DIRECTING EMOTIONAL FORCES INTO USEFUL AND CREATIVE CHANNELS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1043, 6 August 1930, Page 5

DIRECTING EMOTIONAL FORCES INTO USEFUL AND CREATIVE CHANNELS

The emotions are dynamic forces. It is playing with fire to attempt to suppress them uncompromisingly. All of us are inheritors of powerful instincts which reveal themselves in the guise of emotions. For instance, the instinct of escape is responsible for the emotion of fear and the sexinstinct for the tender emotion. To fight against these and other instincts and emotions is to fight a losing battle. In the long run the extravagant tax on our will-power and nervous control would defeat us. We should wear ourselves out. This does not mean to say that we are to give way to an emotion whenever we feel like it. That is altogether wrong and harmful. What is desirable is that we should direct our emotional forces into useful and creative channels. Psychologists call this “sublimation.” In a way it is a transformation of energy —the transformation of emotional electricity into physical activity and production. Whenever you see a great picture, or read some wonderful work of literature. or listen to music composed by a genips, you will find, if you look deep enough, that the artists have been led to the stars through their feelings. Intelligence may have been the mechanism, but emotion, properly directed, was the driving force. And next time, you make some real effort,

when you have achieved some am- \ bition and built this strange world a little nearer your heart’s desire, you will appreciate that you, too, have ; succeeded in the effective sublimation of your emotional forces. Indeed, that’s why you may now be feeling so contented and happy. But leave the emotions for long imprisoned and you will soon find yourself worried, restless, discontented; with that sort of feeling “that you don’t know what you want, but you could do with the moon.” Unsatisfied emotional cravings, which give rise to mental tension, may also leak out as anxiety Now and then, provided that it is right and proper, give outward expression to your feelings. Don’t be afraid of having a “good laugh” or a “good cry.” Better to let t your anger out than to keep it in. It will be all to the good of your mental health. CORNETS OF HAM AND SALAD Required: Cooked vegetables of all kinds, slices of cold bam, salad. Roll up the slices of ham into cornet shapes and brush them over with a little melted aspic. You will find it necessary to keep the insides propped up with something until they have set. Have ready the cooked vegetables—carrots, potatoes, turnips, peas, beetroot, etc., and cut them into small dice. Fill the cornets with these and brush over a little more aspic, to keep the vegetables in place. Arrange the cornets on a bed of fresh green salad, and serve with mayonnaise.

TIMBALES OF COLD MEAT Required; Half a pound of any cold meat. Two teaspoonfuls of breadcrumbs. Two teaspoonfuls of chopped parsley. Half a teaspoonful of chopped onion. A little milk. One egg. Salt and pepper. Cooked macaroni. Thickly butter some small moulds. Decorate them bj' pressing cut rings of cooked macaroni all sover the inside; or, what takes much less time, cook the macaroni till tender, then lay the strips round and round tlm mould, pressing it firmly on to it. Chop the meat, mix with it the breadcrumbs, onion, parsley season ing, and enough milk to make che mixture rather moist. Beat up the egg and stir it in; then fill in the moulds. Put them in a shallow saucepan with boiling water to come halfway up them. Lay a piece of greased paper over the top and steam them gently for one hour. Turn them on to a hot dish and pour some well-flavoured sauce round Garnish with a few green peas or little balls of cooked carrot. BIRTH-STONES Here is a list of birth-stones and their meanings, with the months for which they stand: —January garnets to- constancy: February, amethysts for sincerity; March, bloocistones for i courage; April, diamonds for purity. May, emeralds, for hope; juue, agalet for health; July, rubies for passion; August, sardonyx for conjugal happi ness; September, sapphires for repent ance; October, opals for lovableness ■ November, topaz for cheerfulness; De cember. turquoises for unselfishness