Are You Living in Autopilot? With so many demands and obligations, it can sometimes feel as though your life is running you versus you running your life. The problem is that your life shouldn’t feel like it is a machine that is running or that you should be operating. Your life should be as alive as you are, filled with continuous moments of enlightenment, joy, pleasure, gratitude, discovery, learning, growing, interacting and the list could go on. Are you in autopilot some of the time or all of the time? Consider if any of these observations apply to you. Distant versus Connected: When your life feels like it is running you, you often feel as though you are sprinting from this activity to that, barely catching your breath. With so much on your plate, you then believe you don’t have time to take a lunch break or you don’t have time to get together with friends or even take a moment for yourself. When you get to this point, your life has become a series of transactions versus interactions. Without realizing it, your to-do list has created a distance between you and everyone else. The very people in your life who are the reasons for all that you are doing feel that you have disconnected from them. If your family or friends are telling you they miss you, wish they could spend more time with you or are concerned that you are burning the candle at both ends, take this to heart. Start first with a miniretreat to get reconnected with you, and then continue to honor yourself by reconnecting with friends and family. Coincidental versus Intentional: I was speaking with a friend who was highly accomplished but feeling uninspired, which totally shocked and surprised me when you considered all this person had achieved in her life. In sharing my surprise, I learned that all her accomplishments were, in her words, coincidental because she had never really had any goals. Wherever she worked, goals were dictated and she just accomplished them. Whatever she did personally was because it was presented to her and she then decided to do it. Now she was in a place in her life where no one was dictating her next steps or what she should be striving for and so she felt disengaged and unsure what direction to go. The idea of having to figure it out for herself paralyzed and intimidated her. We began to look at which accomplishments she was most proud of or passionate about and then before we knew it, she was identifying some areas she would like to become engaged in to see where they could lead. Just the mere shifting from coincidental to intentional in thought inspired her into action.
Lost versus Present: Are you lost in your thoughts more than you realize? Are you continuously focused on the next thing on your list and then the myriad of things that you know need to be on your list? Do you wonder where time has gone and wish you could get more time in each day? One of the best things I ever started doing was to make it a practice to be “thanking” as much as I am “thinking.” By doing this, it forces me to be in the present and appreciate what is happening in given moments throughout my day. I carry a gratitude journal with me wherever I go and note the simplest to the grandest thoughts about what I appreciate whenever I open the journal to write. I also try to write at least one thank you a day to someone and say thank you as much as I can for even the smallest of gestures. You will find that gratitude is the most powerful means of bringing you back into the present. And you will also be amazed at how your thinking shifts in more empowering and productive ways because of thanking. Taking Control versus Charge: When you begin to feel as though you have no control over anything and must go with the flow to get through the day, you can become numb to the world around you. Then something will happen, a “last-straw” event will occur, and you decide you are going to take control of your life once and for all. Because of the numbness you have felt, your sense of control is distorted feeling more like the “Wrath of Kahn” to those around you as if you have somehow snapped. Instead of vowing to take control of your life, be determined to take charge of your life. The difference is subtle, but powerful. Taking control often results in extreme actions, whereas taking charge focuses on what truly matters. For instance, a middle-aged woman, who had always handled all the household details and duties, decided she had had enough and literally went on strike, deciding she would do nothing at all in rebellion. In the taking charge scenario, she would announce some particular things she was going to make time to enjoy, and therefore, others in the household were going to need to step up and help so it could continue to be a household everyone could enjoy. Our life is indeed what our thoughts make it, but our actions and reactions are what make life our current reality. Your life can be more of what you ultimately want it to be. Turn autopilot off and start truly experiencing, appreciating and embracing every moment now. *** Bio: Sherré DeMao inspires millions through her monthly columns, weekly Insight eZine and national contributing writing. An expert strategist and marketer focused on entrepreneurs, her unique perspective and innovative approach has earned numerous awards regionally, nationally and internationally including being named among the Top 50 Enterprising Women of North America in 2007. Her books, Me, Myself & Inc. (www.memyselfandinc.com) and 50 Marketing Secrets (www.50marketingsecrets.com) have received national acclaim as Top Business Shelf picks and must reads.
www.sophiewomansmagazine.com | pg 27