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Cognitive Dissonance XVII

Drill Instruction-Dissonance Reduction Through Orderly Procession

by John Pistorius

“Line up in a single file.” Every child has heard these words in their school days. This simple command is a basic drill instruction. It can be used as a means to reduce dissonance also. I propose to use an orderly procession of thoughts to help you in your battle against cognitive dissonance in your life.

Whenever you are faced with learning something which contradicts what you think you already know, you are likely to resist the new learning. Therefore, if you really want to overcome dissonance, you need to take control. If you really want to be free from negatives, you can plant the desire, even when you might doubt this process. Repetition is the key to success. It is an orderly procession that produces a direct outcome. The best time to line up new thought soldiers is either upon awakening or when you are about to fall asleep.

I affirm the following: I want to be free from negative thoughts, ideas, attitudes and prejudices now and forever.

Now say it aloud. Repeat this phrase ten times when you wake. Repeat it aloud and silently throughout your day. Use it in reference to situations and say it aloud to others who might attempt to dump negatives on you.

 

You can say it like this with a smile: “Thank you for helping me to remember that I want to be free from negative thoughts, ideas, attitudes and prejudices now and forever.”

 

Sure, some of them might look at you as if you’ve flipped. But that is irrelevant. When you say the preceding phrase, you are taking your power back from those people and negatives that would otherwise zap you. And it helps you to clear the negative thought soldiers from your mind.
 

How it works
When used in response to certain circumstances, this phrase empowers you to stop the negatives from entering your mind. Some people will not believe you are serious. They might even pursue you in the hope that they can convince you to buy into their negative thought slinging. However, if you give them the phrase as your standard reply, they will eventually stop dumping negatives on you. Be creative. Mix in a few other words. Change the way you set it up. But remember to thank them for helping you remember that you want to be free from negative thoughts, ideas, attitudes and prejudices now and forever. Thanking them is a polite way to tell them to stop crippling your mind.

At the end of your day, repeat the phrase at least ten times just as you are about to fall asleep. Let this be the last thing to enter your mind before you fall asleep. “I affirm the following: I want to be free from negative thoughts, ideas, attitudes and prejudices now and forever.” Repeat it at least ten times aloud and silently. Read it over and over. Write it out. Use as many ways as possible to drill this thought into your mind. That way it will sink deep into your mind where it will work from within to establish your desire.

You really will want to be free of the things you state once this new thought soldier is stationed in your thought garden. Saturating your thought garden with thoughts that affirm something is like watering and fertilizing these power thoughts. In time, you can have a battalion of thought soldiers working from behind the scenes to do your bidding, with very little effort. Right now, you must line them up in order, one at a time.

Once you realize that this desire has become a reality in your heart of hearts, then you can proceed to line up another soldier. When you really want to be free from negative thoughts, ideas, attitudes and prejudices now and forever, you will know it. I mean know it, not just think it. There is a massive difference which you will experience after planting this idea deeply. It will become part of your reality. You really will desire to be free of the things you stated. In time, you will become free of them by moving toward freedom.
 

Realizing your Personal Power
After you successfully plant the desire to be free from the negatives, then you can move on to realizing the power that is already yours. The systematic planting of power thoughts will help you to do the following:

• reduce (prune or cut down) the importance of the incompatible beliefs and
• add (plant, water and fertilize) more agreeable beliefs that outweigh the dissonant ideas, attitudes and beliefs, and
• mutate the dissonant beliefs, ideas or information so that they are no longer inconsistent with those which you hold dear.
 

Next Recruit
Once you are sure that you have successfully trained your first thought soldier to reside in your thought garden, work on the next;

“I want to build a new set of hidden command files in my mind that will project me into the life that I desire.”

Now, repeat this statement over and over again each time you awake and when you are about to fall asleep. Seek support from those who agree with your convictions. At first, you might not believe anyone is ready to line up with you in this endeavor. In time, as you progress, you will find others who want the same things that you want. Especially when you boldly proclaim your desires to the people who would rob you of your power to overcome the dissonance. Other people will notice, of that you can be sure.

Once you become committed to this important view, you can begin to resist the things that confront your accepted position. It can be easier to plant the new information and fertilize it with evidence to support rooting and growth into your thought garden when you are isolated from the people who oppose such ideas.

 

Stimulate your Mind

Use a different path to familiar places like work, your favorite restaurant or grocery store. Now that you have decided to reduce negative thought soldiers from your mind, you are opening your mind to new possibilities. Choose reading material, television programs and movies that are consistent with your new beliefs. Likewise, surround yourself with people that promote positive thinking patterns of love and acceptance. This is equal to organizing your thought soldiers by reinforcing them with external stimuli.

You might want to join or form a group that works on the process of orderly thought instruction planting. This can increase consistency in your cognitions. Positive feedback and sharing results can inspire and reinforce your efforts. This may be a difficult process. Nevertheless, the level of difficulty you experience can be used to reinforce your value of the experience and improve your success. Even if you only do this with one other person, you can reinforce the planting of positive thought soldiers in your garden.

