cover image Daydreaming: 1unlock the Creative Power of Your Mind

Daydreaming: 1unlock the Creative Power of Your Mind

F. Diane Barth. Viking Books, $23.95 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-670-86403-4

A psychotherapist for 20 years, Barth offers a unique method of uncovering hidden ""hopes and fears, loves and hates, wishes and needs."" The simple practice of following the trail of one's seemingly random thoughts, fantasies and memories, she contends, leads naturally to the uncovering of complex ""unconscious beliefs"" and motivations. Barth explains that ""Every daydream is your psyche's attempt to redirect your attention from a task or an activity in the outside world to something going on internally."" Drawing on her clinical experience, she shows how repetitive daydreams are indications of something important one is trying to communicate to oneself. Barth describes how keeping a daydream diary and using other related exercises can gently unearth unstated realizations and concerns one would rather not face. She also examines how daydreams can hold the key to creative problem-solving. Offering the means to ""decode"" daydreams by ""playing"" with both memories and imagination, Barth makes self-analysis and creative problem-solving approachable, creating a self-help book that is more genuinely helpful and entertaining than most. Author tour. (Aug.)