Are You Sleepwalking Your Life Away?
Posted using ShareThis
Do you have a clear direction for your life? What life long goals and dreams do you have for your life, career, health, relationships, wealth and spirituality? Are you actively pursuing them? Or are you just keeping them stashed at the back of your mind?
Sleepwalkers - These are people who live through their lives in an unconsciousness state. It is not just about being physically awake - Many people around us are awake, yet living unconsciously. They are not fully aware of who they are, the larger context of life they are a part of and their real purpose in life.
Sleepwalkers look like any one of us, but are really just physical shells living through their lives as drones. Have you ever seen people who have no clarity on their life? These people are not able to articulate what their life is about or what they want to do. Every day, they are just running around doing various activities such as working, playing, partying, sleeping, but none of it has any relation to life in the bigger picture. To them, that is what they have come to know as life.
These people are the sleepwalkers.
How do you know if you are a sleepwalker? Below are 8 signs to watch out for:
1. Lack of awareness of the bigger picture.
Ability to see beyond what is before you physically. It is being aware that the boundaries of life is not just limited to what is in your direct sphere of contact, such as your family, friends, religion and workplace. Sleepwalkers are not aware of their life as part of a bigger context - as part of the whole universe, as part of the whole spectrum of human history, as part of something greater than what they see every day. What do you think of your life in terms of?
2. Not living in alignment with real purpose.
Do you know what your purpose in life is? Do you have a clear vision of how you want your life to be 5 years, 15 years, 30 years from now? Or is it fuzzy and undetermined? Sleepwalkers are not aware of what their purpose in life is. They have ambiguous, sketchy purposes which they were fed with at some point in their lives - and they are not fully convinced of it themselves either. Some have an idea of their dreams and goals, but they put it in the backburner in pursuit of other things that others expect them to do in life.
3. Life runs on auto-pilot.
Are you caught in the loop of ‘going through the motions’ or ‘running the rat race’? Sleepwalkers live their lives out in automated mood, repeating the same activities daily with no conscious control over them. They drone through the weekdays, looking forward to fridays and weekends, where they recharge themselves for yet another dead week ahead. This cycle continues week after week, with no end. They are too comfortably snuggled in the cycle to do anything about it.
Occasionally events happen which derails the motion, such as the transition to a different life phase, changing careers, loss of a job, etc. This is also referred to as the mid-life crisis. When this happens, they get a wake up call. They start realizing that they have not really not living their life. At this point, some may either start taking direct action on their lives or scurry back into their rat wheel, convincing themselves that their current life is the best one.
4. Engage into non-value added activities.
When sleepwalkers are not busy getting caught in the motions, they fill the gaps in their lives with random activities. This includes addictions such as playing games, partying, eating, watching TV, surfing the net with no end in mind, gossiping, complaining, etc. The person is often not capable to stop this at will until there is an external stimulus which cuts it off, such as time to sleep or eat. He or she is also not able to articulate a clear reason for engaging the activity, other than ‘Because it is fun’, ‘I like it’ or ‘There is nothing else to do’.
5. Passive or avoidance approach to life.
This is common motif of “Living on a day to day basis” and “Live and let live”. They roll along with the punches and manage them as they come along. Control is something they relinquish to people around them. Asking ‘why?’, questioning existing establishments or taking charge of events in their lives are just not in their nature.
Sometimes they find themselves trapped and unhappy with where they are in their lives, such as their relationships or their work. However, they remain passive about it because they do not see any way out. When asked about their reactive behaviour, they reply with “I want to, but [insert reason]” .They are under the perception that what they are doing is temporary sacrifice for a better, long-term future.
They dislike conflict and try to avoid issues or confrontations as much as possible. After a while of avoiding problems, the unresolved issues will culminate to a breaking point scream for their attention. The sleepwalker’s automatic reaction is to avoid and drown them out by engaging in numbing activities. Unfortunately, this does not resolve anything and the problem emerges again sometime in the future, in a different context. An analogy would be the popular myth about the ostriches ‘burying its head under the sand’. Just because you refuse to acknowledge a problem, does not mean it isn’t there.
6. Find no time to do things you want to do.
Sleepwalkers are often busy all the time - they frequently complain about having a lack of time, not being able to do things they want, etc. But they do not realize that they are the ones who put themselves in that position in the first place. When questioned by other people, they are cannot exactly put a finger to where all the time and energy went into. Sleepwalkers are always waiting for a proverbial ‘next time’ for their goals, dreams and desires in life, but they do not realize that the ‘next time’ never comes.
7. Unconscious of your thoughts and emotions.
Are you aware that 60,000 thoughts run through our mind every day? What thoughts dominant your mind every day? What were you thinking and feeling just before you started reading this article? Sleepwalkers constantly have their minds cluttered. In addition, they also have low awareness of those thoughts that occupy their mind.
8. Lack of motivation or ambition.
Sleepwalkers are not very motivated or driven in their lives. They live simply because they are here. They spend their lives living other peoples’ expectations to make something out of their lives. While some of them have personal goals and desires, they keep them stashed away in pursuit of other things which they feel they ‘need’ to do.
