DAMMIT!
I found this doll in Pamela Hastings' book, "Dollmaking as a Transformative Process".
She says,
"I discovered this doll and the poem when I was teaching in Mendocino.
My thanks to Alice, who
brought in the poem and her interpretation of this immediately-healing doll."
The poem reads,
WHEN YOU THINK
YOU WANT TO
CLIMB THE WALL,
OR STAND RIGHT UP
AND SHOUT
HERE'S A LITTLE DAMMIT DOLL
YOU CANNOT DO WITHOUT
JUST GRASP IT FIRMLY
BY THE LEGS
AND FIND A PLACE TO SLAM IT
THEN AS YOU WHACK
ITS STUFFING OUT,
YELL
DAMMIT, DAMMIT, DAMMIT.
I offer these dolls to you as a release for frustration, anger, belligerence ...whatever.
Don't worry about hurting these adorable creatures.
I found simply the intention to 'slam' them, is enough
to dissipate the emotion that caused me to pick them up.
She says,
"I discovered this doll and the poem when I was teaching in Mendocino.
My thanks to Alice, who
brought in the poem and her interpretation of this immediately-healing doll."
The poem reads,
WHEN YOU THINK
YOU WANT TO
CLIMB THE WALL,
OR STAND RIGHT UP
AND SHOUT
HERE'S A LITTLE DAMMIT DOLL
YOU CANNOT DO WITHOUT
JUST GRASP IT FIRMLY
BY THE LEGS
AND FIND A PLACE TO SLAM IT
THEN AS YOU WHACK
ITS STUFFING OUT,
YELL
DAMMIT, DAMMIT, DAMMIT.
I offer these dolls to you as a release for frustration, anger, belligerence ...whatever.
Don't worry about hurting these adorable creatures.
I found simply the intention to 'slam' them, is enough
to dissipate the emotion that caused me to pick them up.
PALINDROME
Did you know that 'Dammit I'm mad' spelt backwards is 'Dammit I'm mad'?
HOT COAL!
"Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal
with the intent of throwing it at someone else;
you are the one who gets burned."
Buddha
with the intent of throwing it at someone else;
you are the one who gets burned."
Buddha
OVERCOME
"Get mad, then get over it!"
Colin Powell
Colin Powell
PROFANITY
"In certain trying circumstances,
urgent circumstances,
desperate circumstances,
profanity furnishes a relief
denied even to prayer."
Mark Twain
urgent circumstances,
desperate circumstances,
profanity furnishes a relief
denied even to prayer."
Mark Twain
RIGHTEOUS
Sometimes when I'm angry,
I have the right to be angry,
but that doesn't give me
the right to be cruel.
I have the right to be angry,
but that doesn't give me
the right to be cruel.
PANIC
"Too many of us panic in the dark.
We don't understand that it is a holy dark
and that the idea is to surrender to it
and journey through to real light."
Sue Monk Kidd
We don't understand that it is a holy dark
and that the idea is to surrender to it
and journey through to real light."
Sue Monk Kidd
STRIVE
"Strive to be patient by putting up with the defects of others.
Why?
Because you've saddled onto others
the infirmities that are dragging you down."
Thomas a Kempis
Why?
Because you've saddled onto others
the infirmities that are dragging you down."
Thomas a Kempis
VIRAL
You're not a horrible person if you get angry. It's an epidemic nowadays, and if we all began pointing our fingers at people who get angry, we would all run out of fingers in a gigantic and weird game of Twister. And anger isn't always the worst case scenario. If you are in despair to the point that you cannot function, anger can be a motivating feeling like relief that can at least help you move into a place of action. You just can't stay in anger, and you can't let anger be your motivating force, or you yourself become a conduit of negativity that will make others, well, angry with you.
Anger is like a highly infectious virus, but there is an anti-viral that can help soften the symptoms. Find a mantra like: "Give up your pain, peace will flood into your heart". Give it up to what? The something bigger than you that animates life. That thing, whatever you call it. Give your pain up, and peace will rush into the vacuum it creates to fill the void.
Anger is like a highly infectious virus, but there is an anti-viral that can help soften the symptoms. Find a mantra like: "Give up your pain, peace will flood into your heart". Give it up to what? The something bigger than you that animates life. That thing, whatever you call it. Give your pain up, and peace will rush into the vacuum it creates to fill the void.
SUBDUE
The hostile multitudes are vast as space
What chance is there that all should be subdued?
Let but this angry mind be overthrown
And every foe is then and there destroyed
Shantideva
What chance is there that all should be subdued?
Let but this angry mind be overthrown
And every foe is then and there destroyed
Shantideva
RESPONSE
"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion.
I, myself, prefer to laugh,
since there is less cleaning to do afterward."
Kurt Vonnegut
I, myself, prefer to laugh,
since there is less cleaning to do afterward."
Kurt Vonnegut
STRESS
"My body needs laughter
as much as it needs tears.
