Evening star., 1928-11-28
Relieving Tension.

Tension is a usssul term to describe
something in the mental life that Is
constantly observed and for which th2re
must be a cause, even if we don't know
what it is. Tense means taut,. tight;
tense people are highstrung; they go
off readily. go with bang, and Keep
going. They travel with ell sails
spread and stretched; the f1abby, slack
people flap slowly with the wind.
The first forms of tension are mo-
tor. You can observe them in animals,
YOU can observe them in infants. Little
waves produce twitches Of this muscle
and that: arms and legs wave, show
ing the joyous activity OF belng all7e'
grooming and baboing are or the same
order. The Gagged liens and tigers pace
I'D and down; tho elephant swings MS
huge body and trunk, swaying from
side to side. The placid COW seems 10
have no tensions at all.
Young children fidget. They can't
keep still: they must finger something
all the time. they can't see anythlng
without touching it, doing something
with it-that IS. the tense, nervous,
hirh-strung ones can't. Others are III
comparison quiet and placid. Nervous
children have more tensions to relieve,
more energy to spend, they are I'M
patient If you bottle them up, they
explode later en- like geyser.
Adults also have their motor tensions.
The crowd on the bleachers, after sit
ting too long, gets UP and stretches
stretching and yawnlng are built INTO
cur physiology. Quite characteristic
is the throwing of one foot over the
other and shaking the free one up ara
down. Playing with key-rings or coins,
sticking your hands in your pockets,
twirling your thumbs, tapping with your
fingers, whistling, stroklng your chin
or molstache. froWrlina Wrinkllng your
forehead, biting your nails, to say moth
ing of chewing gum and rocking on
chairs, are habit devices to relieve motor
tension.
Higher up in the psychological scale
ere such habits as walking up and
down while debating: doing some sim
| pie chores as sharpening pencils. EEer-
| else itself proyideS interesting outlets
for accumulated energies, especially tc
those of sitting" habits. Physical
| labor doesn't require special outlets to1
motor tensions: nor does camping.
Far more significant and Compre-
| hensive are emotional tensions. Con-
| f1ning, monotonous work starts the
emotional craving for something inter-
esting. something to prevent the ten
sions Of boredom. Watch a crowd
waiting at a railway junction for a
| belated train and you'll have var1e-
gated picture of what people will do to
| relieve tension both motor and emo
! tional
It isn't the slighter varieties of un-
| relieved emotions that produce the
| most serious tensions; these are reserv-
| ed for the absorbing devastating. high
| tension emotions, anger especially, and
| passion in all its senses, the passion OF
| hate, the passion of love, the mixed
! passion of jealousy or revenge or a
| sense of injury or growing estrange-
! ment. and tn? Unnerving panic Of fear
! the reign of terror known as suspense.
! Whenever tense emotional situations
| are prolonged like the electrical ten
| sion eliminating in an approaching
thunderstorm, there is an ominous quiet
which is unrest, and an explosion is
| likely, as riots often show. In the
| World War soldiers who had a chance
| to go over the top were less emotionally
| disturbed than the reserves with tense
! emotions and no outlet for them Watt
| ing produces tension. Substitutes in a
| foot ball game often make a similar re-
| port, while without the roaring yells
and cheers the excitement tension of a
foot ball game would be impossible to
endure. You must jump and yell your
| head off or burst.
These more joyous or exhilarating
/ tenslon-relieyers are like strong drink,
] something in the nature of a spree.
| Orgies and debaucheries stand as the
! climax of one type of emotional out
/ let. Carnivals and gala days were pro-
| vided for the removal of customary re-
tn ho Of
reveling in New Year eve fashion
Horns and rattles and pistols and fire
| works express the tension relief of max
| ing the noise.
Growing emotion unrelieved leads to
| repression, and repression may be
! f1rgcrous; 1t shoulders and then
! breaks out into fame; the dam breaks
and an emotional flood sweeps over
! the individual to his destruction. Anger
, is difficult emotion to relieve in polite
! society; we can't strike whcn we feel
| like it. Swearing is a substitute, a
reliever of tension, as characterlstical-
! ly masculine habit as having good
cry is feminine. It's the grief too long
repressed that breaks the mind; it's
the Slight and neglect of long duration
that ruins happiness; here in one plot
or another is the theme of tragedy, the
! eliminating outbreak of unreiieved
en1cticn.
The problem of the emotional hy-
gi"ne Of the big emotions Is a diff
cult one. The tleater since the days
Of Greece has been used as a tension
rclieVer of the great emotions: it work.
hy proxy. by synpsthv 1t gives every
cne a chance at heroic emotions. The
oraat th0mes of the drama that relieve
thn tensions Of big emotions are the