This is the title of my most popular post on the blog, and it is a title that you will see repeated throughout our blog posts. To make it easy to read, I have broken it down into three sections. They are called Self-Awareness, Self-Discipline, and Self-Compassion. I will explain each in the following paragraphs.
Self-Awareness: What is the first step toward self-awareness? This one is easy to understand. But, how do we know we actually do have any awareness at all? If you’re like me, you get confused a lot, especially during the summer, when it’s so warm and sunny outside and you’re trying to stay cool.
To be honest, I’m not exactly sure how to answer that. I feel like I have learned that the vast majority of people have some awareness of their surroundings. However, when you think about how many times we use our brain just to run a few more miles or turn on a TV show we don’t really notice that we’re using our brain at all. So, to be honest, I feel like my first step toward self-awareness is to just run a few more miles.
Running is the third most common habit that causes us to not notice that we are using our brain at all. It’s the second most common habit that causes us to notice that our brain is constantly using our mind to run a few more miles or turn on a TV show or phone call. It’s the third most common habit that causes us to run from the house at all.
But running is really, really fun. A walk down a street is a very, very small part of the experience of running. It’s like when you can’t stand to have a conversation for more then five minutes. You’re running so fast and you have no idea where you’re going. You’re so sure that your brain is not going to remember that you’re running at all and you try and keep up.
It seems to have become so common for us to run from the house that we are no longer surprised when we find ourselves in a parking lot or in a restaurant or in a mall and there is no way we can stop and catch our breath. We are no longer shocked that it is the twenty-third most common habit that causes us to run from our house. We are just surprised at what an unexpected habit it is.
The fact is that we are on autopilot for so long that it is almost impossible to remember how we do things, and that we don’t remember what we did or what we wanted to do. But that’s okay so long as we keep on running.
Most of us are on autopilot for so long that we forget we are on autopilot. This is a good problem to have, because most of us are so caught up in our day-to-day lives that we don’t even know we are doing it. You can see how easy it is for a person to forget all about what they are doing.
I know that you can’t remember all the things you did in the day but remember it’s a good habit to have. We all have our own memories about the day’s events, but most of us forget the specific part of the day. There are some moments where we forget how fast we get on autopilot and that’s okay.
There is a difference between just getting on autopilot and the act of forgetting. We can get on autopilot and forget what we are doing but that is not the same as forgetting. As long as we are aware of the habitual movements and behaviors that are bringing us to that autopilot, we are free to make the changes that bring us back to that awareness.