remembers different parts of the day, and I usually visualize what had happened. At other times I just start simply daydreaming random things and such. The biggest problem with these distractions is that it can be easy for me to let myself have an impure thought or thoughts.

I went to confession earlier today and for most of the day it went pretty good, but just a moment ago I found myself distracted remembering something that had happened yesterday and I am pretty sure that I let myself have an impure thought, and thus I feel that I did not control this thought. I feel that I need to go to confession tomorrow, and feel ashamed since it has only been one day since I would have gone to confession

I have scrupulosity and thus I need to be careful making sure that I don’t see sin were there is no sin and thus that I don’t exaggerate venial sin, since I have a tender conscience, but I still feel pretty sure that I need to go to confession the next day.

I have confessed this to my priest before, that involuntarily I get distracted by ordinary things from my life during mass and my prayers and he told me to remember how great God is when it is something pleasant, even a beautiful girl.

 

[bcuster]

Like every part of our personality, we daydreamers need to see the good and the bad in it all. There are times when I get distracted and my thoughts just lead one after another to planning my day or thinking about an event in my past. It can be quite random. I’m at Mass, trying to pay attention to the Eucharistic prayer, I see the flowers, I wonder if they have been watered, I remember that I have to ask the parish liturgy person if he has watered them, then I think of something else I want to talk to him about. I hear a bell ring. I return to prayer. I apologize to the Lord for my distraction, then I move on with trying to pay attention to the words. A woman sneezes, I wonder if I took my zinc today, I … People are standing and singing the Amen. And so it goes. I am like a child who can’t seem to pay attention. Then I remember that part of my spirituality is to be a child of God. It humbles me. I turn my heart and mind to God again. Sometimes, prayer is in the struggle and the return. God knows me. He knows I’m not this way on purpose. He allows it to keep me coming back to him as a child.

About the impure thoughts. I used to purposely engage in romantic daydreaming that led to this problem. I struggled with this for years. I finally begged Our Lady to take over my spiritual direction. It was a hard habit to break. Now, when an image or thought comes, I turn away from it immediately and ask God for his grace and mercy. I also choose not to watch programs or read books that have explicit romantic language. It is hard sometimes to find books that don’t. I now read mostly religious books or classics.

You are in my prayers. We dreamers have to stick together. I thank God for our imaginations and ask the grace that we use them only for good.

 

[Veritas1994]

Like every part of our personality, we daydreamers need to see the good and the bad in it all. There are times when I get distracted and my thoughts just lead one after another to planning my day or thinking about an event in my past. It can be quite random. I’m at Mass, trying to pay attention to the Eucharistic prayer, I see the flowers, I wonder if they have been watered, I remember that I have to ask the parish liturgy person if he has watered them, then I think of something else I want to talk to him about. I hear a bell ring. I return to prayer. I apologize to the Lord for my distraction, then I move on with trying to pay attention to the words. A woman sneezes, I wonder if I took my zinc today, I … People are standing and singing the Amen. And so it goes. I am like a child who can’t seem to pay attention. Then I remember that part of my spirituality is to be a child of God. It humbles me. I turn my heart and mind to God again. Sometimes, prayer is in the struggle and the return. God knows me. He knows I’m not this way on purpose. He allows it to keep me coming back to him as a child.

About the impure thoughts. I used to purposely engage in romantic daydreaming that led to this problem. I struggled with this for years. I finally begged Our Lady to take over my spiritual direction. It was a hard habit to break. Now, when an image or thought comes, I turn away from it immediately and ask God for his grace and mercy. I also choose not to watch programs or read books that have explicit romantic language. It is hard sometimes to find books that don’t. I now read mostly religious books or classics.

You are in my prayers. We dreamers have to stick together. I thank God for our imaginations and ask the grace that we use them only for good.

Thanks for this. About romantic daydreaming did you know that Saint Ingatius of Loyola used to do this a lot?

I don’t know much about his history, but I took ignatius spiritual excercise class were the priest talked about some of his life. He stated that Saint Ignatius used to spend hours daydreaming about some gal he could have swayed or he would imagine how he could have mader her his own. He spend hours and hours imagining these scenarios. He had a big imagination.

However he realized that regardless of how many times he would think about these things at the end it always brought him desolation. He felt empty and it didn’t feel good. He realized that everytime he spent thinking about these wordly things at the end of the meditation it would lead in desolation.

However when he started imagining and meditating on the things of God the opposite would happen. Instead of desolation and sadness he would feel consolation and joy. He realized that this was a trend and pattern. So for the rest of his life instead of meditating for hours on wordly things he did the same meditations but for the things of God.

thought you would enjoy this reflection since we can both use it