Living on Auto Pilot
To be living on auto pilot; is to be in a cognitive state, where you act without self-awareness.
Are your reactions and responses dictated by your previous values, attitudes or beliefs? In contrast, are your responses a result of living in the present?
Most people’s reactions find their origin from attitudes, beliefs, expectations or values. These are learned processes, which develop throughout the path of somebody’s life. They often result in unfair prejudice, preconception and bias.
Furthermore, when reacting based on the history of our past, we take the risk of reacting:
- inappropriately
- too quickly, also known as a knee-jerk reaction
- too slowly
- over-reacting
- under-reacting
Any of these responses, to any set of circumstances, are bound to cause unnecessary stress and anxiety.
When a person reacts on autopilot, they’ll often say or do things they’ll regret later. This is because they are reacting without considering their actions/words.
Here are a few strategies to consider the next time you find yourself out of emotional control, whether it is due to another person or an event;
- Take moment to pause, a brief 2-3 second break where you say to yourself – I do have a choice, I can react differently. With the quality pause, you can come out of auto-pilot and into the present
- Develop a habit of counting to 5, slowly, before you speak or act
- Give someone you are close to the permission to make you aware of each time you react without pausing, or taking the time to think through your response
To exist on auto pilot is to live incompletely… to live the past.
Living in the present is so simple, yet so valuable. It only requires you to become conscious of every time you are functioning from memory, expectations, or based on the future.
