4 Reason That May Cause You to Live on Autopilot Instead of Living Mindfully…

Living mindfully is an attitude that you can be cultivated if you are willing to let go of living on autopilot. See my previous post with signs that you are living on autopilot here Or there is the kind of living on autopilot when you tend to live the same cycle. You wake up, send the kids to school, do your job, eat dinner, and go to bed. Then tomorrow, you do the exact same things again.
To break this cycle of autopilot, you have to understand what causes it. Once you know this, you can change your outlook so you’re living in the present.

4 Reasons That Can Cause You to Live on Autopilot Instead of Living Mindfully

1)Too Much Familiarity
When you learn something new, it requires the best of your awareness and energy at first. But the better you master it, the less effort it takes. For example, think of riding a bicycle. When you were first learning, you needed to invest all of your brain power in doing it. Once you learned this skill, you didn’t need to pay as much attention. You could ride your bike on autopilot.
2)Too Much Information
Have you ever had a computer or laptop overloaded with advertisements? Dozens of them pop up and fill your screen. You try to close one but another five open instead. A common way folks try to fix this problem is by hitting the power button and shutting your computer off.
This is similar to what happens when you have too much information in your brain. There are dozens of things you need to remember and do. But when your brain is overwhelmed with information, it’s hard to get anything done, so you start operating on autopilot. Temporarily, this is helpful but let it go on for too long and you’ll barely remember what you did today.
3)Too Much Work
The more tasks in our lives that are done by habit, the less alive we feel. This makes it easy to disengage from your daily life and start living on autopilot. While you may not be able to throw away your to do list, try to approach your routine tasks in a different way. Instead of slugging through things try working in two hour periods and give yourself a short 5 minute break every hour and a good ½ hour break every couple of hours where you do something completely different from what you were working on. Mix up the menu for the week so that you’re trying new dishes or try theme nights for your cooking – like Indian cooking, Mexican cooking or Thai cooking. Do some of your things on the to do list in a different setting than usual like preparing your food for the meal outside instead of at the kitchen counter, take your laptop outdoors to do some work on it instead of at your office, be creative and shake things up!
4)Too Little Passion
After being diagnosed with a serious illness that would take the use of his arms in the future, one man focused on living more mindfully. Everyday tasks like making a sandwich or cleaning the bathroom became enjoyable because he delighted in the fact that his muscles were still functional. You don’t have to suffer a serious disease in order to regain your passion. Just focus on doing everyday tasks slowly and mindfully.
Learning to live in the moment is a process. Don’t feel bad if you struggle with it at first. You’ll get the hang of it if you keep trying.

Are you trying to let go of living on autopilot and wanting to live more mindfully?
Come join our mindful Life community in the @naturalmedicine server here. We run group meditations and support each other as we grow through conscious awareness. With much love!

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