Showing posts with label Essay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Essay. Show all posts

Monday, May 14, 2012

I'm a Piece of Shit: Confidence Through Cognitive Dissonance


Here's a short, (very) personal essay I wrote not that long ago.  From the deepest depths of despair, a new light will begin to shine, and lead you down a road you never expected.  Be open to all things- this is the essence of the Plastic Experience.


Recently I discovered a power so great, I wondered why it is not being readily taught in public schools.  I may go so far as to say it is the power of kings.  Oh, it’s available to you, if you want it badly enough, and it’s not even really that difficult to attain once you know what to do.  So what is this power of which I speak?  To sum it up in one word:  confidence. 
            It is a common mistake to assume the world operates as you operate.  To put one’s values and expectations on another, and then stand in bewilderment as that person does something completely unexpected.  In my instance, I believed everyone really wanted to be a nice person, and do the right thing.  In this naïve state, I considered the needs of everyone around me, and did my best not to offend.  For some reason, this would attract the attention of those that would try to dominate and humiliate me.  Why?  What I was doing was thinking of them, and yet they punished me for this?  As it turns out, the message I was sending out was “everyone else is more important than I am”, though it would not be until years later that I came to this conclusion.