If you can say yes to at least 6 of these questions, psychology says you've been running on emotional autopilot for longer than you realize - Silicon Canals

"The texture of your emotions, the quality of your thoughts. Drawing a blank? When I tried this exercise last week, I realized I couldn't remember feeling much of anything. I remembered the salad I ate at my desk, the email I was drafting between bites, but the actual experience of being me in that moment? Complete static. That's when it hit me: I'd been sleepwalking through my own life."

"When we're on autopilot, our brains process experiences superficially. We remember the facts but not the feelings. Research published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology shows that emotional engagement is what transfers experiences from short-term to long-term memory. If your days feel like a blur of tasks without emotional texture, that's your first red flag. You're not forgetting these moments; you're not fully experiencing them in the first place."

Emotional autopilot is a state where people run on automatic, performing tasks without fully experiencing feelings, causing days to blur and presence to fade. The brain processes such experiences superficially, encoding factual details but not emotional textures, which impairs transfer from short-term to long-term memory. Automatic, scripted responses like "fine" or "busy" often mask emotional disconnection and reduce self-awareness. Research in the Journal of Experimental Psychology connects emotional engagement to memory consolidation. Prolonged emotional autopilot can persist unnoticed for years. Recognizing emotional numbness during routine moments is the first step toward restoring presence and richer memory formation.

Read at Silicon Canals