"Do you often feel like you are being buffeted about by the demands and circumstances of your life, rather than making intentional choices of how to respond and which actions to take? So many of us find ourselves in this position on a daily basis. As we are bombarded with endless stimuli, we may shift into automatic pilot, reacting choicelessly to each thing that grabs our attention."
"We come by this (and all our conditioned reactions) honestly because our success is often connected to our ability to react quickly and efficiently. However, automatic response does not give us an opportunity to choicefully act or to make any changes to our habit patterns. Instead, we continue to respond the same way again and again, wearing a groove of our tendencies that gets deeper and deeper, leaving us feeling more and more stuck in our patterns of responding."
"If you regularly read our posts, you may have noticed that our first suggestion for making changes (for instance, responding effectively to fear, anger, or intense emotions, or working with a busy mind) is often this: Pay attention. There's a Zen story about a teacher who's asked, "What's the most important practice?" The teacher responds, "Attention." The student asks if the teacher can elaborate, to which the teacher responds, "Attention, attention, attention.""
Many people are swept along by demands and circumstances, reacting automatically rather than choosing responses and actions. Constant stimuli push individuals into autopilot, reinforcing conditioned reactions that deepen habitual grooves and create a sense of being stuck. Rapid, efficient reactive ability contributes to these automatic patterns but prevents intentional change. Increasing present-moment awareness, practiced with compassion, interrupts automaticity and creates opportunities to choose responses and modify habits. Attention is the foundational practice; noticing opportunities enables deliberate adjustment of behavior and improved response to fear, anger, intense emotions, and a busy mind.
Read at Psychology Today
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