Let me ask you a few more questions…Can you immediately recall what is the colour pattern on your toothbrush bristles, can you list all of the items on your computer’s task bar without sneaking a peak? 

Have you ever driven from one place to another, reached your destination safely but without much recollection of the journey? If you answered yes to atleast 2 of these, you have operated on autopilot. Now this is only the tip of the autopilot iceberg..This is a mechanism our brains have developed to prevent decision overload for routine tasks…The problem…when you operate in autopilot in areas like work, relationships where our attention is of paramount importance… As an average kid, I was pushed to make only safe decisions because well meaning family members never failed to emphasise that I belonged to an average family and my life choices had to be in line with that. 

This meant that the list of things I couldn’t do was longer than all that I could do. Ill be honest that the career I chose was well paying…but after a while the absence of joy in life became evident and I woke up to the fact that my life was on mind numbing autopilot…because my mind and body never saw eye to eye on various things going on in my life, and it was easier to operate on autopilot. 

Have you ever been aware of your autopilot, and if it’s the result of a disconnect between where you are in life and where you wish to be?