How many times have you been driving somewhere and suddenly you realize that you have arrived, yet you can’t recall passing familiar landmarks or, to be honest, you don’t remember anything of the journey? If you are like most people this phenomenon happens on a regular basis, actually much more often than you even realize. Have you ever been at work and looked at the clock and realized it was quitting time, and thought, ‘Where did the day do?”
Perhaps you should be wondering, “Where did my mind go?” This is not a rhetorical question. When we are performing tasks that require little thought, or repetitive actions, our attention is not required. This may be a “no-brainer” and even that expression tells a tale.
There is a psychological condition called the ‘alien hand’ where a person loses control of a portion of their body. It is called the alien hand because the most common part is an arm and the hand performs actions not consciously directed by the brain. My thought is that when you are driving or doing mundane tasks, the same functional section of your brain is controlling your entire body. It’s not an ‘alien’ brain; it is your sub-brain or subconscious thoughts.
I find this hard to write. I have become distracted twice thus far as I am putting these thoughts to paper. I began playing solitaire at the end of the last paragraph. Why? Could there be something of a battle between my conscious and sub-conscious minds? It is all me, isn’t it?
If I can regain the time that I am losing on a regular basis to unconscious actions, I could in effect increase my life span. Those days that seemed to drag by in the past were perhaps days that I was more aware of my surroundings. In mundane situations this might not be such a bad thing, but if I want to make the most of my day and use my time and mind to the fullest extent, I need to stay focused. I need to live ‘in the now’ as Eckhart Tolle expresses it. Funny how the science and the metaphysical often collide.
I run long distance occasionally. Even when I take my regular runs I find myself in a meditative state during the run. If one would concentrate on each movement of each leg, I think I would go mad. In many instances motor control, along with other functions, are most efficiently handled by the subconscious mind. Could you imagine thinking about each sound you utter and the control it takes to shape your vocal cords or each stroke as you type a message? You’d probably never finish a sentence in either medium if you had to consciously control every action.
I am not advocating taking conscious control of all the actions of your life. We certainly cannot begin regulating our hearts or our breath. It would simply be overwhelming. The direction I wish to go with this is; know where you are. What does that mean?
As you are driving down the road, where does your conscious mind go? It is not used to regulate the accelerator or to negotiate simple driving skills. But where does your mind go and can you keep track of it? As your mind wanders, try to keep tabs on where it is and what thoughts consume it. You may think this an odd exercise, but I think that only by working this mental muscle will we begin to gain a better understanding of ourselves and to move on to a higher plane of existence.
Does your mind go someplace where it works on issues that you have in your life? Does it withdraw to muse on the challenges you face? I have often heard that prior to going to bed, one should think about a challenge they have. You can, more often than not, wake up with some sort of solution to that challenge. It is said that you are handing your problem to your subconscious mind and it will fit the pieces of the puzzle together in a manner your conscious mind cannot.
But where is your conscious mind during that whole process? I would propose that instead of your sub-conscious mind working on that issue as you sleep, it is, in fact your undistracted conscious mind that can tackle the challenge. The subconscious mind is powerful. It can direct your actions, literally without your thought, but, in my opinion, is more of the nuts and bolts of your daily life operation.
An Analogy
A factory runs seven days a week producing nuts and bolts for industrial customers. The production workers are the heart and lungs of the process. They work relentlessly getting paid by the hour for their labor, not, for the most part, for their thought processes; Mechanical actions producing physical results.
The supervisors and management work in a slightly different capacity. They are the reflexes; the nervous system, if you will. They are using their brains in a limited sense, keeping things flowing, putting out the occasional metaphorical fire and hopefully foreseeing upcoming issues and taking steps to prevent them. They get paid a salary for their thought processes, yet for the most part their function is akin to the workers. They are not there to cipher the best direction for the company to go. They are not there to change the size of the machining that goes on, or to arbitrarily begin new work.
The owner or the president of the company functions (hopefully) on a higher level. He or she sees the functionality of the process and also sees beyond that to the possibilities of what may come to be. When there is a slow down in the demand for the fasteners (nuts and bolts) people may be shifted to a different line, but the president only sees the results, he doesn’t facilitate the labor shift. She is seeing new potential markets and how the company can adapt and grow with the changing marketplace. The president does not get paid by the hour, but by their capacity for thought.
Now imagine the president only decides to work on Tuesday afternoons. How much do you think the company is going to grow and change while that much attention and focus is happening? Do you think that presidents take weekends off like the hourly workers do?
Even while presidents are on vacation, their minds continue to sift though the data; absorbing new information and assimilating new ideas.
Your mind is the president of your company. How much time off do you give it? How much do you slack off? Where would you be if you didn’t? I am not advocating a 24/7 dedication to work. How much further do you think you could be if you devoted even 10% more time to actively improving your life? This is not for everybody. Some people are content with their lot in life. Others are not content, but live to complain, not taking steps to better themselves. You can be a part of the small percentage who actually take steps and live in the now, making the most of the limited time we have here on Earth.
I am continuing to think about ways to stay in the now and get more out of my life.