This process will help you restrict the planting of the seeds of negative thoughts. The amount of resistance to change depends on the extent of pain or loss that must be suffered and the satisfaction obtained from holding onto your existing beliefs and attitudes. That is why it is so important to start by planting desire. Once you own the desire, it will work with you from within to help you accomplish its fulfillment.
 

Planting Desire Fuels Action
You can use this strategy to break the chains of thought that bind you and cause dissonance. You can learn to be the governor of your thoughts. The desire to change will break the fear you have of the monsters and the idea that you own them. Desire will propel you like rocket fuel in your mission to become free from their grasp and control. Understanding your ownership role will help you to get rid of the negative thought soldiers that you have stationed in your mind causing dissonance.

As I’ve previously stated, battling cognitive dissonance requires your hands-on effort. You must play an active part in the process or it will not work. You must have the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things unseen. Adding new cognitions changes the dissonant belief so it is no longer inconsistent. Once you accept this process and plant desire and begin realizing it in your life, you will automatically change your behavior to reflect the new cognition.

Sometimes you need to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds in your life. To beat these circumstances you must first want to. Once you desire it, you can achieve it by believing it to be possible. Planting thought soldiers that work with you instead of against you is the first step to success in your dissonance battle.
 

Reinforcements
After planting the desire to be free from negatives, reinforce it with the following:

“I am starting to remove & eliminate all doubts, limiting beliefs, prejudices, and fears from my mind for now and forever.”

Notice that in this statement, you are starting. Anytime you start something, you might stumble. Think about learning to walk or learning to read. When you are starting anything, you might not experience perfection. In fact, you may never have perfection. Nevertheless, you can have excellence and completion. In this sense, every day, you can start removing and eliminating all doubts, limiting beliefs, prejudices, and fears from your mind for now and forever.

If you can accept this, you can go forward. Plant this thought soldier firmly in your thought garden by repeating it ten times or more as you awake and just before falling to sleep. Use it in response to other people’s doubts, limiting beliefs, prejudices, and fears and watch what happens. Thank them for reminding you of how you are starting to remove and eliminate doubts, limiting beliefs, prejudices, and fears from your mind for now and forever. In time, the really unenlightened people in your life will become charged as if with neon. You will recognize them as soon as they open their mouth. And you will seek to avoid them and they will seek to avoid you. This is good for your drill instruction process. Your new soldiers will line up and do exactly what they are trained to do, reduce dissonance in your mind.

In relationship to disability issues, you can start politely refuting other people’s undignified, prejudiced, discriminatory treatment of the individual who is experiencing disability. You can learn to refute discriminating, debilitating language. You can learn to overcome cultural barriers. You can help to create an enlightened focus on ability. You can learn to overcome your own preconceived opinions, attitudes and beliefs about disabilities. You will gain a sense of self to rise above circumstances beyond your control. You can aspire to new dreams. You can learn positive recovery options. You can restore hope.

Your planting of these thought soldiers will automatically improve your attitude. Of this, I am living proof.
 

The Success Formula
Externally, you are contending with word choices and order of usage. Internally, you are building the subjective imagery that your word choices and word order create. The way you phrase what you say really matters. Phrases help you to speak of different relationships and the relation between words in the phrase. The connections between the concepts that the words represent are also controlled by the way you phrase them. Everyone relies on the context of a phrase to interpret it. This feature of human language is probably the most important to your drill instruction process. Using phrases that convey meaning which brings results is the ultimate goal. There is no sense in planting thoughts that will not do exactly what you want to accomplish.

Once you have planted the desire and have started removing negatives, use the following statement to reinforce the process:

“I am starting to build a bank of positive and constructive thoughts, ideas, words & statements in my subconscious mind that will be the foundation of my new life.”

Take this statement apart. Analyze the parts of the phrase. Again, you are starting. Don’t beat yourself up over minor setbacks. So you forgot to read your statement today. No big deal. Make sure you have it available where you will see it throughout your day tomorrow. Read it before you close your eyes to sleep. It is most important to have it available when you are about to sleep and when you wake. Use it during the day to reinforce the line up you are creating.

Repetition is the drill instruction you will use to create order and improve consonance in your thoughts. This is the only weak link that I’ve discovered in the process, creating the willingness to do what it takes to incorporate these ideas. ‘You are what you think’ becomes reality every day of your life. If you accept this truth, you can be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Planting these ideas will bring results, but only if you plant, water and fertilize them with repetition. This is the key. Do you want a new garden? Then do what it takes to get it. Drill these ideas into your thought garden where they will work from within to do your bidding.

Once you plant these seeds of thought and water and fertilize them repetitiously, you will reap what you sow. Of this I have no doubt. For it is you that have the key to your thought garden. You are the gatekeeper. You are in control, even when you don’t believe that you are. Once you realize and accept this, you can overcome anything, even cognitive dissonance.

Next time: More drill instruction, planting, watering and fertilizing
 

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