APRIL BLOG

April 3 (in book “Jumbo Jumble”)

                                                                Illustration by Miki Howenstein

The epitome of nature’s transmutation

I have learned through bitter experience the one supreme lesson to conserve my anger, and as heat conserved is transmuted into energy, even so our anger controlled can be transmuted into a power that can move the world.   (Mahatma Gandhi)

JR: Look at the wisdom of trees, which shed their leaves in autumn, conserve their energy in the cold of winter, and then upon the return of the warm days of spring, explode with flowers and the leaves which sustain them.  We can benefit much from their humble example, through finding ways to release our pent-up energy in ways that make us grow rather than cause us to self-destruct. Anger is a powerful force, and it is up to you whether or not to direct it into a constructive channel.
 
PP: When was a time that you couldn’t control your anger and you let it fly with no holding back?  What was the result?  Looking back, could you have better transmuted it into a beneficial force?

PA: The passive-aggressive personality—how difficult to deal with. Why doesn’t the person simply state how he’s feeling forthrightly and so others know where he stands? Because he hates conflict, and that is who I am. When younger, I would usually be calm and cool, even when anger was boiling within, only to have it come to a head when I punched the car or refrigerator or banged my tennis racket on the ground. Some painful knuckles and wasted money (for new rackets) taught me that these weren’t the best ways to express my anger. Writing and being more forthcoming with others when I’m angry have helped, and the writing helps me (and hopefully others) as a source of learning and dealing constructively with my anger.