In this 5th installment of the "Health, Wealth & Knowledge of Self" series, M.D. Alexander introduces the area for Knowledge of Self. He discusses the concept of Cognizant Dissonance, and how this may be the root of mental & physical health issues prevalent in the African-American community.

View blog:
http://thewellnesswarlord.blogspot.com/2013/08/chapter-10-cognizant-dissonance.html

EXCERPT FROM BOOK & PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT:

In the beginning of 2013, I began writing a book for a show that was proposed titled "Uplifting My Daughters". Currently, the status of the book & show are on hold. In the book, there’s a chapter called "A Woman"; in that chapter I wrote about the concept of "Cognizant Dissonance". This term was originally found in psychology, then sociology started applying it in some of their theories. I want to share the definition of Cognizant Dissonance with you, then we will go into why it’s so important to the conversation of knowledge of self. This can deal with any human being, regardless of gender or race, but I’m speaking to Black females, right now. I’ll explain why after I give the definition.

The definition of Cognizant Dissonance is "the feeling of discomfort when simultaneously holding two or more conflicting cognitions, ideas, belief, values or emotional reactions. In a state of dissonance, people may sometimes feel this equilibrium, frustration, hunger, dread, hunger, guilt, embarrassment, anxiety and so on." (Wikipedia.org 2013). If you ever go to a text book for psychology or sociology, you will see a similar explanation for Cognizant Dissonance.

This is important, because the negative effects of Cognizant Dissonance arrives when a one finds oneself doing things that do not fit with what they know or believe. That’s the case of a person having an opinion that does not fit with the other opinions they hold. For example, if a woman says, "I don’t need a man" or "There are no good men out there...", but she desires a man, especially if she’s a single parent, or is always dating the wrong type of men, then they're experiencing the disequilibrium associated with Cognizant Dissonance.

When I talk about health statistics, Black women appear to be at the top of a lot of categories, including metabolic disorders such as hypertension, diabetes, ovarian cancer, fibroids, heart disease, and they suffer more in areas of depression and mental disorders. Going back to the definition of Cognizant Dissonance, it says that people who are in this state feel disequilibrium, frustration, hunger, dread, guilt anger, embarrassment and anxiety.

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