This morning I couldn’t calm myself down. I had had a series of upsetting things happen. I was so angry I was trembling.
I tried breathing, grounding, meditating, talking to my husband on the phone. I couldn’t stop agitating.
I knew I needed to go hit a mattress – my tried and true “therapeutic” method for releasing pent-up emotions.
The problem was Ana Maria our house cleaner was there. What would she think?
Finally I got so uncomfortable that I went into the kitchen and said, “Ana Maria, don’t worry, but I’m going down to the basement bedroom with a tennis racquet, and if you hear yelling and pounding, please don’t worry.”
She smiled a little as I went on my way.
When I came back upstairs I told her I felt better.
She looked at the floor and softly said, “I throw things.”
Sometimes I have trouble understanding her Portuguese accented English. And she was quiet. So I repeated what I heard.
“You throw things??”
“Yes,” she replied.
“What do you throw?” I asked.
“Glasses,” she said.
“Glasses?!” I repeated.
“Yes, I buy inexpensive glasses so I just buy more.”
“But, doesn’t that make a mess?”
“Yes, but I put the dog in the other room so he doesn’t get hurt, and I throw the glass as hard as I can into the sink.”
“Doesn’t glass shatter everywhere?”
She grinned. “Yes, but I just wipe up the pieces with an old rag and then throw it all away.”
She added, “It’s a good way to get rid of old rags.”
I was laughing so hard, she was laughing so hard. I felt so much better.
A little later I related the story to a dear friend who howled with me too.
The Moral of the Story: Never underestimate the magical combination of hitting and laughing and friends.