Beginning Mindfulness: Are You Sleepwalking Through Life?

Most of us are so entrenched in our habitual day-to-day life that we are sleepwalking through it. There are a number of questions we can ask to evaluate if we are living on autopilot. If the answer is yes, a mindfulness practice can help us to be more present.

Transcript

Hi there, My name is Melissa Max, And as we continue our talks about mindfulness, We start to realize that we, And the majority of people walking on the planet, Have been sleepwalking through our lives, Meaning we're usually so forward focused or so back focused that we're never really in the present moment. We just live the same day over and over again and call that our life. So here are a couple of questions to ask yourself with no judgment. Have I been sleepwalking through life? And the first is yes. Have I been living on autopilot? Do I do mostly the same things? With the same people? Do I have the same reactions? To the same triggers. Do I create a little pause and think? And make an active decision. Before I act. Or is my life just habitual at this point? The next question is, Am I reactive or reflective? Meaning when I'm triggered, When something happens, Do I have a knee-jerk autopilot reaction? Or Do I take a little pause, Create a little space, And decide, Hmm. How do I want to proceed? That's going to be in my best interest long-term. The next question, Do I blame external circumstances for my current situation? Or do I take personal responsibility? Meaning, Do I blame life? Do I feel like a victim? Does everything happen to me? Or do I have a sense of agency and realize while I can't control what happens to me, I can always control how I respond. And last but not least, The final question. Am I aware of my thoughts? And my feelings and my emotions. Or am I so stuck in here and here that I can't create a little distance, A little metacognition, Which is thinking about our thoughts, And realize my thoughts are just naturally occurring. They're not necessarily true, And we've spoken about that in other videos. They're just thoughts. So instead of buying into what they're selling necessarily, I'll create that distance and evaluate the story they're telling me. And I'll decide, Is this story in alignment with who I am and who I want to be? And then if the answer is no, I'm going to make a mindful, Conscious, Deliberate decision to do something different. So that's it. Those are the questions to ask yourself. Am I sleepwalking through life? And if the answer's yes, That's okay. Don't beat yourself up. As I said earlier, The majority of people are. And now that you know you may have been. This is where we begin to change things.