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Cognitive Dissonance XII

Assembling your Army

John Pistorius

You already have battalions of thought soldiers at your command. Previously, I described the Four Powerful Battalions of Thought Soldiers as being:

1. Our mental approval or acceptance of the truth or actuality of something

2. Opinions/prejudices/biases

3. Our absolute certainty, conviction or surety in anything

4. Doubtfulness, skepticism, distrust

Now it is time to put them to work for you instead of against you. But first you must get past the gatekeeper of your thought garden. It is time to accept the fact that you are in command of your mind. Either by default or deliberately, you are the commander. If you accept that fact, you can unravel your previous bias to the contrary.

Each of us has more power at our command than we might ever imagine. We have been given the authority to access the power. All we need to do is believe it. I don’t mean think it. I mean believe. Once we accept that we are able to do anything, then, and only then, can we access the power to do it. Really folks, it is that simple. The only way to do whatever it is that you need to do is to accept your ability and use it to perform the task you have before you. To quote Richard Bach, author of Illusions; The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, “Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they’re yours.” Even though we may have sound reasons for believing we are not able to do any particular thing, we can change our experiences by approving of an idea and accepting it. This can only happen by overcoming our preconceived opinions, prejudgments and biases. We must also put doubt, skepticism and distrust aside. Only then can we become ready to learn how to do what we are truly capable of. Once we learn what we can do, we realize the endless possibilities.

Do you really want to move into a place in your life where you make things happen for yourself instead of having them appear to happen out of your control? Yes? Then take hold of yourself. Decide to apply yourself to this process.

You are the Commander

Again I stress that you are in control. Your thoughts are active forms of energy that bring you what you request. If you continuously dwell upon disharmonious ideas, thoughts, statements and opinions, you will always have dissonance in your life. However, by building an army of life affirming thought soldiers, you can defeat the dissonance. When life dumps crap on you, step above it and use it to move forward instead of dwelling on it despairingly.

By aligning yourself with thoughts of harmony, you will begin to experience harmony in your life. What I feel and claim within is expressed without.  There is balance, stability, calmness and self-control in my thoughts, my ideas, my desires and my life. This is because I have planted thoughts that induce these desirable outcomes. I don’t demand. I expand. Each planting of the soldiers that work for me has reaped a harvest of sought-after results. As I uncover additional levels of resistance, I’m able to reinforce my previously developed thought brigades. In some cases, I do this by planting more of the same basic ideas that build up and strengthen those that I’ve already planted. Do you want to win in this battle? Then do it. Choose to win. Decide to overcome the dissonance.

Start Here

Ok, now take out a pencil or pen and paper. Begin by writing a statement that reflects your desire. It can begin with:

• I want, or

• I desire.

For my first sentence I wrote: “I affirm the following: I want to permanently improve my life, my circumstances and my way of thinking. It is so.” I added the “It is so” statement as an affirmation and confirmation of the fact that I wanted to permanently improve those three areas of my life. At first, I didn’t realize that by changing my way of thinking I would change my circumstances and thereby, my life. Now I know.

Now write out what it is that you truly desire. Is it to be free from worry or doubt? Do you want to loose weight? What do you want? Write it out. Be specific. If you want to lose weight, write an exact weight reduction goal. How many pounds do you want to shed and by what date do you want to be free from the baggage? Be realistic. You spent time gathering the extra pounds. Take the amount of time needed to become free from the fat. Be prepared to write down all of the objections that rise up to defend your current situation, belief or position. As they arise, write them down, share them with someone and then burn the paper. Put it into the charcoal grill. Burn it in the fireplace. Find a way to eradicate the thoughts by completely destroying them on paper. This symbolizes freeing yourself from those objections.

Now, start a second statement. Begin with the following:

• I’m learning

• I’m beginning

• I’m starting, or

• I’m willing

I like the phrase “I’m willing” as a second one because it plants the idea of willingness to accomplish a specific task or agenda. However, if you are not willing, using this phrase to start your next statement will not be useful because it is not true. You must create or find a sentence that accurately represents your desire in a truthful manner. Otherwise, it could be rejected as a falsehood. These statements that you create become the leaders who pave the way for you to bring in your new troops.  

Plant the power thoughts just before you fall to sleep and again as you first awake. Multiple recitations are an effective way to plant, water and fertilize specific statements in your thought garden. Once planted, these ideas will work from within to affect change and thereby reduce cognitive dissonance. I know this from my own experience. 

When I first realized that this worked, I was truly surprised. I believed that it would, but until it became a reality, I was unsure. I had given my mental approval to the idea that I could plant specific thoughts or ideas. I was of the opinion that it would work. And then when it happened, I became absolutely certain. Now my conviction is that this process can work for anyone who approves of or accepts the possibility of it working. Once you get past the acceptance hurdle in your basic training, then you can climb the opinion obstacle. You may have opinions that have been formed over many years that are in complete contrast to what I am writing here. However, if you are willing to unravel yourself from those opinions and the resulting convictions, you can enjoy freedom and learn to beat the opposition. After all, it is opposition that exists within you. 

If you are really willing, your willingness will empower you to blaze new trails if the road becomes difficult to navigate during your assumption of control. Willingness to accomplish something strengthens desire and the resolve needed to continue. Willingness prepares you to continue on task. Once you are truly willing to do something, you will be driven from within to move in the direction of your goal with strength and tenacity that halt the negative thought soldiers from interfering with your progress. Being willing leads to accepting your ability to learn whatever you need to learn to accomplish your goal. Your willingness to accomplish your goal will propel you past any roadblocks that the negative thought brigades erect. It will give you what you need to conquer the fear that the enemy tricks you into feeling or expressing. 

James Hillman said, “If you are still being hurt by an event that happened to you at twelve, it is the thought that is hurting you now”. I would make one minor adjustment to that statement. It is your thought that is hurting you now, not some nebulous thought that resides out of your control.

We can’t change our past to make it better. We are who we are. Everything that we’ve experienced prior to this moment has brought us to this exact moment in time. Nothing can change that. We can let go of the thoughts that haunt us. We can stop torturing ourselves with the painful thoughts that rob us of our productivity, our energy and our joy. Why continue to torment ourselves? It makes no sense yet that is exactly what we do when we retell and relive those less than savory moments in our lives. We can learn to turn our potential into performance by moving toward freedom from self-limiting thoughts. 

Instead of allowing our negative thought soldiers to keep us bound in anger, self-pity and fear, we can jump into action by installing a new battalion of thought soldiers. This new army will act in the same manner as the old one with one exception; you will have them trained to do your bidding to bring forth pleasant memories, new experiences etc. And this is one way that I’ve learned to overcome cognitive dissonance. You can too. 

Next Time: Bringing in the Troops