Persuasion-ing of my SELF

If he who employs coercion against me could mould me to his purposes by argument, no doubt he would. He pretends to punish me because his argument is strong; but he really punishes me because his argument is weak. ~William Godwin


The word Persuasion means some strategy of problem-solving that relies on "appeal" rather than strength. If you persuade someone you have guided the person to adopt or accept an idea, attitude or action that you wish them to adapt. The persuasion may be driven by rationale, but sometimes the persuasion is more symbolic and can actually lack logic. Persuasion is less coerce than manipulation. Manipulation is taking persuasion to an extreme, where the one person or group benefits at the cost of the other. The problem with manipulation is that if you trick or coerce someone or some group to do what you want them to do, later, when they have some distance between themselves and their manipulator, they are going to bow their back, and rebel.

The manipulated tend to get pissed by their manipulation and the changes inflicted on them will not last. A persuaded person is more likely to have changes that are going to last.

Persuasion is internal.
Manipulation is external.
Persuasion is based upon reason.
Manipulation is based upon aggression.
Persuasion is an art
Manipulation is a skill.
Persuasion converts.
Manipulation subverts.

Persuasion is often more effectual than force. ~Aesop

Well there are a whole host of attitudes, and practices that would enhance my life, and fill me with happiness, or, at least a satisfying level of contentment. The problem is that I don’t naturally turn to these wholesome attitudes. My knee jerk, habitual practices do not tend to enhance my life. My natural tendencies lean toward acts and attitudes that bring depression, fear, anxiety, and a low grade misery.

I want to persuade myself. I want to persuade myself to develop and cling to these wholesome, smart, life-giving attitudes and practices. I could, I suppose, manipulate myself, but I know me. If I’m forced to do something, or believe something that I don’t really want to do, or that I don’t believe then I’ll resent the coercion and I will rebel against the manipulation at the next opportunity. I want to change me. I need to change me. But if I’m going to change I have to persuade me, not beat myself into submission.

Remember that mindsets can not be changed through force and coercion. No idea can ever be forcibly thrust upon any one. ~Pervez Musharraf

I want to understand what makes me tick. I can hear the ticking, but understanding how it works is not something I have a firm grasp of, yet. Once I understand myself, I want to persuade myself. I am my own guinea pig. I am my own test subject. Here are my resolves:

1. I will map out my world, and study the topography of my personal life, my work life, my public presence in order to learn to manifest exactly what I want.
2. I will investigating my relationships with intention of setting myself up to set get predictable results of success.
3. I will work on clearing out my conscious minds by eliminating distractions and resentments and other clutter that holds me back.
4. I will also learn to be aware of my own emotional resistance and enter into rigorous debates to persuade my emotional resistance to cave in and find other ways of emoting.
5. I will use creativity to cope with those areas that remain difficult for me to understand.

I write plays about things that I can't resolve in my mind. I try to root things out. ~Alan Bennett