Have you ever stopped to think about the events and people that have shaped your life thus far?

Not just the good moments are the most memorable but all the little things, thoughts and actions that play out in our lives and contribute to how we act and perceive the world and our selves? It may not be easy to remember or recognize all these events but within them lies the answers to many questions about why we are the person we are today. From the thoughts we carry in our own heads to the way others see and treat us, we are shaped by forces that are not always in our control or our consciousness.

If we can stop for just a few minutes each week and look into the moments that have caused us joy, pain or discomfort and then trace them to their root source within our heart we can often see that we are simply reacting to circumstances out of our conditioning and not really a conscious direct effort. We begin to see just how much of what we mistake for “us” is really nothing more than auto-pilot mode at work in our life.

Living moment to moment can be one of the toughest undertakings and yet it truly is the way to get off auto-pilot mode and come to appreciate and fully understand our self and our conditioning to the world.

So I try each day to be in direct touch with my experiences, recognize my reactions and question why it is the way it is. This has rewarded me with insights and understanding which allow me to stop being shaped by the world and start shaping my own life and world!