Crazy Train on Auto-Pilot

Have you ever opened a pack of M&Ms, tossed a couple in your mouth, chewed happily and then went back for a few more only to find the pack empty? 

We think, "What the hell? Who ate all my M&Ms?!" In our saner moments we glance around and quickly realize that we're by ourselves and WE ate our M&Ms while WE weren't paying attention. In our less sane moments we may actually get up, walk over to our friend or colleague or sister and accusingly ask them, "DID YOU EAT ALL MY M&MS?!" 

New Bag = New Possibilities

This is a relatively harmless scenario, unless we actually get up and make irrational accusations, but in the big scheme of things, harmless. But our inattentiveness doesn't stop at the vending machine. How often these phrases come out of our mouths:

"What was I thinking?"

"I can't believe I said that."

"Was that Do Not Enter sign there before?"

"Did I have these wrinkles around my eyes yesterday?"

I've said every one of these - and others - on more than one occasion and that's ok because in most cases they can be remedied. But what we should be thinking about, in addition to these moments, is what we will say when we're at the end of our current life experience. Because at that point, we're kinda out of time for remedies. 

To stay on the positive side of things, let's consider what we would like to say. Personally, I want to be able to own my life as much as my death - if that's even possible. I want to be able to say, "I loved and was loved. I healed and was healed. I was compassionate and received compassion. I was peaceful and received peace. Let's do this."

But if we can't even pay attention to the M&Ms we eat, how can we get to the point where we are so attentive to each moment of our entire life experience that we're not caught off guard by that empty feeling, but rather can anticipate and accept it? 

I've got that empty feeling...

I think it starts by, 1) waking up, 2) intentionally turning off the auto-pilot, 3) listening to ourselves in order to know ourselves, and 4) making decisions for ourselves rather than getting swept up by the current of group think that is raging all around us. 

At least, I think this is how it's happening for me...how is it happening for you?

To be continued...