Getting Off Autopilot

Piloting Your Time

An online friend posts a lot of memes and quotes and food-for-thought items on her pages.  Not all of them resonate with me but something in one of them recently ended with “Get Off Autopilot”.  Sometimes bits of quotes will grab my attention and this one kept resurfacing as I went about my usual day.  At one point in the late afternoon I realized I had spent the day living in routine, doing all the repetitive tasks, just powering through without thinking.  As the words got louder in my head (please tell me I’m not the only one who hears voices!), I suddenly heard them more intensely. “Get off Autopilot.”  Wait, what?  What does that even mean?  I knew I had to explore the implication that I might be just going through the motions too often. 

When I need to think, I like to go to a small deck on the south end of our property.  I like to call it my “mini sanctuary” and I do a whole lot of processing, thinking, meditating and praying there (it gets a little rough in the wintertime).  It’s a peaceful place with lots of trees and bushes and the local wildlife wanders through on a regular basis. My hubby gave me a couple of really nice chairs, a small table and a deck fountain to make it extra special.  When he can’t find me in the house, he knows where to look.  So on this less-than-riveting day, I took an unintentional break and headed out to the mini sanctuary. This deer friend meets me there often.

At first I just watched the wasps and hummingbirds duke it out for the sugar water in the feeders (I’m so easily distracted). Then I watched two squirrels chase each other around a tree trunk.  Finally I reminded myself why I was there, closed my eyes and focused on the warmth of the sun and the sounds of leaves rustling in the light breeze.  I cleared my mind as best I could, did some breathing exercises, then gave myself room to repeat the phrase, “Get off autopilot.”  So of course my first question had to be, “What really is autopilot?”  I had a basic understanding, but my inquiring mind wanted more details.  So what better source for all sorts of trivial information than Wikipedia?  “An autopilot is a system used to control the path of an aircraft, marine craft or spacecraft without requiring constant manual control by a human operator.  Autopilots do not replace human operators.”

My next question was, “how often do I turn on my autopilot?”  If I was to be honest with myself, the answer would be, “Probably more than I realize or care to admit.”  I began to ponder the fact that I likely too often wander through life not being fully engaged, aware, looking for opportunities for learning and growth, or having meaningful conversations.  That seems like a whole lot of time that could matter more.  Once you have devoted yourself to being present in all the moments of your life, it seems such a shame to let them slide by on autopilot.  So then, how do we avoid that?  I believe it’s something we can consciously look to shut off like a switch.  For me, I know that a morning quiet time and focusing seems imperative.  For sure there are times and tasks that beg for tuning into music or a podcast just to make the menial more bearable, but doing that tends to make you miss the opportunities for your senses to notice and absorb whatever is going on around you. 

Maybe you’d like to join me in spending less time on autopilot and more time being present in your days.  I’m going to make every effort for the next couple months to make sure I get focused each morning to be ready to see and hear and feel my surroundings.  This human operator is going to take back the yoke (that’s the steering wheel of a plane in case you wondered).  Who knows what I might have been missing not being in the pilot’s seat of my life?  So as the saying goes, “Get Off Autopilot!”  The view and the flight path might just be pretty amazing.