Possible interpretations of sensory input are continually battling for your attention because the winner gets promoted to be your subjective reality while the others pass away in oblivion. Viewed from the perspective of what’s good for you, the battle is between the most salient interpretation of reality and the interpretation that would evoke the motivational/emotional state best suited to your current challenge.
When Mr. E is sufficiently distant from his last relapse, stimulus elements related to the thrill and satisfaction of gambling periodically drift into the stimulus pool, and when they do, they attract his attention [the definition of stimulus salience]. If he gives in to the temptation to allow his attention to be sucked in, a recursive process, similar to audio feedback, will rapidly and powerfully amplify his motivation to gamble. If his favorite uncle were still alive, he would have suggested that Mr. E redirect his attention to more useful thoughts, But that wouldn’t have been as much fun as allowing his imagination to run with the imagery and so taste the vicarious thrills and pleasures of being in Vegas once again. Investing his imagination and attention in such fantasies elicits a payoff that is similar to the thrill he gets when he is actually gambling. This experienced thrill is a manifestation of biological secretions that transform the ex-gambler — who finally learned the lesson that he couldn’t control himself at the casino — into the gullible rube who feels certain that he will control himself this time.
Mr. E, in his four-star hotel room in Las Vegas, was in a different trance than when he was on the road and appraising the pros and cons of a side trip to Las Vegas. The pros included amazing hotels, restaurants, and nightlife, and the cons included the danger he would relapse back into gambling. Since he sincerely felt that he could and would control himself, the cons were trivial. So, he decided to enhance the quality of his life by taking that side trip. Will it work out the way he predicts?
The smart money says, “Hell no!” Nevertheless, it is not impossible for him to act as he said he would, but unless he does something radically different, he will follow the predictable path to the usual outcome. To follow a more advantageous path, he would have to use his knowledge of how cause-and effect operates in his subjective universe to influence the sequence of external events and internal states. There are several ways for him to influence the causal chain intentionally. His best shot is to work with his perspective the way a photographer artistically positions the camera. Even if he did, it would be unrealistic to expect Mr. E’s puny ability to aim his attention to win the battle against the highly salient local temptations. Mr. E is advised to show respect for his challenge and take control of his attention at the first sight of Nevertheless, volitional control of attention is a skill that strengthens with practice. To practice directing your attention, choose a target for it and concentrate on that thought or image despite the more salient distractions that seek to capture your attention. Naturally, your will to maintain control of your attention will often be overpowered by a distraction that is momentarily more salient. The strengthening exercise is to recapture your attention and direct it back to the intended target. You can use a mantra as the target, or the “heavy leg” audio, or simply count your breaths. The objective is to exercise your ability to choose what occupies your consciousness.
Pavlov (does that ring a bell?) conditioned a dog to salivate when he rang a bell paired with placing acid in the dog’s mouth. After a few pairings, the dog salivated whenever Pavlov rang his bell. The mechanism of Pavlovian conditioning turns out to be a good model for conceptualizing self-control of one’s passions. Just as the sound of the bell caused Pavlov’s dog to secrete saliva, thoughts and images of her boyfriend abusing her trust caused Mimi’s neuroendocrine system to secrete the potion that transformed her into Ms. Hyde.
Pavlov had control over the dog’s salivation because he, not the dog, chose when to ring the bell. Mimi’s trance formation is unintentional because she, like the dog, doesn’t decide when to trigger the conditioned reaction. Her reaction was determined by the stimulus that captured her attention. The most salient information — not necessarily the most important or helpful information — will capture her attention and induce trance formation.
Through no fault of her own, the unfortunate events of her childhood conditioned Mimi to react to the things that happen in intimate relationships in ways that are poorly matched to the task of establishing a secure and loving relationship as an adult. She can’t undo the past, but she can know herself well enough to exercise an intentional influence over how she reacts to the things that happen.
To induce trance formation intentionally, use your imagination to pretend that a reality that would cause the intended experience is true. So, to intentionally induce the subjective reality that your right arm is heavy, pretend it is made of lead; to induce the experience of lightness in your left arm, pretend that Helium-filled balloons are tied to your left wrist, pulling it upwards. In the battle for which side captures her attention during the critical high-risk situation, images that signal potential abandonment are far more capable of inducting transformation than their competitors because Mimi is not pretending it’s true; She is certain.