Cognitive dissonance builds until an individual can no longer sustain the resultant unease and instigates change. Then your life perspective can take a sudden leap.
PAULA COCOZZA: ‘A farmer was recently on the road to the abattoir when he changed direction and drove his trailer full of lambs 200 miles to an animal sanctuary instead. Sivalingam Vasanthakumar, 60, from Devon, now plans to grow vegetables. Vasanthakumar is not the only farmer to perform this kind of reversal… In the US, the Illinois-based charity Free From Harm has gathered tales of many farmers who have had epiphanies and switched to veganism.
Farmers know the job when they start it – so what brings about such a major turnaround? “What you are looking at is basic cognitive dissonance,” says Fiona Buckland, a life coach. This occurs when “the way you are living your life is no longer fully in line with the way that you feel”, and personal values slip out of alignment with personal performance… Cognitive dissonance builds until an individual can no longer sustain the resultant unease and instigates change…
“Your life perspective can take a sudden leap,” psychologist Mike Hughesman explains. A person who had been inured to what they do suddenly realises they don’t want to do it any more. (Hughesman himself temporarily switched to vegetarianism when he couldn’t face the fact that he was eating something sentient.) “People need to think more and not get trammelled into routines. If something doesn’t feel right, give it thought,” he says. “Sometimes you have to ask those pivotal questions”.’ SOURCE…
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