ARE YOU SLEEPWALKING THROUGH LIFE?

"The scariest thought in the world, is that someday I'll wake up and realize I've been sleepwalking through my life, under-appreciating the people I love, making the same hurtful mistakes over and over, a slave to neuroses, fear and habitual" ~ George Saunders

 
Are you sleepwalking through life?  Well, for starters what does it even mean to be sleepwalking through life?

Sleepwalkers are people living through their life unconsciously.  They are not fully aware of who they are or what they really want in life.  They are caught up in the daily hustles and bustles of life without being fully aware of their larger context of life.  Life to them is just happening rather than them making it happen.  They do not have a clear direction of their life nor aren't aware of their purpose.  They are living life out of what they've been made to believe by others rather than what they've discovered for themselves and mostly doing things because they "should" do them and not because they want to. 

So how do you even know you are sleepwalking through life?

1. Find yourselves in repeated patterns of life that you have got no control of:  Are you caught up in the daily hustles and bustles of life?  Repeating the same activities daily with no conscious control over them?  A cycle that continues week after week where you dread Mondays and constantly look forward to weekends  to recharge yourself for another dead week ahead, since you probably hate what you do everyday but are afraid to change.  You are too attached to the cycle, you end up getting comfortable in it to do anything about it.  In your mind you're thinking or you're made to believe that that's how life supposed to be.

2. Unaware of the bigger picture in life:  Do you feel like there's more to life, other than your daily routine of going to work/school, going home, eating, sleeping, having fun once in a while?  Are you aware that there is a bigger world out there, outside of you, your wok, family, your friends?  Sleepwalkers do not realize that their life is part of the whole universe. Part of something bigger than what they see everyday.  They think it's a waste of time thinking about the bigger picture of life.

3. Unaware of their purpose in life and not living in alignment with their purpose:  Are you aware of your purpose?  What are your life's goals 5,10,15 - 40 years from now.  Goals that are not just financial and material goals. Are you aware of what you want to do with your life?  Sleepwalkers are not aware of their purpose in life.  They are constantly living their lives for others other than for themselves.  Making decisions and living life, based on others' opinion.

4. Waiting for life to happen rather than creating the life they want:  Most often sleepwalkers have a passive approach to life afraid of taking charge of their lives.  They have no control of their life and in most cases they will choose to stick in their comfort zone.  They sometimes find themselves trapped and unhappy with where they are in life e.g their work, relationships, but they choose to go with the flow because they "don't have a choice" or "see no way out."

5. Unconscious of your thoughts:  60,000 thoughts run through our mind everyday.  Are you aware of the thoughts that dominate your mind everyday and that you have got control over them?  A sleepwalkers mind is often clattered and most often is unaware of the thoughts that occupy his/her mind.  You are unaware of how your thoughts and emotions affect your life at large.

6. Lack ambition and motivation in life:  Sleepwalker lack ambition and motivation in life as they mostly live their life from other peoples' expectations, often pursuing other people's goals, unaware of their own personal goals.  They live simply because they are here, often doing things because they "should" do them and not because they want to.

7. Almost never find time to do things: In most cases sleepwalkers will never find time to do what it is they want to do, they are always waiting for a "next time" to pursue their goals unaware of the fact that the "next time" will never come.  That their time to act  is now.

Do you fit in any of this category?  For most of my life I have lived my life as a sleepwalker.  The saddest part being I wasn't even aware I was sleepwalking my life away.  I was caught up in the daily hustles and bustles of life, getting stuck and doing things because I should and not because I want to, getting stuck in a job I didn't love afraid of pursuing my goals, choosing to stick to my comfort zone.  You get stuck in that hustle life, to the point where you almost forget the core of who you really are.  Living from the outside rather than the inside, living out of other people's vision and goals rather than my own. 

Constantly seeking for the meaning of life unaware of the fact that only me can bring meaning to my life.  I was unaware of my thoughts and more so of the fact that I was creating my life through every thought that went through my mind whether positive or negative.  

Wake up from your dream!

The mere realization that you have been sleepwalking through your life, is the first step towards awakening.   However, what you choose to do after waking up, is what is important.  Are you going to be in denial of this reality pretending it hasn't or isn't happening? Or are you going to courageously face the reality and start living the life you are meant to live?

Creating your reality is 100% about directing your mind of how you want to live your life.  It's about being a conscious creator aligning yourself with your heart desires.  Awaken from your sleep and take back the power today and realize that you are a creator of your reality.   Realizing that you have power over the situations that you often think of "having no choice" or "see no way out" and that you can start acting on them now.  

For me, ever since I discovered I had been sleepwalking through life, which was like an year and a half ago, I make choices and take deliberate actions everyday to bring me closer to my dreams.  What we forget is that everything in life is a matter of choice.  If you feel you are stuck at some place you don't want to be, you have a choice to remain stuck or to take deliberate actions to change to be where you want to be. No matter who you are or where you are in life right now, no matter how old you are, it's never to late to be whom you are meant to be.

Don't get too caught up in the outside world such that you forget who you really are and discover you have only been sleepwalking through your life all along.  Make sure that 5, 10,30-50 years from now, you will say that you chose your life and that you didn't settle for it.