Auto Be conscious and mindful of your actions to achieve a serenity of mind.
How many times have you forgotten you had a cup of coffee sitting beside you? Or picked up your mug to take a sip only to discover that it’s empty, but you can’t remember drinking it?
No? Try this…
What did you have for breakfast yesterday morning?
Hold on to that thought and now describe three things about that meal. The texture The aroma The flavor
Did you manage that?
Chances are you will not be able to recall how you felt before serving breakfast, how you felt eating it, and how it made you feel afterwards. This is because you’re not mindful of the things you do, because they are ingrained into your routine. Going through life in such a routine way on auto-pilot is no more than going through the motions of life without really experiencing it.
How to Experience Life for the First Time
Step One: Sit yourself down Sit somewhere that makes you feel the most comfortable. Somewhere familiar. Perhaps at the kitchen table, or your favorite place in the sitting room. Maybe even lie down on your bed for a few minutes.
Step Two: Listen to everything Intentional listening is only using one of your five senses. Most of the noise of everyday living passes by unnoticed, because it’s familiar. Intentionally listen to all the sounds you hear. Experience the gentle humming sound of electric currents flowing through your walls. Don’t be scared . Hear the creaking of the floorboards. The sound of water, whether it be rain hitting your windows, or drains flushing water away, or even the drip of a leaky faucet. The more sounds that you hear, the more you’ll begin to question what other sounds you’ve been missing because you’ve become so accustomed to them.
Step Three: Magnify that effect by five You’ve become so accustomed to going through the motions of life that your five senses have become so ingrained in the routine that you barely notice anything.
Such as how things… Sound Look Feel Smell Taste
All of this adds up to you missing out on a lot that life has to offer. And it is all because you have fallen into a rut and are experiencing your life on autopilot. That will begin to change when you practice the steps above. Once you take the time to be conscious, mindful and aware of what you are doing, and intentionally experience your surroundings, you will slowly start to feel more connected to the things you do, and have a better appreciation for life and be more at ease with yourself.
Secret #4: The Fallacy of Getting More Things Done in Less Time. Abandon multitasking. Embrace unitasking.
“Multitasking is merely the opportunity to screw up more than one thing at a time.” - Steve Uzzell
The fallacy of the human race is accepting the myth that we can get more done in less time. You can’t. You can have it all. Just not right now. There’s an old saying that comes to mind here. “He who chases two rabbits, catches none.” The same philosophy applies to everything in life.
You cannot do two things at once. As much you may think you’re a great multitasker—you are not. Research estimates that only 2% of the entire population is effective as super-taskers. The rest of us are falling short and driving ourselves mad trying to get more done in less time. Your brain is not really wired to do more than one thing at a time. What it does do is switch back and forth. To get more done, you need to unitask.
Doing one thing at a time requires prioritization and focus. It’s not that multitasking is a bad thing. It has a time and a place. Reading the newspaper in the rest room; there’s no danger. Texting while driving, well that’s a recipe for disaster, and that is why there are laws against it. Accept the fact you cannot multitask. You can only focus on a single task.