Alchemical Wizard 34 : Daily Mindful Cognitive Behavioral Solutions!
Mindfulness is something we rarely do when we are on autopilot. We are constantly focusing on what’s next or what happened in the past as in Social Conditioning and our own Belief Systems, which leads to little awareness about what we need in the Perpetual Moment of Now.
Adding in small doses of mindfulness is a monatomic (awesome, singular) tool to get us in a calmer state of mind. It’s a way of paying attention to whatever is happening in our lives, which brings us into an inner state of consciousness and having more emotional control over our behaviors. When we slow down, we actually make better decisions and feel more confident in our choices. Meditation at its minimal, like three deep breaths can help bring us back into the Perpetual Now and be more aware of this virtual experience our Avatar is having before we make a hasty decision!
The American social psychologist Leon Festinger developed a Cognitive Dissonance Theory that suggests that we have an inner drive to hold all our attitudes and beliefs in harmony and avoid dissonance. When there is a discrepancy between beliefs and behaviors, something must change in order to eliminate or reduce the dissonance. When we experience this cognitive dissonance, it feels uncomfortable, so we are motivated to reduce or eliminate it in order to achieve consonance or an agreement. Sometimes, in an attempt to avoid cognitive dissonance, we can use unproductive and irrational behavior!
Our cognitive dissonance can occur just because we fear appearing foolish or ignorant. We use different strategies to protect our self-image. This type of internal conflict also occurs because we feel guilty or uneasy about holding these opposing cognitions. We don’t want to think of ourselves as illogical or inconsistent. These internal conflicts are hard to live with, and if not dealt with, we will feel bad about ourselves. We as Humans are usually subconsciously good at dealing with cognitive dissonance that the process occurs without us even noticing it. So please don't feel like you are alone in this. Everyone, I mean every one of us is going through this or has gone through this at some point in our lives. The Dark Night of the Soul, yes! And this is going to be on a planetary scale!
We really don't realize how extensively our early childhood programming and for that matter, adulthood programs, went into shaping our conscious behaviors. Let us put this into perspective and say that thoughts carry energy and most of our biological bodies are made of water, and water is highly conductive and easily programmable. Water holds memory! (see ‘Alchemical Wizard 7 : H2O The Memory Holder!’)
Let me give a small example of a Constructive Self Empowering program on someone just learning about the Law of Attraction to help them get out of debt. Just by changing the way they think about deserving money and giving money away, they realized that they were completely abundant all along and that told the Universe that currency should flow in their direction instead of being held up. A simple change of perspective of a lack mentality, to an abundant one, had a whole newer alignment open up for their well-being. Sure, small steps had to be made to get the ball rolling in the direction of getting out of debt and once that started, they could see a possibility opening up for them.
Now the same goes for the Super Embedded Pavlovian Conditioning we have all tasted at one time or another in this Earth experience. Let us look at another example of a Non-Constructive Fear based program that runs the same narrative throughout its vast reach. Let's just take daily News as in the ones owned by National Amusements, Disney, Time-Warner, Comcast, News Corp., that usually run Reuters or Associated Press’s narrative, and how we read it and listen to it. Have you ever noticed the cadence of a news broadcaster and the vocabulary they use? Why is it that we except mostly bad news and never solution-based news as our daily upliftment? Why isn't there a reality show on the good the Red Cross is doing every single day? The point here is what exactly are we being shown or for that matter what are we being programmed to believe?
Now consider that fear on a daily basis provokes the “Fight or Flight” Sympathetic Nervous System response. The sympathetic nervous system makes up part of the Autonomic Nervous System, also known as the involuntary nervous system. Without conscious direction, the autonomic nervous system regulates important bodily functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, pupil dilation, body temperature, sweating and digestion!
This psychological and physiological response floods the body with adrenal hormones norpinephrine and epinephrine. As well as the hormones estrogen, testosterone, and cortisol, and the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin! This in turn drains one’s biological body's energy daily, not to mention emotionally implanting the thought that our World is full of harmful hazards at every turn.
We become the victim's because we don't have the energy to Self-Empower! What a great way to program the separation scenario! Divide and Conquer! Of course, the solutions to this are to turn off or not to own a TV, don't read the Main Streaming Media and take yourself into Nature for a meditation and then really do your own research. Simple right? But what about all of the Social Conditioning and Belief Systems that are already embedded into our Mind's eye from childhood?
