suhre@trwrb.UUCP (Maurice E. Suhre) (03/27/84)
The usual disclaimer about I'm not a clinical psychologist, etc.
The est bunch are full of one-liners. While that may seem to
oversimplify an issue, it gives us something easy to understand.
To wit, "Boredom is anger without commitment".
I, and a moderately depressed friend of mine, seem to have a lack of
commitment. Mine is quite a bit better than his, but not nearly as
good as I would like. However, I'm a lot better than I was a year ago,
and I strive for progress, not perfection. (This is from Chapter 5,
in case you are wondering).
I would suggest that if you are experiencing boredom, that you look
as deeply as required/necessary to see if there is unexpressed anger
being held down. One exercise is to pound on a bed (non-water)
and say "I'm angry, I'm angry". See if any images come up (people,
places, institutions, etc). If so, come to direct statements of the
form "I resent ...", "I demand ...", "I'm angry about ...". Stay
away from "How can you .....". This may clear the air a little,
or even perhaps quite a lot.
Now a few words on depression. Stewart Emery, co-founder of
Actualizations, says that the cure for depression is expansion.
Unfortunately, the few cases that I have watched seem to avoid
doing anything and just sink deeper. Ingestion of lots of
alcohol (a depressant) probably only makes the problem worse.
Finally, "Suicide is a permanent solution to what may only
be a temporary problem".
Mail welcome.
Maurice
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