Roots of Motivation
Watch your every step
It is all too easy for us to fall into the habit of living on autopilot, going through the motions of our daily lives without fully engaging in and actively reflecting upon the choices we make and the actions we take. By intentionally bringing awareness to every step, motion, and action we take, we can not only cultivate a greater sense of presence and mindfulness in our lives but also gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and our habits.
Today’s exercise is easy to describe but difficult to maintain for an extended period of time. Your task is only to be focused on what you do, as simple as it is. And when I say focused I mean precisely, high-resolution focused. If you are preparing a meal, you don’t “open the fridge, take the ingredients, slice those, and drop them onto the hot pan.” It’s rather that you “move your hand to the fridge handle, grasp and pull it, then release the handle, reach for a tomato, grab it, step back…”
But don’t describe your actions to yourself! That should be a silent understanding of every minor detail, not an internal narrator describing what you’re doing. Basically, this exercise is best done on top of the stopped internal monologue.
While this exercise is useful even in small doses, the ultimate goal is to learn to live in the state of an ever-increasing level of awareness, and for that, you will need to spend more and more time practicing it. Initially, this technique may slow down the pace of your everyday life, but as you become more accustomed to paying attention to minor details, it will become less taxing. As you become proficient at this exercise, it may help you increase your dexterity and perform tasks more skillfully than you did when operating on autopilot.
Another warning: please, don’t overdo it and, specifically, don’t try to track your breathing or other bodily functions in this manner. I have not heard of any serious injuries or fatal cases but certainly, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
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