Here are some Daily Mindful Cognitive Behavioral Solutions for Cognitive Dissonance!
One. We consider taking small steps towards ingesting new information that outweighs the conflicting evidence!
Two. We change the attitude we hold so dearly towards the beliefs by opening up the possibility that there could be a higher perspective in some way and thereby reduce their importance to our overall wellbeing! “How important is it to hold on too?” “What would Love ultimately do?” “What is the harm in reading a newer book or listening to a newer perspective outside my comfort zone?”
Three. We change our rationalization of our behaviors by stopping the justifications we say to ourselves, inside our Minds, and begin to ask the question “Where is this truly coming from?” “Why does this feel unsettling?”
Four. We begin to sit in silence first, meditating when given newer information that conflicts with our beliefs. The best way is always inside our hearts and finding intuition and our own divine inspiration. Slowing down enough to listen is paramount! And when we are listening, we ask the question again. “Where is this coming from?” “Was I told this?” “Did I pick this up from what source and how does it feel in my Heart of Hearts?”
Statistical information and old doctrines could be good but where did it ultimately come from and how many times has it been rewritten or falsified? How do I use my discernment when there are so many contradictory narratives running at once? This is where slowing down and meditating preferably in Nature should be priority! Answers don't always come quickly either. If you have to step away from everything for a while then please consider doing so. A RETREAT might be the best way of regaining one’s energy and moving forward to ADVANCE!
Changes to overwrite Old Belief Systems never came easy for any of us. Didn't Buddha (Sid) meditate under a Tree out in Nature for 49 days straight? Didn't Yeshua ben Yosef (Jesus, Sananda) spend years of meditation and studying metaphysics and quantum medicine in Buddhism from the age of 13 to 28 years old at a monastery in Kashmir mostly out in Nature? How about Bruce Lee? These people, just like us, had discipline and the will to change their indoctrinated childhood Belief Systems and Social Conditioning, right? All for what... to find a simple truth called unconditional LOVE! Writing your own program might be very wise, indeed!
We can do this as well, even by utilizing these tools and others like it. Perhaps a Mindfulness Response Course or my suggestion of yin yoga or some kind of yoga which is to prepare the biological body for meditation in Nature for at least 20 minutes to an hour every morning or evening or in my case every afternoon! Yes, that's right! Fitting that in every single day especially in these Linear Times!
Finding the Holistic Health practices that work best for us and adopting a “breath first before I emotionally react behavior” should be a top priority, if we want to make better cognitive choices and with envisioning the world we want to see! These will help support not only us but the entire planet Ascend to a higher frequency where Conscious Expansion holds more Unity and Unconditional Love!
Blessings Everyone as we continue to explore Holistic Health modalities to inspire confidence as we unlock a multitude of resources to make this Ascension shift more meliorative! We are Sovereign and We are most defiantly Freeing Ourselves!
Travis Carper - Ascension Health Coach / Alternative & Holistic Health Service https://www.facebook.com/traviscarper888/ | https://www.linkedin.com/in/traviscarper888/
Additional References :
What is Mindfulness? - https://www.mindful.org/what-is-mindfulness/
Mindfulness - https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/mindfulness
Mindfulness Meditation: How to Do It - https://www.mindful.org/mindfulness-how-to-do-it/
Cognitive Dissonance - https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/cognitive-dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance: Theory, Examples & How to Reduce It - https://positivepsychology.com/cognitive-dissonance-theory/
An Introduction to Cognitive Dissonance Theory and an Overview of Current Perspectives on the Theory - https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/Cognitive-Dissonance-Intro-Sample.pdf
Cognitive dissonance: Where we’ve been and where we’re going - https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Cognitive-Dissonance%3A-Where-We%E2%80%99ve-Been-and-Where-Cooper/bf1f7db8a33fad6aace4b58cc6f9c78a21c8ba5f
Cognitive Dissonance Theory - https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199828340/obo-9780199828340-0156.xml
How to Reduce Cognitive Dissonance - https://www.everydayhealth.com/emotional-health/cognitive-dissonance/how-why-reduce-cognitive-dissonance-you-feel/
The Top 10 Mindfulness and Meditation Podcasts of 2022 - https://www.mindful.org/the-top-10-mindfulness-and-meditation-podcasts-of-2022/
Mindfulness+ with Thomas McConkie -
ROOTED with Cassandra Eldridge Miers -
Unmasking the Mind's Tug-of-War: Cognitive Dissonance & Resilience -