what to do with autopilot?

[Devereuks879]

Hello everyone,

rather than explain here's an example:

I want to decaffeinate, which means I stop drinking coffee. But i realize it when the cup is already half empty. What the heck do i think of, when i prepare it or pour the cup when my intention is to avoid drinking it at all?

thought distraction?

happens to me all the time, stops me from progress in many areas

problem is that when I consciously pick up a task i want to avoid, and I realize it when is done. again. and again.

any ideas? i'll be grateful for any suggestions
Thank you.

[truant]

This one is easy and difficult at the same time: you're not grounded to your present experience. You need to be more aware of the present and spend less time in your head. You only run on autopilot when you're not paying attention to your present experience.

Here's an analogy: let's say you're up late trying to finish an important project and you start to get really tired. You mind is going over all the things you still need to do and thinking about how important the project is. At one point, you imagine what your boss or your teacher will say to you if you don't get your assignment completed and you suddenly notice that they are starting to turn into a large animal. Bam! You wake up with a start and realize that you were starting to drift off to sleep and had started to have a dream. This is a familiar experience that most people can identify with.

Now, what many people don't realize is that when you're in your head thinking during waking hours you are in exactly the same situation. You are literally asleep while you're awake doing things. Let's say somebody says something that makes you angry or hurts your feelings and you start to ruminate about it, going over the situation in your mind, imagining what you would have said or done differently. This is functionally the same as being asleep and having a dream about it. You're running on auto-pilot, barely even aware of your surroundings, and doing everything from muscle memory. In these kinds of states (where you're wrapped up in your thoughts about the past or future and you're not really paying attention to anything that is going on in 'real time' around you) you tend to repeat patterns and behave in habitual ways. Most people are in this state most of the time!

What you need to do in order to change a habit that you perpetuate more or less unconsciously is wake yourself up. Pay attention to what is actually happening now, in this moment, instead of thinking about your past or future.

[journaljunkie]

Well... maybe you can make the coffee more inaccessible, forcing you to really stop and find a way to get it. Put on the highest shelf. Hide the percolator. Or, if you really want to quit, throw out all of the coffee from the house so you'll actually have to drive to the supermarket or a coffeeshop to get a fix.

I find this helps in another areas. Set yourself up for success. Create an environment where it is easier for you to achieve what you want, and remove whatever perpetuates what you don't want. Sometimes the small changes make a big difference. Like when I went on a diet, I packed my own lunch so I wouldn't go out with my co-workers and be tempted by the items in the menu.

[Mounds]

Autopilot can be really useful in the ways that journaljunkie described.

If you want to stop drinking coffee, get up right now and do the following:

1. Give your coffeemaker to a friend.
2. Throw away your coffee cups and grinds.

Currently your autopilot is set for "Drink coffee". By taking those steps, your autopilot is essentially not going to work anymore. So the brain is going to say, "Hey! Where's my habit?" So then you gotta replace it with something else. Grab a tall glass of water instead. Keep doing it and your autopilot will change