You may want to read this
series about Palace of Possibilities. It's on the EFT site, but you don't need to know or care to do EFT.
The articles describe cognitive dissonance as the "tailenders." Everytime you assert an affirmation or new, positive way of thinking, there is often a silent "...but..." statement at the tail end. These tailenders are what we
really believe on a subconscious level.
It's important to neutralize these tailenders, to "wipe the writing off the wall." Then, you can write new programming on the clean walls. If you try to create new programming on top of the tailenders, you will just get a lot of confusion and mixed results.
Now...how to get rid of the tailenders? There are a million different ways. I deal with my tailenders through such things as
EFT,
TAT, and
BSFF. Others may opt for traditional therapy. Or self-help books. Or NLP. Or hypnosis.
I've been consciously trying to work on these tailenders for about - a month or two? Before, my work was trying to rebuild my emotional self after a life-altering trauma.
In about a month of working on the tailenders, I can definitely sense a shift in me. However - most of that shift is superficially negative. I worked on my fear of success and perfectionism - and now my extremely strong ego is holding on for dear life! So, it's long-term a good sign that my ego is going nuts.
Anyways, just wanted to share.