We all have certain patterns of moving in the world -acting and reacting to all the things that are presented to us each and every day.
Our lives are busy with all the media hype and the snippets of information that pass our view.
We’re used to turning a certain amount out, and just to keep our mind sane and focused on the things we have chosen and want to be ‘dialled into’.
The tuning out serves us in that moment, but does it serves us long term overall. Yes and no…
Each of us has a natural coping mechanism that allows us to process new input and stimuli.
We reference it against what we already know so that every single thing isn’t a brand new experience keeping our experience sorted in our existing ‘data bank’.
This means that we can only do a certain amount of functions at a time which keeps us on ‘autopilot’.
In order for our sanity to kick in and to function at a high level we literally dig ‘grooves’ in our brain of repetitive patterns and that makes it easier to do the things on virtual autopilot, so we don’t have to make the same decisions over and over again.
This serves us very well in our regular routines and it’s the reason you can move through things you do often or drive somewhere realizing afterwards you weren’t completely aware of what you were doing.
Have you ever had the experience of getting behind the wheel of a car, arriving somewhere and thinking ‘I’m here already-I don’t even remember driving through town?
Or you realize you already fed the dog and the kids and have packed lunch and are almost ready to walk out the door and you have to stop to remember if you did something that you already did – on your ‘autopilot setting’. You get the idea?
However, the existence of these grooves and our natural patterning doesn’t necessarily serve us when new ideas are presented.
I’m not suggesting that we have pattern for everything and that we’re so programmed that we’re either brain dead or boring.
Quite the opposite.
The grooves allow us to conserve energy.
It’s not that we can’t decide what to think or whether or not to be open-minded but by creating a pattern and sticking to it, we are able to use our creative energy for bigger and newer ideas.
The grooves we create serve us well and fit naturally into our desire for order and efficiency.
But we just don’t want the autopilot to become the preferred way of moving in the world; otherwise you become closed to new possibilities that pass your when they arrive. Open to life-changing possibilities.
Be kind to yourself as there will be ways things out there to shake up your thinking and open your mind.
The possibilities can grow and improve your game and add to your inner peace!
