Life’s Spiritual, Spiritual/Metaphysical, Spiritual/Metaphysical/Physical Good Situations are handled by creating, enhancing, or maintaining Harmony. Life’s Disharmony Situations require Defense, Protection, Minimizing, Adaptations, or “Buying Your Peace.” Ways to handle both include: (1) determining “what it is”– its Self-Identity + its interrelationships (e.g. similarities in apparent dissimilarities) + the Setting of its Interrelationships; (2) its Reality happenings by “what it does”—; and (3) its Perceived Reality by “how it appears”—with ballpark ideas using analogies for the undefinable, hazy, or indescribable. Harmony and Disharmony categories have well-defined; hazily defined, and undefined problems. Regardless of problem type, the aim is getting as close as is feasible to what one really, really wants and avoid getting—to the extent reasonably possible–what one really, really does not want. All solutions demand being Creative, Inventive, Innovative, and making Discoveries. These are best done with absolutely Focused Attention—in order to do What is Situationally Practical–within the setting of What is Available (the reserves, the time, the people to carry some of the load, the lack of overwhelming odds), and What is Honorable (no lying, cheating, or stealing).Approaches (the way a goal is reached), Methods (how to do the job), Techniques (how tools are used in the approach and method) and Manner (the different ways a technique can be handled) are part of the solution of all situations. These are cultivated by becoming skillful in fashioning Options. Options are particularly needed for situations without boundaries. The most “Workable” means to handle boundless human-made situations (e.g. “how to deal with enemies) is with like-kind self-made Option solutions. The Life Triangle Arena enables assessing seemingly “Impossible” ‘now’ problems and/or in future like-kind categories while opening a place to start.
This Critical Thinking (CT) Concept tool embraces the “big picture” web of: Nature(at the top of the Triangle); People (e.g. family, friends, enemies on the left angle); Things(e.g. money, possessions on the right angle); and, inside the Triangle, ones Selfhood(subdivided into the Physical Body, Feelings/Emotions, Reason, and Spirit). Despite this catagorizing Image Tool not being about the “Whole Truth” and possessing the limitations associated with “Broad-Stroking”—i.e. creating “SEEMS” right deceptions in stereotype fashion—it is significant for CT. It helps CT form ideas having nothing to do with the Truth but that are still necessary for making choices, decisions, and solutions. To illustrate with an example of Disharmony, many situations of daily living in which it reigns possess aspects which cannot be defined as a specific problem. These, for any given situation, lack boundaries able to enhance CT. Whether the reason is that they defy being bounded and/or that they are yet to be encountered, an approach is still needed because problems will pop-up unexpectedly in every human’s life at various times in the future. Let us say the specific questions is: “How do I deal with all kinds of enemies?” Step I: decide options for dealing broadly with any enemy, like by defense, protection, prevention, minimization, silence. Consider these categories for ones own and other’s known or unknown enemies having to be dealt with in the present or in the future. Step II: take each category one-by-one, such as Defense, and figure out “What if” situations in which they might occur.
Step III: For each “What if” Defense, determine all options for how each can be handled. Make up possible big added on problems—e.g. an unexpected family emergency. Step IV: use the Box Concept for each “What if” situation category of an enemy—e.g. the “friendly” con-artists’ “SEEMs” right deceptions + Bullies’ Intimidation tactics + “Killer Police’s” “strong-arm” violence + Social Media. The Box Concept enables one to: (1) see the problem from all sides and all angles; (2) “Play out” the “What ifs” of each Defense option so as to take in all required to understand the problem; (3) see subtle options for obstacles; (4) make three best, most workable solutions; (5) discern all good/bad solution Effects, Consequences, Results points so as to make solution-application alterations; (6) use Foresight (“seeing” ahead/around corners) + Forethought" (“figuring out” a path to take and destination) so as to (7) do proper planning for the present andimmediate future. Reinforce this with reading how other people handled like-kind problems and what did/did not work. The Point: Always prepare the “Workable” + Options for the worst that can happen in your life! jabaileymd.com; JABLifeSkills; Theievoice.com
Joseph A. Bailey II, MD, FACS
To create, maintain, and enhance HARMONY
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