Using The Cognitive Faculty Assignment Approach (CFAA)

In a previous article, entitled, Why The Cognitive Faculty Assignment Approach (CFAA)?, we talked about Ann, our fellow clinician, who has been burning the candle at both ends. Basically, Ann is either burnt out or is on the verge of being burnt out, and unfortunately, she is not alone. Does it have to be this way? Is there anything that she and her husband Michael can do? Or are they to resign themselves to this lifestyle, hoping for the best, waiting for the kids to get older, hoping they all become independent, and then they can start living life closer to what they want?

The thing is, it is not that this is Ann’s and her husband’s life. Rather it is the life that Ann and her husband do not want, dread, and hate.

We now have enough evidence to support that some stress can be good for us[1]. Stress is not all or always bad[2], provided we take into consideration the following three caveats:

1. The need for a strong, authentic, congruent, and aligned belief that stress is good for us. By congruent and aligned, we mean that we believe this both at the level of our conscious and our unconscious mind
2. The need to take into consideration the allostatic load[3]. Simply put, the allostatic load is the point at which exposure to repeated chronic stress starts to interfere with our physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Interestingly enough, the mechanism that regulates, stabilizes, and maintains our homeostasis during stress is the same mechanism that regulates every other function in our body
3. A healthy relationship with our body, with our cognitive function behind the mechanism of homeostasis and the conscious use of that mechanism[4]

Neither Ann nor Michael wants to continue to live their life as they have been. As clinicians, whether they believe that stress can be good for them or not, they have reached their allostatic load and are feeling and experiencing the interfering impact of their repeated chronic exposure to stress. Should they believe that stress is good for them, then such a belief must not be congruent or aligned. For if it were, they would not have reached the allostatic load. All this could have been prevented and can be managed through the use of the Cognitive Faculty Assignment Approach (CFAA).

Here are 3 Inquires:

1. How do we make use of the Cognitive Faculty Assignment Approach (CFAA)?
2. What does it take to make use of the Cognitive Faculty Assignment Approach (CFAA)?
3. What are the steps to using the Cognitive Faculty Assignment Approach (CFAA)?

There is a number of principles, techniques, and steps to follow and to take into consideration to properly use the Cognitive Faculty Assignment Approach (CFAA). For now, we are going to simply provide you with a quick way to start making use of the Cognitive Faculty Assignment Approach (CFAA) and to reap its benefits.

Let us do so by laying and reminding all of us of the foundation:

1. Our cognitive functions are the representatives of the mechanism that controls every single aspect of our organism with the highest level of precision imaginable
2. When any function of our body is impaired, it does not reflect how well this mechanism is working or not. Rather it simply reflects the mechanism of the allostatic load
3. We can and do consciously interact with our cognitive functions to upregulate or downregulate the inner mechanism of our body. For example, we consciously decide to run. This then leads to a change in our breathing, heart rate, skin, muscles, and our joints. Our conscious decision to run also speeds up our digestive function and our metabolism
4. In the same way we can consciously interact with our cognitive functions to upregulate or downregulate the internal functions of our body, we can also consciously interact with our cognitive functions to regulate, command, direct, manage, administer, guide, or oversee the different activities outside our body
5. Our cognitive function is intrinsically designed to automatically regulate the internal functions of our body, and we can then consciously choose to make use of that intrinsic mechanism. Our cognitive function can help regulate our outside world just like it does our internal world. However, a conscious choice is a fundamental and basic requirement, and the first step

With these five fundamentals in mind, let us look at the steps to follow to properly use the Cognitive Faculty Assignment Approach (CFAA):

1. Consciously Choose
2. Consciously Communicate
3. Consciously Intend
4. Consciously Imagine
5. Consciously Feel
6. Consciously Be

These are the 6 steps to follow to properly use the Cognitive Faculty Assignment Approach (CFAA).

Would you like to learn more about these steps? If so, CLICK HERE to enroll now.

[1] McGonigal, Kelly. The upside of stress: Why stress is good for you, and how to get good at it. Penguin, 2016.

[2] Rudland, Joy R., Clinton Golding, and Tim J. Wilkinson. “The stress paradox: how stress can be good for learning.” Medical education 54.1 (2020): 40-45.

[3] Doan, Stacey N. “Allostatic load: Developmental and conceptual considerations in a multi‐system physiological indicator of chronic stress exposure.” Developmental psychobiology 63.5 (2021): 825-836.

[4] Goldstein, David S. “How does homeostasis happen? Integrative physiological, systems biological, and evolutionary perspectives.” American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 316.4 (2019): R301-R317.