I have the opportunity this weekend to help a person move house in Sydney.
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I know I should be looking forward to this, but deep down I'm not, because moving house is crap.
I think this conflict might be a mild form of cognitive dissonance.
That classic human yes-no, yeah-nah struggle where thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes (cognition) are inconsistent with how one should act (behaviour).
It sure makes life interesting.
People know smoking causes cancer (cognition), for example, but still they smoke (behaviour).
People know they shouldn't yoke their lives (cognition), but still they have kids (behaviour).
I know there's mould in the bathroom (cognition), but still I lay on the couch (behaviour).
It's classic cognitive dissonance and it's everywhere.
Sometimes people take steps to negate it with classic human outcomes.
They know they shouldn't smoke (cognition), so they vape instead (plain stupid).
They know they should free up their lives, so they have more kids (see vaping).
Cognitive dissonance goes to the heart of politics.
We know we shouldn't pollute the environment (cognition), but still we burn fossil fuels (behaviour), sometimes getting to climate change protests.
Politicians know they shouldn't enrage electorates (cognition).
But still the PM went on holiday to Hawaii as the bushfires loomed, and then was slow getting back and even slower rolling out a response, which he then plastered with Liberal Party branding on social media in a very partisan manner suggesting he wasn't averse to scoring cheap political points in a national disaster (behaviour).
This inconsistency between thoughts and actions stretches back through history and continues to inform behaviour today.
The 10 commandments seem like they are inspired by cognitive dissonance.
Thou shalt not kill - because it's bad - particularly for the person killed (cognition).
And yet Donald Trump locks and unloads on that Iranian General (behaviour).
Thou should not covet thy neighbour's wife, or commit adultery, or run sexual roughshod over Hollywood or pull a phone out during jury selection (cognition).
But that's Harvey Weinstein for you (behaviour).
I know I should not covet thy neighbour's goods (cognition), but I see my neighbour's got a trailer and that might be handy for this move on the weekend.
Actually, I covet a pan tech, and assurances from the people I'm helping that furniture will fit through doors and not be too heavy.
Good luck with that, because as anyone who's ever moved house knows, furniture never fits through doors and is always heavy.
To be honest about this moving house conflict, I'm cognisant I'm not really looking forward to it because it will be 24 hours of my life I'll never get back (cognition).
But I'm still going to do it (behaviour) because I'm moving past cognitive dissonance and into positive mindset.
It's the only way forward.