Flex_ Do Something Different - Ben [43]
Pauline says she hates living in a mess but watches TV instead of doing the housework and is permanently untidy.
Julie was desperate for children but now that she has them she constantly complains about them and secretly prefers it when they’re not around.
Roger wears a safety helmet when cycling – then stops and has a cigarette.
The obese Simons family wear the latest sports clothing but never exercise.
Marty is obsessive about recycling but flies long-haul.
Almost 50 per cent of the UK population buy fresh fruit and then throw it away.
Carol loves watching cookery programmes but can’t be bothered to prepare a meal and lives on takeaways.
Jim has renewed his wedding vows and is sleeping with his secretary.
Kath always tries to park as close as possible to the gym where she is going to an exercise class.
Hayley has credit card debts and a cupboard full of dresses and shoes she’s hardly ever worn.
Sally and Richard worry about their children’s health but feed them a diet of junk food.
When people are incoherent there will always be some fallout or damage. Either to the individual or to others around them. Some of the examples above may seem rather flippant, but you get the message. In reality people’s incoherencies can run far deeper than just a few surface behaviours. Even the simplest of human situations are immensely complex and multi-layered. The table below shows some of the layers that are important to consider for personal coherence and integration.
48. Levels of coherence
The table above shows the many different forces and processes that come into play with personal coherence. Coherence is at maximum when Levels 1 to 8 are acting in unison, i.e. when all are operating towards the same end. The more there are discrepancies among the different levels, the greater incoherence there will be.
What each level consists of
Levels A and B represent basic animalistic processes that may exert an influence for humans too. There are many of these, but Level A, Evolution, may include aggression, competitive tendencies, territoriality and wanting to dominate. At Level B, Biology, there would be sexual forces, maternal instincts, fear, and fight or flight reactions.
Level 1, Desire, includes some basic drives and emotions, many of which will operate at an unconscious level.
Level 2, Habit, includes many acquired or learned behaviours that have become automatic. These are easily triggered by environmental cues.
Level 3, Thinking, includes more conscious processes that are likely to shape our thinking at any time.
Level 4, Intention, describes deliberate considerations and includes reference to what we mean to do.
Level 5, Saying, refers to what we express in words.
Level 6, Doing, covers our overt actions and behaviours.
Levels 1 to 6 play a role in what we experience and how we consider and behave during events in everyday life. They make up the experiencing self.
Level 7, Memory, is the passive storage of our experiences.
Level 8, Reflecting, involves active reconsideration of our past experiences and consideration of the future.
Levels 7 and 8 together make up the reflecting self.
When we are coherent, or when a coherent event occurs, all the Levels 1 to 6 – our unconscious processes, our automatic reactions, our conscious thoughts at the time, our intentions, and what we say and do – are aligned with each other. They will also cause no tension when remembering and reflecting on what happened at the time, in Levels 7 and 8.
For example, Colin is cycling to work. He has made that choice, he wants to keep fit, and he is concerned to minimise his carbon footprint. He resolved to cycle to work more this year when he could and the weather permitted. Doing this, Colin is likely to be coherent on all levels, including when he reflects on it.
For someone else, doing the same thing may be very incoherent. Perhaps the car broke down because they did not have it serviced, or they cannot afford