I’d understand this better (and perhaps even agree) if there were a few examples and a few counter-examples to find the boundaries of when this is effective.
For myself, without more words like “I endorse endorsing X under Y conditions because X is good for those who are hearing the endorsement and not necessarily for the endorser”, I don’t see how it works. The direct, unconditional form just makes me notice my dissonance and worry at it until I either endorse X or not-X (or neither—I’m allowed to be uncertain or ambivalent or just “context-dependent”).
Ah, I’m talking about introspection in a therapy context and not about exhorting others.
For example:
Internal coherence: “I forgive myself for doing that stupid thing”.
Load-bearing but opaque: “It makes sense to forgive myself, and I want to, but for some reason I just can’t”.
Load-bearing and clear resistance: “I want other people to forgive themselves for things like that, but when I think about forgiving myself, I get a big NOPE NOPE NOPE”.
P.S. Maybe forgiving oneself isn’t actually the right thing to do at the moment! But it will also be easier to learn that in the third case than in the second.
I’d understand this better (and perhaps even agree) if there were a few examples and a few counter-examples to find the boundaries of when this is effective.
For myself, without more words like “I endorse endorsing X under Y conditions because X is good for those who are hearing the endorsement and not necessarily for the endorser”, I don’t see how it works. The direct, unconditional form just makes me notice my dissonance and worry at it until I either endorse X or not-X (or neither—I’m allowed to be uncertain or ambivalent or just “context-dependent”).
Ah, I’m talking about introspection in a therapy context and not about exhorting others.
For example:
Internal coherence: “I forgive myself for doing that stupid thing”.
Load-bearing but opaque: “It makes sense to forgive myself, and I want to, but for some reason I just can’t”.
Load-bearing and clear resistance: “I want other people to forgive themselves for things like that, but when I think about forgiving myself, I get a big NOPE NOPE NOPE”.
P.S. Maybe forgiving oneself isn’t actually the right thing to do at the moment! But it will also be easier to learn that in the third case than in the second.