99% of people live in their heads all the time, not in life. That's why so many of us aren't happy with our lives.
We think we're living, but most of the time we aren't experiencing life at all. We're avoiding it, inside our heads.
Where we hide from life
It isn't only thoughts. We hide in three places:
- Thoughts. Replaying what happened yesterday, rehearsing what might happen tomorrow, talking to people who aren't even in the room.
- Unconscious patterns. Reacting the same way, again and again, without noticing. Life happens, and the old program answers for us.
- Expectations. How things should be, how people should treat us, how today should go. We get so busy comparing life with the picture in our head that we never meet it as it is.
So life becomes an idea to us, not a direct experience. Our bodies are in it, but we aren't there.
Tasting real life
The moment you realise this and start living directly, without thinking and calculating all the time, you taste real life. Until then, you're living in illusions, thinking you're alive.
And when you step out of your mind's prison, even for a moment, life opens up to you again. You feel reborn.
It takes willpower
If you want to feel alive again, honestly, it takes real willpower. Start with two things:
- Know where you're spending your time. How much of your day were you actually here, and how much were you somewhere in your head?
- Notice when you're thinking and when you're not. You don't need to fight your thoughts. Just catch the moment you drifted, and come back.
If you need support
If you don't have the drive right now, or the people around you aren't helping, you don't have to do it alone. Follow Okaz, because I share all of this here.
The Okaz app has a lot of content on this, and practices that help. I've just released an exclusive one, Intermittent Breathing. It's really simple and doesn't need any effort or prior knowledge. Watch about five short intro videos, then start right away. Subscribe in the app and try it yourself.
I hope it helps you, even a little, to step out of the shell of your thoughts for a few minutes a day. Try it. You've got nothing to lose, and at worst you'll learn something from the experience.