Turn off Autopilot!

“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