Autopilot thinking is the reason you cannot change your mind.

When your brain wanders from consciousness, focusing and paying attention, it switches into “autopilot” mode, enabling you to carry on doing tasks quickly, accurately and without conscious thought. The autopilot mode of thinking can be related to mental health conditions like anxiety, or dissociative disorders. It could also be a sign that you’re feeling depressed or not coping well with stress. Whatever the cause, you must consciously learn how to get off autopilot mode to take back control of your life.

Have you ever been having a conversation with someone when you realize you have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about–let alone how you’re still talking? Or, maybe you’ve been driving your car when you suddenly realize time has passed by, leaving you horrified as to how you are still alive? This is auto-pilot thinking and shows clearly how we can believe we are operating properly, when in fact, we are not present in the moment. It is like having a black out in our conscious mind.

This unconscious blackout, we find ourselves following, consists of automatic behaviours that don’t require much effort or attention to carry out. Think about a time someone made you feel really angry and in the moment you irrationally reacted by saying something unkind and regretted it later. This is when you recognise that automatic processes are initiated unintentionally, and often before you realize what you’ve done. Automatic reactions in a split second of anger, makes it almost impossible to prevent, and equally difficult to interrupt.

Some things we do automatically, like breathing, are obviously normal but many other automatic behaviours, such as driving, become automatic through repetition and practice and eventually become our habits. The more times we respond to a trigger by thinking or acting in a specific way, the more likely we are to repeat the same pattern the next time we are in the same situation. If it was possible to press a pause button and take a deep breath, regaining some control over the anger, it would allow us to intentionally respond from a state of conscious awareness.

But how do we do this?

Your conscious mind can choose how to respond to anything that happens to you at any time. Your unconscious mind, the deep dark hidden memories from the past, can only react in accordance to your automatic triggers. There is only one way to nurture your conscious self in order to live a more intentional life and this can be done through practising meditation. If you spend time before you go to sleep, consciously and honestly going over your behaviour and it is NOT an easy process, you get to see your habits and patterns play out and also what triggered them. If you spend time before you get up, creating an intention, like minding your own business or only speaking when necessary, you will regain control.

This kind of controlled meditation practice start to help stabilize your main focus on just one thing, such as your breathing, or a sensation in your body. When this happens you can then recognize when a distracting thought pops in your head and you can consciously bring your attention back to your breathing. Again, it takes such a long time to to clear your mind and bring your autopilot triggers and thinking back under conscious awareness but it is the answer to stop your uncontrollable reacting.

Now maybe you can begin to understand because you are at least now aware, that your unconscious triggers and processes directs nearly most of your daily behaviours, will you begin to be mindful to slow down and take back conscious control of your thinking? It’s all about choosing to pay attention to the present moment in a curious and non-judgmental way, rather than letting what you cannot control, control you.