Friday, February 09, 2007

Rage and Clarity

Maybe you've heard of the recent letter-bombing campaign in the UK, reminiscent of the US's own Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski. Some reports have linked the attacks to road rage after three bombs were aimed at motor-vehicle offices this week. There must be a lot of rage pent up to bring someone to the act of building bombs at all, let along such intricate and delicate bombs.

On Wednesday, after putting up my post about the recent renting difficulties we've had, I went about my day as expected. I considered that my release of the rage that had been building up in my life. I found that in my next class I felt very relaxed and was able to generate clear and constructive comments during some group work where we critiqued each others work. The rest of the day I found my head filled with creative ideas and useful thoughts. It appeared that my blog had served as an outlet for my anger and that my mind celebrated its release from the shackles of anger. One potential confounder in this whole assessment is that Wednesday marked an emergence for the Atlanta Metro Area from a recent cold spell. The sun shined, coats came off and I was able to take advantage of it with some walking across campus to run my errands.

Nonetheless, my conscience self noticed the marked difference in mood, outlook, and especially cognitive activity that manifested itself during the middle of the day on Wednesday. I attribute it to the combination of the two coincident influences of venting and nice weather. Perhaps the blog, as a modern journal, has a role as a tool for healthy management of the psychosocial - physiological interaction. I'm glad to have it allow me to release without turning to violence, though I can't give the blog all the credit.


EPILOGUE:
I specifically sectioned out midday Wednesday because later that day I let an unexpected mishap crush me. For the sake of time I will only say that I watched (and heard) my glasses get run over by my own car. Higher highs may make the lows lower.

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