Why do we run on auto-pilot sometimes?

I've experienced this sometimes... but it's like a complete feeling of detachment to myself and the rest of the world and my own thoughts. I don't know how to put it but there have been times where I've just been disconnected from myself and I have in the past just focused on the next day and just getting the day over with. In certain times I didn't take the time to experience the good in life... or like if I did- I didn't bother to look at it. I don't know why it is this way. I guess sometimes I might be too caught up with myself to notice the rest of the world or what's going on? I just seem to have experienced this a lot the last 2 years in college life.

Maybe it's because I'm in college and I feel really stressed about transferring to a school for next year. And my mind just wants it over with... I don't know though. I mean I'm usually aware of other people. Like right now I'm mentally aware. But like then- during that time I was on auto-pilot I wasn't really aware of my surroundings, or, if I was- I didn't really have the mental concentration to focus on them. Maybe it could be because I wasn't able to balance my schedule that well... but sometimes I look back at myself and I felt like I was an automated robot. I am not retarded or anything like that... but sometimes I just tend to feel a certain disconnect with the rest of the world and I just like feel... a bit powerless sometimes.

Does anyone know what I have been experiencing? Could they help me out, and, possibly relate to what I'm saying? Help would be appreciated. I felt like last year I was on complete auto-pilot. This year I've been a bit better as for not being on auto-pilot... but sometimes life just goes by and I'm like where has the time gone? I think it's weird because I've experienced this like a lot...


[edit on 1-2-2010 by Frankidealist35]

When we are running on auto pilot, we are out of touch with our soul self and basically just plugged into the matrix...

The age old saying, BE HERE NOW was said for good reason I have been learning the last couple of years. When you focus on NOW, you drop into your heart center and are aware. This is when you are getting in touch with YOU ... the REAL YOU, not your role part in the illusion.

Have you tried meditation? Even some active meditation, something you can do to be totally focused on nothing. Dance around your apartment and really let go. Try to bring your focus inward, and feel who YOU are.

The more you practice that, the less you'll allow your self to go on auto pilot. Then you will gain so much control.

Could be a defense mechanism.
Perhaps you're out of gas, stressed, or something else.

Best of luck.

reply to post by Frankidealist35


Have you been getting much sleep?

reply to post by Frankidealist35


I know exactly what you are talking about. One of my friends even knighted me as "the space cadet" because I just seemed to very inattentive about alot of different things.
Throughout my week, I would constantly notice how often I forgot things, from simple things, to major important things, mostly relating to misplacing them.
It's hard to compare how it might have been directly related to what I was going through, from school to work and both.

Its like I constantly found myself "going through the motions" and not really feeling like I was even making any decisions, but merely my body was just in a reaction auto-pilot.
I personally could notice this change after a large change in how my work changed in a short period of time.

I went from taking classes online, not drinking, working everyday in a not so mundane job, going to the gym, reading alot of books, not stressed, engaged in hobbies..to

stopped reading, work no longer being routine yet becoming mundane, stop going to gym, drinking, work interfering with school/affecting grades, less engaged in hobbies.

The first part was in 2008 the second 2009. And the second part is where I noticed my inattentiveness, as well as my friends.
That is just my own relationship to a possible reason why. There were other variables in both, but that was just the gist.

I honestly just felt like, I didn't even really pay much attention to what I was doing, I was spaced out, and when I looked back on it, it kind of scared me that I was the one who was still in charge in the end.
Don't know if you were in the same boat as me but that was me last year.

in college...you're fairly strapped. there's nothing wrong with you, we need more like ya! in the system of God's world he loved so much in jn.3:16 that gives you the license to push the experiences envelope.
i ran on auto-pilot because i was overwhelmed by not knowing how career choices worked or what was out there to choose from. then, all the aquaintances ask,,,"what's your major ?" agggghhhhh ( 56 years old now)

Actually, we run on auto-pilot all of the time.

When we try to manually take charge of our lives, we screw things up. Every time. Auto-pilot is how we stay alive in spite of our screw-ups.

— Doc Velocity

I meant to expand on my previous statement, but I hit reply automatically. That's a good example.

You know it's like, sometimes, you'll be driving across town — like 40 miles — and you'll suddenly realize "Damn! I just drove 15 or 20 miles without even thinking about it!"

Or you'll be getting into your car and you'll think, "Sonofabitch! I left the oven turned on!" Then you'll go back inside and, by golly, you discover that the oven isn't turned on at all. You actually turned the oven off without even thinking about it, before you walked out the door.

That's auto-pilot. It's a subconscious routine that your mind employs to keep things running smoothly, in spite of your faulty attention and memory. It's like a survival personality that keeps you from getting into trouble.

Occasionally, we become aware of this auto-pilot routine as it's running, which can be kind of frightening. It's as though somebody else is running the show.

But, no. It's just your auto-pilot keeping you out of trouble.

— Doc Velocity

reply to post by Frankidealist35


I think I get what you mean. For me it happens when i'm driving.

Sometimes when i'm driving, even though it's a busy or dangerous stretch of road requiring much awareness, I find myself totally detatched from all awareness of anything.

Then maybe 5 minutes later, I will come back to my senses. It's quite scary because I often think, my god, how did i just get from there to here without being in a accident!!

I have not seen, heard or been aware of anything.

Very strange.

g

reply to post by Frankidealist35


I know exactly what you are feeling, I get this every once in a while and I do not like it when I do.

It makes it a little difficult to concentrate as well, its as if everything is just that little bit slower to think about or take in.

I call it feeling dopey and it usually lasts for a whole day.

Other times I feel very sharp and alert.

I wish I could put that into better words but its very difficult to explain. I have not experienced this for quite a long time now and it can be frustrating.

Anytime I have mentioned it, I get the impression it is tiredness from what others say, but it feels different from that. It could just be information overload, do you spend quite a lot of time reading and learning?



[edit on 2-2-2010 by XXXN3O]

Originally posted by XXXN3O
reply to post by Frankidealist35

 

Anytime I have mentioned it, I get the impression it is tiredness from what others say, but it feels different from that. It could just be information overload, do you spend quite a lot of time reading and learning?

[edit on 2-2-2010 by XXXN3O]

It might be information overload. I do a lot of reading. I think I've been better at managing my time since I have been having less of the problem like so far this year... but like in the past I've just like felt completely detached... and I think you might be right.

For almost all of man's history, we lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers, in small packs of 10 or 20 individuals. The invention of agriculture was only 10,000 years ago...a tiny slice of our history as a species. All of recorded history has occurred since then, and our computerized, sanitized modern world has really only taken hold in the last 50 years or less.

In short, our nervous systems are not equipped to handle what we are experiencing because they developed under very different conditions. So pretty much everyone is attempting to use yesterday's mental tools to handle problems they were never intended to handle.

It's like the way beavers in zoos build "phantom dams" out of imaginary sticks. That's what they are programmed to do, and in the absence of real sticks, they'll just go ahead and do it with thin air. Humans are opeating in the same way (with slightly more complexity, perhaps). Thus, pretty much everyone is spaced out, neurotic, and haggard, at the very least. If "running on autopilot" is your only neural complaint, you are probably handling this madness better than 99% of humanity.