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Subjective Reality is Created by Your Psyche

The next time you encounter a genuine crisis will you perform like a hero or a chump? You may intend the former but expect the latter. Both your intentions and expectations exist only in your head and not part of objective reality. The future crisis has not happened yet; when it does we will disover the objective truth, which we can then label as a success or failure.

There is a strong self-confirmatory bias. Iif you believe you are a chump and it is just a matter of time until you relapse, you are likely to perform objectively less well than if you believed you are a hero and will do whatever it takes to act in accord with my interests and principles. .

You, me and those who love you want you to perform heroically during the critical moments when good performance counts. Nevertheless, the thoughts, images, and external events [cues] that evoke the "I am a chump" trance are more attention grabbing [salient] than the ones that evoke heroic trances. For more about the consequences of self-evaluative trances, please see Barry's Story.

One way to influence the battle between your intentions and your expectations is to selectively attend to efficacy enhancing cues in order to access a more resourceful trance. The Heavy Shoe Exercise provides an opportunity to practice using your imagination to intentionally influence your subjective reality. This method requires a good imagination and the ability to focus attention. Like other faculties some individuals are more gifted than others, but everyone improves with practice.

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