Does any of the criteria above describe your current situation or anyone around you?
Sleepwalkers - These are people who live through their lives in an unconsciousness state. It is not just about being physically awake - Many people around us are awake, yet living unconsciously. They are not fully aware of who they are, the larger context of life they are a part of and their real purpose in life.
Sleepwalkers look like any one of us, but are really just physical shells living through their lives as drones. Have you ever seen people who have no clarity on their life? These people are not able to articulate what their life is about or what they want to do. Every day, they are just running around doing various activities such as working, playing, partying, sleeping, but none of it has any relation to life in the bigger picture. To them, that is what they have come to know as life.
These people are the sleepwalkers.
How do you know if you are a sleepwalker? Below are 8 signs to watch out for:
1. Lack of awareness of the bigger picture.
Ability to see beyond what is before you physically. It is being aware that the boundaries of life is not just limited to what is in your direct sphere of contact, such as your family, friends, religion and workplace. Sleepwalkers are not aware of their life as part of a bigger context - as part of the whole universe, as part of the whole spectrum of human history, as part of something greater than what they see every day. What do you think of your life in terms of?
2. Not living in alignment with real purpose.
Do you know what your purpose in life is? Do you have a clear vision of how you want your life to be 5 years, 15 years, 30 years from now? Or is it fuzzy and undetermined? Sleepwalkers are not aware of what their purpose in life is. They have ambiguous, sketchy purposes which they were fed with at some point in their lives - and they are not fully convinced of it themselves either. Some have an idea of their dreams and goals, but they put it in the backburner in pursuit of other things that others expect them to do in life.
3. Life runs on auto-pilot.
Are you caught in the loop of ‘going through the motions’ or ‘running the rat race’? Sleepwalkers live their lives out in automated mood, repeating the same activities daily with no conscious control over them. They drone through the weekdays, looking forward to fridays and weekends, where they recharge themselves for yet another dead week ahead. This cycle continues week after week, with no end. They are too comfortably snuggled in the cycle to do anything about it.
Occasionally events happen which derails the motion, such as the transition to a different life phase, changing careers, loss of a job, etc. This is also referred to as the mid-life crisis. When this happens, they get a wake up call. They start realizing that they have not really not living their life. At this point, some may either start taking direct action on their lives or scurry back into their rat wheel, convincing themselves that their current life is the best one.
4. Engage into non-value added activities.
When sleepwalkers are not busy getting caught in the motions, they fill the gaps in their lives with random activities. This includes addictions such as playing games, partying, eating, watching TV, surfing the net with no end in mind, gossiping, complaining, etc. The person is often not capable to stop this at will until there is an external stimulus which cuts it off, such as time to sleep or eat. He or she is also not able to articulate a clear reason for engaging the activity, other than ‘Because it is fun’, ‘I like it’ or ‘There is nothing else to do’.
5. Passive or avoidance approach to life.
This is common motif of “Living on a day to day basis” and “Live and let live”. They roll along with the punches and manage them as they come along. Control is something they relinquish to people around them. Asking ‘why?’, questioning existing establishments or taking charge of events in their lives are just not in their nature.
Sometimes they find themselves trapped and unhappy with where they are in their lives, such as their relationships or their work. However, they remain passive about it because they do not see any way out. When asked about their reactive behaviour, they reply with “I want to, but [insert reason]” .They are under the perception that what they are doing is temporary sacrifice for a better, long-term future.
They dislike conflict and try to avoid issues or confrontations as much as possible. After a while of avoiding problems, the unresolved issues will culminate to a breaking point scream for their attention. The sleepwalker’s automatic reaction is to avoid and drown them out by engaging in numbing activities. Unfortunately, this does not resolve anything and the problem emerges again sometime in the future, in a different context. An analogy would be the popular myth about the ostriches ‘burying its head under the sand’. Just because you refuse to acknowledge a problem, does not mean it isn’t there.
6. Find no time to do things you want to do.
Sleepwalkers are often busy all the time - they frequently complain about having a lack of time, not being able to do things they want, etc. But they do not realize that they are the ones who put themselves in that position in the first place. When questioned by other people, they are cannot exactly put a finger to where all the time and energy went into. Sleepwalkers are always waiting for a proverbial ‘next time’ for their goals, dreams and desires in life, but they do not realize that the ‘next time’ never comes.
7. Unconscious of your thoughts and emotions.
Are you aware that 60,000 thoughts run through our mind every day? What thoughts dominant your mind every day? What were you thinking and feeling just before you started reading this article? Sleepwalkers constantly have their minds cluttered. In addition, they also have low awareness of those thoughts that occupy their mind.
8. Lack of motivation or ambition.
Sleepwalkers are not very motivated or driven in their lives. They live simply because they are here. They spend their lives living other peoples’ expectations to make something out of their lives. While some of them have personal goals and desires, they keep them stashed away in pursuit of other things which they feel they ‘need’ to do.
Does any of the criteria above describe your current situation or anyone around you?
.jpg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment