Engineered Emotion

  So let's say that this weekend you decide to get some exercise and go for a bike ride with a few friends. Maybe the trail gets a little more adventurous than you anticipated and your front wheel hits a big tree root that crosses your path. Your bike loses control and you fly through the air. Next thing you know, the emergency room doctors are sending you for x-rays to check out the massive pain you have in your arm. The expectation is that you've broken one of the bones in your arm. What happens next? You probably know this part if you know someone who's broken a limb. You would probably get some pain medication, they would set your bone to ensure it heals properly and then your arm would get put in a cast to prevent another break before it heals. It's interesting that when a limb breaks we all instinctively know what process can get us back to normal. Unfortunately when our brain starts functioning in a destructive way we still struggle with what the right course of ...

  I was watching my son's baseball game once and it was his turn to step up to the plate in a difficult game where the team was struggling to get points on the board. I watch him take a few pitches and then he hits an amazing high ball to right field where it drops to the ground just out of the fielder's reach. He runs like the wind rounding first and sliding safely into second.  I'm cheering with pride when I hear the umpire call him out... My young boy's breakthrough moment has just been shattered and I start shouting at the umpire from the little league stands. He was clearly safe. Everyone saw it. Why would the umpire not open his eyes and pay attention? It's at times like this that my emotions start generating reactions that I'm not thinking about. All of a sudden I'm yelling when I'm normally a pretty quiet guy. As I reflect on my behavior later it's clear that my feelings and actions, however justified and appropriate they felt at the time wer...