Dreams are to keep me asleep

As usual, reading Sigmund Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams makes so much sense of things. He argued that you could assume two things for certain of any dream:

1. The dream is keeping you asleep

2. The dream is keeping you asleep by representing your own wishes as being fulfilled

The wish fulfillment is, in general, the wish to avoid work, or effort, because, in effect, the dream keeps you asleep by representing your desires, your wishes, your plans and intentions, as having already been realized. Now. Magically. You don't need to get up out of bed for a glass of water - you can keep sleeping because you already have water.

A dream keeps you asleep by convincing you that you have no need to wake up - all of your needs are met.

I've added a twist: What if I make these same assumptions with regard to my daydreams? This is significant, because I daydream often. Often. Walter Mitty-often, and just as dense.

So, if I assume these two things about my daydreaming? Well, I'm awake, so the 'sleeping' refers to some aspect of my waking life which is, paradoxically, asleep, and which I don't want to exert any effort to change. My daydreams will depict that aspect already realized. I don't need to go back to school - I already have a degree. I'm already an expert in my field - I don't need to learn anything more, to find ways to improve my work.

I might do well to look at my daydreams as reminders that I have work to do - very specific work indicated in the dream content itself. It's time to wake up, sunshine, and see those things realized, really.

Also, I might learn some things about myself if I pay attention to what mental circumstances immediately precede an episode of daydreaming. Am I thinking of some difficulty that's blocking my realization? Lack of money? Faulty thinking? Self-pity?

Damn you, Freud ;-)