Mindfulness Exercise - Disrupting Autopilot

Have you ever missed an exit or realized you don't remember a single thing from your drive to work? Autopilot is an evolutionary process that most humans employ to clear their memory of mundane, every day tasks. Our memory banks allow us to retain a certain amount of information that is readily available, such as phone numbers, our home address or someone's birthday. When we exceed a certain threshold, items can be forgotten as one thought drives out another.

Now you might be thinking... if autopilot allows us to clear our memory banks of mundane tasks... then what's wrong with it?

Truthfully, it has a time and a place (such as being able to drive a stick shift without thinking about every step). The danger is that we can easily lose control to the autopilot and move through the day in a way that is not intentionally creating the life we want.

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Relying too heavily on autopilot can actually lead to deep seated stress, anxieties and sadness. Autopilot can sometimes surface in these ways :

• Exhaustion
• Anxiousness
• Chronically dissatisfied
• Mind slows down
• Brain freeze
• Brain crash

Simple Exercises to form Healthier Habits

There are easy ways that you can disrupt your autopilot moments throughout the day to help create new mental habits. Doing these exercises force you to slow down, pay attention and become more present in the moment. Chances are they will make you laugh too and spark a fresh level of energy. Here are a few examples of things you can try:

• Brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand
• Stir your coffee clockwise instead of counter-clock wise
• Drive a slightly different route to work
• Eat a meal with your non-dominant hand
• Mouse with your non-dominant hand

You can see there are lots of ways to disrupt your patterns throughout the day and that subbing your non-dominant hand is a really easy way to do that. It engages the pre-frontal cortex and allows your brain to start forming new habits.

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If you really want to take this to the next level, consider giving yourself affirmations while you are doing the disruption exercise. Your brain is ripe for learning and forging new mental pathways in those moments. Think of things that make you feel small or limited, and then give yourself the opposite , positive affirmation. For example, brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand and say things like, "I am not a failure" or "I am enough". These are pretty generic examples - and so make them specific to your life and your current struggles.

The brain feeds on novelty and loves to focus all of it's attention on what is new. When you are disrupting your patterns, your brain is trying to figure out what it thinks about that. By giving yourself positive affirmations at the same time, you are increasing it's potency.

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I want to thank and credit my lovely meditation guide and mindfulness teacher - Elizabeth Deboo. She is a Reiki master and mindfulness coach in my home town of Bellingham, WA. I hope you enjoyed this post and decide to try one of these exercises this week!