Your Brain Is Wired To Be Efficient – Not Mindful

Your brain is very efficient. Whenever possible, it minimizes the effort and energy required to do something by delegating control to your subconscious. Everything from speaking to driving can be managed by highly automated routines largely inaccessible to your conscious mind. Some routines are instinctual. Some are learned.

Have you ever driven somewhere and had absolutely no recollection of getting there?  That’s the opposite of being mindful. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve shared something from my business Facebook page to my personal one, and two seconds later, I couldn’t tell you if I’ve done it or not. That’s not being mindful.

Mindfulness is about bringing some of these subconscious routines into your conscious awareness. It’s about waking up from automatically going through the motions of life. Living mindfully asks you to identify your beliefs and reasons for behaving and thinking the way you do routinely. Then, it’s about choosing what you want to believe and how you want to act with conscious intent and awareness.