Today, I am writing about a theme that is very close to my heart (literally and
figuratively!) as I see it very important to any human being at the moment.
I have been thinking about this post for some time, turning it in my head without being fully ready. To share on that large and broad topic in an authentic way, I needed to find the touch and angle that felt right to me. And here it is!
Let's explore the amazing subject of cognitive dissonance.
Making informed decisions is what is expected of any leader.
An informed decision will more likely sustain.
A sustainable decision brings stability to a group.
Stability helps to strengthen.
Strong leaders succeed by helping themselves, their teams or each individual they interact with grow stronger.Let me first specify that by leader on this website, we mean basically any individual who is on the path of life on earth, so basically any human being, whatever the age, the colour, the style, the gender, the beliefs etc. Some have even larger responsibilities through their role, being in charge of other beings, but anyone is at a minimum required to lead their individual life.
My own experiences have taught me that the challenging step in making a decision is not only the decision in itself but the quality of information collected to prepare and inform decision making.
Even more so when the decision directly affects other human beings which happens in many cases.
We need to make an informed decision and for this we need the right information.
So what is it that we call information?
How do we access it?
What does being right mean? And most importantly why?
Why would we qualify information as right in one context versus another one? Based on which criteria?
Do we think this specific piece of information is safe to be used, or rather that other one? And how do we establish that?
Which brings us to one of the main challenges nowadays and probably one that is being so transformed at the moment that it is difficult to grasp it fully, to completely embrace the new shape of it yet: the right source of information, the one that can be trusted for the decision to be made now. What is the right source of information?
So many questions that open so many doors…This is why I love this topic because we can go anywhere and everywhere from it and certainly deep. So let’s try and put some structure to this.
The purpose of this article is to raise questions, to share perceptions in order to nurture your thought process as food for thoughts in your own reflection and introspection on this broad subject.
Here are a few of the questions I often ask myself.
Discernment is the key
What can be considered as information?
Information is an element, an input that accompanies us in the cognitive process. By incorporating this contribution into us, we influence our own consciousness, like a new window which has been closed so far and that we open on reality, which allows us to see reality differently than before.
What form can it take?
The short answer is that those inputs can take any form and certainly not only words. I often say that silence is feedback, it gives a lot of information without any word.
The form can be tangible or intangible, through words, numbers, emotions, feelings, situations, acts, opinions, sounds, visuals, smells, tastes, touch, inner physical sensations etc. When we list all the inputs that come to us each day, the list is massive.
This means that we basically are a constant never ending “factory of information”: any input that comes to one of our brains is a form of energy with a frequency attached to it going through our nervous systems which our mental and psychological activity transposes into thoughts, about 60000 per day per individual.
And let’s remind ourselves that our mental activity simply acts as an enabler to use all the potential of a tremendous amount of information coming to us each day in many different ways: are you well aware that our body has 3 different brains? The largest and most sophisticated is in our head, another one is the visceral brain which controls our digestive system and last but not least is the one in our heart, smaller but well developed with its own neurons and a complex and dense network of neurotransmitters, proteins and supporting cells.
In other words, we are an active factory of energy in each moment.
To be fully effective, our mental activity needs to connect with those various sources of information. We receive those inputs through sensory experiences, perceptions, observations by breathing the air, reading, listening and talking to others, by interactions with animals, plants etc. We receive all of them whether we are aware or not, and the first question is: are we able to discern them? Discernment is a key competency that is so valuable for any leader. Based on the principle that energy never gets destroyed but transformed then whatever we do not discern or catch to transform it into concrete actions or material creations will be transformed. It is not lost, it is simply not optimized. Hence why discernment can be so beneficial for us to better utilise and benefit from all the energy available.
Once discerned, one of the first decisions we make is to determine what to do with all that information. Again discernment will be key.
So, what makes an information safe? What source should I trust for the decision that I need to make?
Is a piece of information received considered as safe because it comes from a source I trust? And what makes me trust that source? What is the experience that I have with this source of information (whatever it is) to know that the information is the right one? Is it because we usually share the same views? Is the information secured because it comes from individuals or tools or places that are considered as experts and their expertise gives credit to the information that they provide? Is it secured because a certain group that I belong to, that I relate with, that I network with has said or thought out loud ‘trust this, this is how it is and we are so many to have used it for, done it in this way so long that it is true’?
Why would I go against the flow? Why would I go against what the experienced group thinks?
Well...what if that information coming from a so-called ‘safe source’ doesn’t feel right inside, does not flow fluidly within me, even if others are saying that this is safe? What does it mean for me at that specific moment?
Sometimes information received from such a ‘safe source’ does not resonate in me as correct. My own body is a massive source of information as we've seen earlier and sometimes feedback received from the body precisely on that piece of information that I try to qualify does not match, it triggers specific emotions, feelings or physical reactions, physical sensations in my body that don’t match with what I am hearing, reading or being told.
