Sam's Top 10 List of Growth Stuff

You repeat yourself. You repeat the same reactions to everyday events. You repeat your ideas about what makes you happy and how you think life is supposed to go.

You can't remember what it felt like to walk out your front door this morning.

You don't actually "feel" - in your body - the love you have for others. You might not feel them loving you - emotionally - either.

Doing is more important than being in relationship. You react when other things interfere or thwart what you're trying to get done.

You've accepted that the intimacy in your relationships is "how it goes" when you're at this stage in life. You may feel like your children seem to receive the bulk of your heart attention.

Keeping your energy "up" is harder than it used to be. You may even write it off to "getting older."

The elements of your life, relationships, thoughts and habits look essentially the same as they did 5 years ago.

You hear yourself complain about about the same things, over and over.

Waking up with excitement, eagerness and curiosity is a thing of the past.

People around you complain about you - and you find yourself ignoring it.

Autopilot is like cardboard. All of the emotion, liveliness and dimension is "squoze" out of the wood - we're left with something that is dry, bland and rigid. These are just a few ways to tell that you are on autopilot.

(yes I know, :D - squoze is a made up word)

Perhaps the hardest part of Self Development Thinking is to be straight with ourselves. This requires us to stop rationalizing or justifying the reality of our existence. Each of these points could be easily brushed aside with a "sometimes I feel that."

What if? What if your life is really on autopilot and you don't want to see it? What if "sometimes" is just a way to keep you safe and comfortable in how it is right now? What if you really are operating on autopilot and don't have to?