Are You Living In Default Mode?

After much thought, consideration, stalling and resistance, I began working with a life coach last week. If I am honest with myself, as I strive to be, my resistance has been that I have been in my own comfort zone for far too long. My life has been going well. I am well into my fifth year at Unity Spiritual Center Denver. I was ordained two years ago. I live in a place where I get to see blue sky nearly every day and witness the majestic mountains in the distance. I enjoy good health. I have a loving spouse. For the most part, I have the freedom to make my own schedule. Prayer, meditation and reading spiritual books, all things I love, are a part of my job. I get paid to do what I love to do! I am comfortable. So, why would I want to disrupt my comfort zone?

While all those things are true, there is more. There is always more. More to experience. More to learn. More to express. More to share. More to give. More life to live. The impulse of Life is constantly urging us toward even greater expressions of itself in, through and as each of us. Sometimes it’s gentle. Other times it is not. We can suppress it. We can ignore it. We can say ‘no’ to it. Yet, I have found that it can be relentless. Certainly not oppressively, but insistently. Connecting with and following that creative impulse, often requires us to stop living in default mode and decide to live on purpose.

Rather than risk stepping outside our comfort zone, we are tempted to become complacent, sit back and approach life in default mode, especially when things seem to be going well. Our human default mode is like that of a computer. In a computer’s operating system, a default is a course of action that the system will take when the user or programmer fails to specify an overriding action. ¹

For example, once we set a specific internet browser, such as Google Chrome, as our default application, each time we click a link in an email or other application, our computer automatically accesses the internet through that program. The computer will continue to use that default action until we specify something different.

Our minds work in a similar fashion. Once a default is set, whether consciously or unconsciously, our minds will continue to access that program until we choose something different. Much the same as it is for many of us when it comes to our computers, we are often not aware of the defaults we have set.

Likewise, most of us will not attempt to investigate our computer’s default programs until something goes wrong and we are not able to get to where we want to go. The same is often true when it comes to our mental default programs. Most often, we will only explore them when our lives do not unfold the way we want.

My encouragement to myself and to all of us is to question our default modes even when, and especially when, things are going well, and we are enjoying life. These are times when we have more energy and a greater willingness to explore from a place of joy and gratitude, rather than from worry and lack. At these times, we are more open to the expansive Life that is urging us toward greater expression.

Once we are aware of the mental default programs, we can decide if we want to override them. We may discover that there is nothing wrong with our default mode, and that it is providing all we need. On the other hand, we may find that the default program needs to be deleted and replaced. However, we may discover that the program just needs an update to be more effective as we embrace and express more of who we are and what is ours to be.

Working with a life coach is one way that I am choosing to stop living in default mode and make more conscious choices to live on purpose. I believe that my purpose is to recognize, realize and reveal the powerful potential of my highest self. In fact, I believe that is the purpose of every human being. Further, as we live our purpose, together we demonstrate the greatest potential for humanity. Our collective purpose is to bring forth into manifestation a world that works for everyone. How we accomplish that is unique to each of us.

Living on purpose means that we embrace our purpose, both individually and collectively, and choose thoughts, words and actions that support and are in alignment with it. I know that there is more for me to embrace, experience, live and share in this lifetime. That is true for each of us. I invite you to join me as I explore my default mode and choose to make a commitment to myself, the Life that is living as me, and to all creation to live on purpose.

¹ Dictionary.com