You make it sound like it’s bad. Running basic daily chores on autopilot is rather beneficial. Like cleaning, cooking, laundry, basic eating, even sleep and overall daily routine. Depending on work even that can be done on autopilot.
Frees up the mind to wander and think about something else or listen to audiobooks and makes sure that the most basic day to day tasks are done.
People often times complain how annoying it is to wash the dishes or do laundry or clean, running those on autopilot while barely even giving those the attention seems like a perfect solution.
What you’re describing is the opposite of mindfulness and is a great way to entirely lose yourself.
Sure autopilot has its uses, but if you’re relying on autopilot day in and day out as so many people are now doing in modern day, you are no longer yourself. You have become your autopilot. Like a gentle brainwash.
If you do this for long enough, this is how you end up with a mid-life crisis, because you’ll go through decades of your life on autopilot when one day your actual self shows up to take an assessment.
That’s when you realize that all the decisions, desires, pitfalls and relationships you’ve been having were also your autopilot and not you. If you’re not legitimately assessing your life and reflecting on it on a regular basis and constantly giving your life “input,” the world will leave you behind.
So were actually supposed to give attention to the most basic day to day chores?
Running basic day to day tasks on autopilot doesn’t mean that it can’t be turned off when those tasks are done.
It’s just a good way to maintain basic functionality, which overwhelming majority of life actually does consist of.
Once the basic maintenance is done. Just flip a switch, turn the autopilot off and go enjoy your hobbies or yeah reassess and reflect.
So were actually supposed to give attention to the most basic day to day chores?
Believe it or not, yes. It can be massively beneficial to teach yourself to give more true attention to all things. The more we’re in our heads, the less likely we are to be in touch with reality. Thought can only take you so far and there’s no downside to being more alert in our daily lives.
Obviously, if your job is to be a theoretical mathematician, this doesn’t apply in the same way, but mindfulness is a very real thing that benefits all parts of life.
Edit: I’m not even kidding when I say this is both the core principle of what Alan Watts was teaching (here’s a clip from his famous “Overthinker” speech) and the moral behind the movie Click. They’re both saying the same thing in different ways.
Fair, that’s rather interesting actually.
I do agree that mindfulness training and being aware of ones body and surrounding is and has been rather useful over the years.
I just wouldn’t really want to do that with basic daily chores and prefer to have a specific dedicated activity for that.
Everyone just distracts themselves all the time. Even a walk in the forest, some people do that with a podcast playing. They don’t enjoy the natural world around them. Being in the moment seems to be too boring for most.
I mean their entire life is running on autopilot. No idea who they are and what they wanna do with their being. Hard questions with possibly tough outcomes. It’s way easier to wander your mind then to focus on your life.
You make it sound like it’s bad. Running basic daily chores on autopilot is rather beneficial. Like cleaning, cooking, laundry, basic eating, even sleep and overall daily routine. Depending on work even that can be done on autopilot. Frees up the mind to wander and think about something else or listen to audiobooks and makes sure that the most basic day to day tasks are done.
People often times complain how annoying it is to wash the dishes or do laundry or clean, running those on autopilot while barely even giving those the attention seems like a perfect solution.
What you’re describing is the opposite of mindfulness and is a great way to entirely lose yourself.
Sure autopilot has its uses, but if you’re relying on autopilot day in and day out as so many people are now doing in modern day, you are no longer yourself. You have become your autopilot. Like a gentle brainwash.
If you do this for long enough, this is how you end up with a mid-life crisis, because you’ll go through decades of your life on autopilot when one day your actual self shows up to take an assessment.
That’s when you realize that all the decisions, desires, pitfalls and relationships you’ve been having were also your autopilot and not you. If you’re not legitimately assessing your life and reflecting on it on a regular basis and constantly giving your life “input,” the world will leave you behind.
So were actually supposed to give attention to the most basic day to day chores?
Running basic day to day tasks on autopilot doesn’t mean that it can’t be turned off when those tasks are done. It’s just a good way to maintain basic functionality, which overwhelming majority of life actually does consist of. Once the basic maintenance is done. Just flip a switch, turn the autopilot off and go enjoy your hobbies or yeah reassess and reflect.
Believe it or not, yes. It can be massively beneficial to teach yourself to give more true attention to all things. The more we’re in our heads, the less likely we are to be in touch with reality. Thought can only take you so far and there’s no downside to being more alert in our daily lives.
Obviously, if your job is to be a theoretical mathematician, this doesn’t apply in the same way, but mindfulness is a very real thing that benefits all parts of life.
Edit: I’m not even kidding when I say this is both the core principle of what Alan Watts was teaching (here’s a clip from his famous “Overthinker” speech) and the moral behind the movie Click. They’re both saying the same thing in different ways.
Fair, that’s rather interesting actually. I do agree that mindfulness training and being aware of ones body and surrounding is and has been rather useful over the years.
I just wouldn’t really want to do that with basic daily chores and prefer to have a specific dedicated activity for that.
Everyone just distracts themselves all the time. Even a walk in the forest, some people do that with a podcast playing. They don’t enjoy the natural world around them. Being in the moment seems to be too boring for most.
I mean their entire life is running on autopilot. No idea who they are and what they wanna do with their being. Hard questions with possibly tough outcomes. It’s way easier to wander your mind then to focus on your life.