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“We
are what we repeatedly do.” - Aristotle.
Some
one has said man is a ‘walking bundle of habits’.
It is
quite true. Habit never goes because, if you remove H, Abit remains; If you
remove A, Bit remains; If you remove B, It still remains.
As a
person leads his/her life, he/she acquires habits. When one gets habituated to
something, he runs that activity in the autopilot mode.
Autopilot
means doing something without the role of our conscious attention. Most
of us are 'mentally checked out’ a good length of the time. We are on
autopilot mode half the time. Or some people, even more than that! In
other words we are in 'mind
wandering' mode.
When
you are in conversation with someone, you may not really listen to the words.
You just nod your head, enact gestures as if you are attentive. When the other
person asks something, you try to come back from autopilot mode to conscious
mode.
Autopilot
mode is also known as default mode network (DMN), in neuroscience. It is a
network of brain regions that are active when the individual is not focused on
the outside world.
Planes
have autopilot mode so they can fly themselves for awhile. This frees the
human pilots up to relax a little during less critical phases of
flight. Latest technologies help the flight to make its way in the sky.
But we have no GPS for life!
Autopilot
has some advantages and disadvantages. But, it is realized that ‘awareness
mode’ has many advantages. We must consciously cultivate to be aware every
moment.
The
globalised world is transiting fast and man-mind has not settled. Man need not
feel guilty for being ‘mindless(?)’. It is natural to be so, in this critical
situation of change in human life and lifestyle. How to settle in a whirlwind!
But
human consciousness is evolving. In this era of chaos, man has to wake up to
the call of the situation. To be mindful, To be aware, and To be conscious is
the need of the hour.
We
need to be aware moment–to-moment. Mindfulness and meditation are helpful
practices in that direction. They can get you out of wrong practices. They can
rid you of the mindlessness.
We
all shall Change our habits towards positive. Because, Changing habits is
fundamental to changing
your life.
Please
Turn off Autopilot!
Image
courtesy: http://blog.bodybook.com
