3B Lesson - There's an Important Engineering Approach
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This lesson explains that like engineering, emotional intelligence requires us to develop a deep understanding of its overall importance. We need to be aware of the intricacies and malfunctions that cause our minds to fail, emotionally. As with engineering disciplines, we must learn to pay close attention to precautionary measures, healthy methods, formulas, guidelines, and direction, regular maintenance, limits and problem forewarnings.
When faced with complex factors involving subtle yet potent emotions, it can be tricky to
react in the most emotionally intelligent manner, even when we do understand
enough about our mind’s emotional component.
Potent emotions can have debilitating effects on mind function. A common example is the
emotional potency of our appetite impulses, which can result in obesity. How
can understanding our minds better help us take the intricate, necessary
emotional precautions and reduce the damaging adverse reactions to potent emotions?
To deal with such obstacles, we must learn to apply a “psychological engineering”
approach to our thinking; that is, it’s important to train ourselves to think as engineers think.
According to The Evolution of Useful Things by
Henry Petroski, “a common trait among engineers and inventors is disappointment
with inefficiency. They revel in solving problems and pursue innovation. They
are, perhaps, supreme optimists because they believe they can create and
contribute something of value to the world.”
Understanding certain things about engineering can be
helpful for comparative purposes. Just as mechanical engineers need to pay
close attention to how well their equipment is working, emotional intelligence
requires that we pay close attention to how well our complex minds are
operating. As with engineering disciplines, we must learn to pay close
attention to precautionary measures, methods, formulas and direction, regular
maintenance, limits and problem forewarnings.
Engineering Lessons in Early Childhood: The 3 Little Pigs
This isn’t exactly a new approach to thinking and, as with the study of
engineering, it isn’t exactly easy. Our first exposure to this way of thinking
may have been in early childhood through simple, classic nursery stories such
as The Three Little Pigs.
In this particular tale, a cautious brick-laying pig thought in an “engineering” way as
he built his house of bricks, while the other two pigs applied simple
construction with twigs and straw. The brick-laying pig considered endangering
forces (the wolf) that could easily destroy his home if not constructed well.
The two other pigs did not consider possible danger as they built their homes
in haste of straw and twigs. The more difficult and time-consuming construction
process that the cautious, brick-laying pig applied paid life-saving dividends,
while the quick and simple construction of the two unaware pigs left them
vulnerable to major disaster: the wolf.
How many life situations can we use to compare our actions to the
cautious, brick-laying pig? How many
occasions have we left ourselves vulnerable, similar to the two oblivious pigs?
An engineering approach often requires precautionary
measures and tough yet important struggles (like the extra work of the
brick-laying pig) to ward off problems. Unfortunately, heightening our level of
protection may require that we reduce having and doing things that we
emotionally want to have or do the most.
So, the better we understand our minds, the more apt we are to open our minds and think like engineers.
Many endangerments in life come from remaining oblivious to possible problems
and accepting too much inefficiency. With better understanding, can we examine
these problems like engineers and view our inefficiencies as opportunities? Do
we believe that we are capable of improving our minds and having a more
positive impact on the world?
Like engineering, emotional intelligence requires that we develop a deep understanding of its overall
importance. This involves learning more about the intricacies and malfunctions
that cause our minds to fail emotionally. As the engineering-minded pig must
have known, emotional intelligence requires us to measure what is worthy and
follow security related rules and guidelines.
In today’s increasingly health-conscious world, we are
faced with some debilitating obstacles to improving both our physical and
emotional health. As previously stated, however, the more we understand about
these obstacles, the better chance we have to appropriately deal with them. The more we understand helpful and harmful
reactions to emotions, the better chance we have to grow healthier minds and
improve how we experience our lives.
To get beyond simple reactions to emotions and operate our minds in a more enhanced “engineering” mode isn’t
easy. To go the extra mile and do the smartest and safest thing as the
engineer-minded pig did, we need particular training and serious attention to
cause and effect.
In Defense of the Two Less Engineering-Minded Pigs
When we take a magnified look at how the human mind is
hard wired, it can seem inappropriately designed from an emotion standpoint.
Emotionally intelligent judgment is one of the most complex aspects of our
thought processes to correctly monitor and interpret. Yet we must rely on this
extremely undereducated and thus unstable aspect of our thinking for the most
important direction relative to our health and well being.
In other words, at the same time that we’re making some of
our most important decisions about our well being, our thinking is
susceptible to subtle yet powerful and
endangering emotional forces that can inappropriately influence and
distort our decisions. Just like the two pigs in the children’s story, subtle
influences to our reasoning can lead us to take an easier route yet, at the
same time, can also easily put us in harm’s way.
Healthy Thinking Requires Self-Monitoring
It’s important to change bad habits that adversely affect
our well being, but as we know too well, doing the more emotionally intelligent
thing doesn’t always come naturally. Our minds are not inclined to choose the better path, do things in the best way, share
fairly or compromise with others in every situation that we should. Our minds
don’t automatically know such wisdom, nor do we find it easy to
willfully follow it once we learn it.
Our thoughts can have a deceptive
nature, especially when emotions are involved. To think in healthy ways
requires understanding and extreme caution. Without monitoring our thoughts,
self-destructive thinking and other emotional afflictions can easily and
erroneously influence our judgment. (Monitoring our thinking combined with the
right knowledge is similar to having security software on our computer; without
it, we are left vulnerable to reacting inappropriately to our emotions.)
With too little understanding, the human mind can naturally succumb to inappropriate resignation,
exaggerated agitations and overzealous passions. We can overextend
ourselves as we deal with emotionally satisfying yet endangering factors such
as overeating, overspending money, and crowding our lives with too many
activities—even those of a positive nature.
In these and many other situations, without enough understanding we can easily
miss or avoid intricate yet necessary precautions. We can too easily choose to
satisfy or give in to dangerous, potent emotional feelings. We can be too casual or even haphazard with our thoughts,
rather than strategically considering what we need to be thinking about and/or thinking about doing.
Over time, these types of reactions can develop into
long-term problems with devastating and even fatal consequences. Dangerous,
emotionally induced feelings can potentially destroy us. Without enough
understanding about our mind’s ability to emotionally misinterpret,
we can easily remain inactive to address valid concerns or get
overstressed and overexcited about the wrong things. Life hands us emotional
roller coaster rides that we can’t avoid yet when we understand what we’re
dealing with, we have a better chance of taking the ride in stride and reacting
in healthier ways.
Understanding our minds better is
crucial because it helps to reduce occurrences of so many of these misinterpretations.
Emotional intelligence enables us to recognize our mind’s deceptive nature;
then helps us discourage self-destructive and self-defeating thoughts and
behaviors. As we learn the value of reacting in more emotionally intelligent
ways, we begin to accept the disciplines sometimes necessary to grow
emotionally.
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