If so, what will I do about that? what will I listen to?
Are we allowing ourselves to even listen to our own perceptions? To give a chance to those perceptions and sensations of our own to be considered regardless of one or thousands of voices telling us something different?
Does it make sense for me to say ‘hey, that information is coming from someone/somewhere very much knowledgeable and trustful therefore I will not question it, it has to be like this because they know their stuff, they know what they are talking about’? Or will I question it and acknowledge the fact that what I am provided is received in a way that does not flow in me, that does not sound like making common sense even if I am not able to provide a rationale explication about my perceptions? Whereby one of my brains is collecting different feedback on that information than other brains?
This is what cognitive dissonance is.
When pieces of information contradict each other and this contradiction is ignored.
When our own decisions, acts and sometimes words are chosen based on what we are told to decide, do or say versus what we would genuinely choose if we’d follow our own perceptions.
When we feel like having so many voices in us that we are confused as if in a crossroad with many tracks, some cover up others and we do not know which is the right one for us to chose. To make our choice, we therefore refer to what a source of information considered objective, the outside world, tells us to be right. Even if it resonates strangely inside us. We live with it and life goes on based on our choice.
This is just one example but what about cumulating many examples like this? What will be the tune shared by our body with all of those dissonant notes piling up?
Life in our current world is full of cognitive dissonance.
We ALL experience this in ANY part of our life.
A typical modern human reaction: from being a sensor to being a censor
Have you ever realized that?
Have you ever reflected deeply on your own cognitive dissonance?
Have you ever shared this cognitive dissonance and acknowledged it with the outer world, be it as a family member, a professional or a citizen?
My personal belief is that in such a complex world as the one we currently live in, we cannot remove it fully - yet? - but we can mitigate it significantly.
To decrease it, the typical modern human reaction is to move from being a sensor to being a censor.
Self censorship can take many forms and this is not always a conscious process (hence why it is so important to become more and more deeply self aware).
For example, we can decide to adjust our own beliefs in order to better match in the context we are in.
Or we can decide to apply control on the sources of information to reduce the risk of dissonance through denial, avoidance, ignorance or who knows what.
Why are we reacting like this?
Whatever tactic we choose, by applying it, we increase our conformance with what is expected of us which increases our own inner coherence and thus reduces our sense of dissonance, at least what we perceive of it. We feel so much more at ease when we do not see or have no access to the oppositions, conflicts or paradoxes of life.
However, this increased coherence can easily be detected as an illusion since it's like changing the hamster wheel colour but not truly working on ourselves to dig deep into who we are, what we are here for and consciously determine which role we want to play in all aspects of our life based on what truly resonates for us.
Being a deliberate and strategic leader in 2021
I am not raising all those questions to say that there is a default answer to each, as a yes or a no. Some may have default answers, some may not. Everyone has the free will to make their own opinion based on their own reflection. In this post, I am not so much interested in the answer. My whole point is about our own process of nurturing, rising, expanding our own consciousness in order to make more informed decisions as a human being: a parent, child, professional, citizen of the world or whatever our hat is at that moment in time. To ensure we do not censor a specific type and nature of information just because it makes ourselves less comfortable.
This is what I believe deliberate leadership in 2021 is mainly about and this is why I think that being fully aware of our own cognitive dissonance is one of the main traits of strong leaders in 2021.
Because our own inner alignment will influence our decision making process which will generate more or less sustainable decisions (quick comment here: the concept of a sustainable decision would deserve an entire post, maybe one day...).
It is about time now to become really deliberate and strategic about all this.
And actually, we could be very surprised by who will shine and thrive through decision making in 2021. But I love being surprised, this is also what life is about :)
You’ve not (yet) started thinking about this?
Take the opportunity of closing this so peculiar year to step back and reflect on what is the shape of your own cognitive dissonance. It's really worth spending some time on this and on yourself considering the transition period we are in.
Take time to listen to yourself, to what your body, your bodies, have to tell you.
Take time to remove your own inner boundaries and enjoy the real inner diversity coming from your own cells: so many different sources of information that are coming in so many different ways, what a wealth! And such a missed opportunity when we don't use them.
To do this, you don’t need anything fancy, any fancy AI tool or any extraordinary skill: you have all your different brains so a nice walk in nature, a nice moment with friends or family or any activity that you deeply like doing will open the inner doors, much more than you'd think, and make you ready to self explore.
Just remember to avoid comparing yourself with others, even your closest ones: it is totally ok to think, feel, live differently than others in any aspect of our life.
You are a unique being.Please take great care of you through the transformation journey that we are in, keep the compassion and love towards you and yours through your self reflection as this is not about being right or wrong in life, this is about being fair to our inner self in order to open the path to what resonates for us and embody our unique highest potential.
Enjoy!
I wish you very heart-felt end of year celebrations.
Written from deep in my heart with compassion.
Feel free to share your comments which are always welcome.
Visual: ankata ltd
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