When not to play aeroplanes…
We all spend at least 50% of our waking hours on autopilot. Just as a modern plane is run for most of a flight by complex software, we are run for most of our day by habits. Our “software” consists of habits of thinking, behaving and responding to what happens to us (and to our emotions and physical sensations).
These habits have been created over our whole lifetime as our brains are good at automating anything we do regularly with no judgement about the value of what is being automated. So the habits may be really useful; they may once have been useful but are now outdated and some have never been useful and are, in fact, very unhelpful.
So how can we switch off autopilot if it’s taking us in the wrong direction? The mindful approach is to change our experience by “intentionally paying attention to it”. This can be as simple as stopping whatever we are doing or thinking about and focusing on the physical sensations in our body or on our breathing for a few moments.
If we want to change an automatic reaction to a particular person or situation (the “hot buttons” that our nearest and dearest can become very good at pushing!) then we need to take a breath so that we can choose to respond in a more helpful way. Taking a breath by focusing on our breath and lengthening and deepening it will calm us, clear our heads and give us the space we need…and guess what? If we do that often enough then our brain will create a new useful habit for us!
She treats everyone as an individual and by developing a good relationship, based on mutual respect and trust and always does the best for her clients.
- Don’t panic! - March 9, 2024
- How do you manage overwhelm? - February 5, 2024
- Responding not reacting - December 6, 2022
