My parents visited me the other day. Often we go for lunch or coffee, but it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon so we went for a stroll. As we walked my parents remarked on houses, and fences, and trees…a running commentary on our walk.
I have walked past these houses, fences and trees many times but no longer notice them. Through my parents’ eyes, I looked at them and saw them in a different way.
It made me think. How much in our lives do we no longer notice? I decided to test this idea.
Walking backwards
On the bush track I walk most days I decided to do my circuit in the opposite direction. Do you know what happened? I got lost twice. Seriously! I couldn’t believe it. I missed the start of one section and had to double back.
At one point I was standing looking at the entrances of two tracks and simply couldn’t figure out which one was my track. In fact, I never even knew there were two tracks in that section. Astounding!
I realised that often I’m lost in my thoughts while walking – which is not a bad thing as it’s my time to problem solve and come up with new ideas – but clearly I’m not taking notice of my surroundings either.
Turning off autopilot
How often are we on autopilot?
- Have you ever driven to work and got to the car park and completely not remembered the drive?
- Do you constantly check your emails on your phone, even though it states, “Last updated 2 minutes ago”?
- Are you just so in your routine you rarely do anything spontaneous?
It’s really interesting to consider these questions. Even though I don’t consider that I’m living a life on autopilot, clearly at times I am. Now I’m trying to notice if I’m simply following a routine, and if possible, to snap out of autopilot and be in the moment instead.
What about you? Maybe it’s time to ditch your personal sat nav and think about achieving some new goals…such as stepping into the spotlight.
Tweetable: It’s time to stop running on autopilot and achieve new goals @CatrionaPollard bit.ly/1TaaU1i