Waking Up from Autopilot: How to Be More Mindfully Aware of Thoughts
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EmailIncreasing mindful awareness of our thoughts can help identify patterns of negative thinking and increase self-compassion.
Many of us go through the same routine every day. Repeating behaviors provides us with structure and consistency and allows us to go on “autopilot.” This process of autopilot conserves mental energy and allows us to rely on our brain’s default mode network to quickly process information. In this way, routines can make our lives easier.
Similar to our pattern of behaviors, our brains develop routine thoughts too. We have thousands of thoughts every day, and many of these thoughts are not new. We often cycle through the same pattern of thoughts we’ve had before. Noticing the patterns of our thoughts can help us identify potential thinking traps and reframe routine negative thoughts to be more kind.
Cognitive Biases
Thinking traps, or cognitive biases, may lead us to make errors in judgement and believe things that are not true. Our brains often use shortcuts that rely on previous patterns of thinking to quickly solve problems and make judgements about situations. Catastrophizing, or worst-case scenario thinking, may lead us to think about everything that could possibly go wrong, regardless of how likely these situations are to happen. We may also overgeneralize outcomes of situations, thinking that if one thing goes wrong, then everything will go wrong forever.
Negativity Bias
Our brains have evolved over time to look for problems and potential danger in our environment to keep us safe. This bias may also lead us to interpret situations as more dangerous or negative than they are in reality. This system in our brain may also look inward and focus our attention on negative aspects of ourselves. This type of cognitive bias is called the negativity bias. Research findings suggest that mindfulness can help combat our brain’s natural negativity bias by challenging existing routines and waking us up from autopilot.
Mindfulness can help us identify the thought we are experiencing, observe the thought for a moment, remind ourselves that we are separate from our thoughts and ask ourselves if this thought is helpful or if we want to gently release it. During this review process, we may also choose to reframe this thought to look at the situation from a new perspective. By becoming mindfully aware of our thoughts, we can change our negative thinking routines to be kinder and more compassionate.
Mindfulness for Better Living
Mindfulness for Better Living is a collection of resources from MSU Extension that includes guided mindfulness practices designed to help you become more aware of your thoughts. Thought surfing is a mindfulness practice that encourages you to imagine your thoughts as waves that gently peak and pass, reminding you that thoughts are not permanent. Mindful decentering is another practice that helps you identify thoughts, separate yourself from your thoughts, and gently release thoughts before returning your awareness back to the present moment. You can explore Mindfulness for Better Living resources and sign up for an upcoming mindfulness program to begin building your own mindfulness practice today!
