What is "cogental©" communication?

Always be willing to give credit to ideas that can be attributed to another. I heard a sermon which included a profound and probing question. I do not recall the pastor mentioning the author, but perhaps because I was so deeply moved, I likely just missed it. The question comes from Andy Stanley's (son of Internationally known, Charles Stanley) book, The Best Question Ever ...

In light of your past experiences, your present circumstances, and your future hopes and dreams, what is the wise thing for you to do?

Wants and Needs

In light of our future hopes and dreams ... have you wondered why you want something? Our desires, which can best be described as cravings and longings, arise out of past experiences. Since you have never experienced "the future" (unless you are Marty McFly), every moment preceding the current moment (present) has created remnants of memories, accumulations of responses, physiological patterns and a microbial footprint. This massive accumulation impacts your present state and desires for future experiences. For example, after meeting someone - you find yourself thinking about them, wanting and hoping to interact with them again. It's typical, short of obsessing, that imagine how the encounter might start - progress - and conclude. The cognitive rehearsal in the present moment directs you to pursuing a future reality.

Emotions

The use of the words emotions only begins to reflect the complexities of your present reality, which would be more accurately described as physiology. Specifically, based upon the environmental (internal/external) landscape, how is my body reacting, recording, encoding and emoting. Humans are amazing animals and their ability to store thousands of bits of information without consciously processing them all in order to create an image or memory is beyond what most of us can even comprehend. A movie is nothing more than intentionally recorded frames of images, paired with related sound bits and displayed in rapid succession. Typically, a movie is shown at a rate of 60 frames per second. Imagine that your memory is recording 1000 frames per second. All of that data is being recorded, stored, and interpreted in order to help you satisfy your wants and needs. Isn't that amazing?