Today, I am talking to you about the very nature of self-awareness. There is nothing wrong with this, it is a fact. But it is also a choice.
Self-awareness is, essentially, the ability to see ourselves and our actions and reactions on the same page. It’s like taking a look at the reflection in a glass and seeing not just the glass but the person reflected in it. When we are on autopilot we are unable to connect the dots between our thoughts and actions. There is a disconnect. It is this that makes us feel as if we know what we are doing, but we are not.
In reality, we are all aware of this. Whether we realize it or not, the majority of us are aware of this. We tend to act without thinking and when we do we are not aware of it. This is why we can’t simply say, “I’m going to have a drink…” or “I am going to eat a sandwich.
We all know that when we are on autopilot we tend to get caught up in the patterns of actions that are coming at us, but we are unaware of the patterns. When we think we are noticing the patterns, we are in fact not. We are just not aware. This is what is so frustrating to people on autopilot. We are unaware of the patterns. We are unaware that we even are on autopilot.
Autopilot is the state of being caught up in a routine of actions that have already occurred which causes you to completely forget you are even on autopilot. This is why we have to stop and remind ourselves that we are actually on autopilot.
Autopilot is just a fancy word for self-awareness. Just as our autopilot is unaware of the patterns, we are aware of the patterns. It is a process of self-awareness that is similar to learning to ride a bike. When you first begin to ride your bike, you are completely unaware that you are on autopilot. You are just doing it automatically.
The same is true when you begin to learn to ride a bike. First, you might not even know you are on autopilot. You might still feel like you are on autopilot, but you are only doing it just by doing it. So, while you might not be aware of your autopilot, you are definitely aware of your autopilot.
When you start to ride your bike, you are completely unaware of your autopilot. You are just doing it automatically. The same is true when you begin to learn to ride a bike. First, you might not even know you are on autopilot. You might still feel like you are on autopilot, but you are only doing it just by going do it automatically. So, while you might not be aware of your autopilot, you are definitely aware of your autopilot.
This autopilot is what makes it so hard to be self-aware. By not knowing you are on autopilot, you don’t know what you are doing. You don’t know what you are doing because you are not aware of your autopilot. But once you are aware of your autopilot, you can then start to be aware of your life.