Both are cleansers of stress."
Mahogany SilverRain in "Ebony Encounters: A Trilogy of Erotic Tales."
as much as it needs tears.
Both are cleansers of stress."
Mahogany SilverRain in "Ebony Encounters: A Trilogy of Erotic Tales."
VENT
Consider six things to vent out frustrations, sadness and anger:
Cry.
Punch.
Write.
Exercise.
Talk.
Create art.
Let them become a normal part of growing a healthy life.
Cry.
Punch.
Write.
Exercise.
Talk.
Create art.
Let them become a normal part of growing a healthy life.
TRUST
Sometimes there is an invisible raven
That will fly low to pierce the shell of trust
When it has been brought low to the ground.
When he strikes, he breaks the faith of years
That had built quietly through the seasons
In the rhythm of tried and tested experience.
With one strike, the shelter is down
And the black yolk of truth turned false
Would poison the garden of memory.
Now the heart's drum turns to requiem,
Offering itself a poultice of tears
To cleanse from loss what cannot be lost.
Through all the raw and awkward days,
Dignity will hold the heart to grace
Lest it squander its dream on a ghost.
Often torn ground is ideal for seed
That can root disappointment deep enough
To yield a harvest that cannot wither:
A deeper light to anoint the eyes,
Passion that opens wings in the heart,
A subtle radiance of countenance:
The soul ready for its true other.
John O'Donohue
That will fly low to pierce the shell of trust
When it has been brought low to the ground.
When he strikes, he breaks the faith of years
That had built quietly through the seasons
In the rhythm of tried and tested experience.
With one strike, the shelter is down
And the black yolk of truth turned false
Would poison the garden of memory.
Now the heart's drum turns to requiem,
Offering itself a poultice of tears
To cleanse from loss what cannot be lost.
Through all the raw and awkward days,
Dignity will hold the heart to grace
Lest it squander its dream on a ghost.
Often torn ground is ideal for seed
That can root disappointment deep enough
To yield a harvest that cannot wither:
A deeper light to anoint the eyes,
Passion that opens wings in the heart,
A subtle radiance of countenance:
The soul ready for its true other.
John O'Donohue
DISTORT
"All emotions are pure which gather you and lift you up;
that emotion is impure which seizes only one side of your being
and so distorts you."
Rainer Maria Rilke
that emotion is impure which seizes only one side of your being
and so distorts you."
Rainer Maria Rilke
RENEW
Dear God,
I give you this morning.
Please take away
my despair of yesterday.
help me to forgive the things
that caused me pain
and would keep me bound.
Help me to begin again.
Please bless my path
and illuminate my mind.
I surrender to you
the day ahead.
Please bless every person
and situation
I will encounter.
Make me who you would have me be,
that I might do as you would have me do.
Please enter my heart
and remove all anger,
fear and pain.
Renew my soul
and free my spirit.
Thank you, God,
for this day.
Amen
by Marianne Williamson in "Everyday Grace"
I give you this morning.
Please take away
my despair of yesterday.
help me to forgive the things
that caused me pain
and would keep me bound.
Help me to begin again.
Please bless my path
and illuminate my mind.
I surrender to you
the day ahead.
Please bless every person
and situation
I will encounter.
Make me who you would have me be,
that I might do as you would have me do.
Please enter my heart
and remove all anger,
fear and pain.
Renew my soul
and free my spirit.
Thank you, God,
for this day.
Amen
by Marianne Williamson in "Everyday Grace"
LIFE DOESN'T FRIGHTEN ME AT ALL
Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hall
Life doesn't frighten me at all.
Bad dog barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn't frighten me at all.
Old Mother Gosse
Lions on the loose
They don't frighten me at all.
Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn't frighten me at all.
I go BOO
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I won't cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild
Life doesn't frighten me at all.
from "Life Doesn't Frighten Me At All" by Maya Angelou
Noises down the hall
Life doesn't frighten me at all.
Bad dog barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn't frighten me at all.
Old Mother Gosse
Lions on the loose
They don't frighten me at all.
Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn't frighten me at all.
I go BOO
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I won't cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild
Life doesn't frighten me at all.
from "Life Doesn't Frighten Me At All" by Maya Angelou
DESPAIR
"What we call despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope."
George Eliot
George Eliot
FORLORN
"Oft hope is born when all is forlorn."
JRR Tolkien
JRR Tolkien
CHANGE
"I have accepted fear as a part of my life -
specifically the fear of change.
I have gone ahead despite the pounding in my heart that says:
turn back ..."
Erica Jong
specifically the fear of change.
I have gone ahead despite the pounding in my heart that says:
turn back ..."
Erica Jong
AVOIDANCE
"You cannot find peace by avoiding life."
Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
LEARNED
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life:
it goes on."
Robert Frost
it goes on."
Robert Frost
DON'T CRY
"Don't cry because it's over,
smile because it happened."
Dr. Suess
smile because it happened."
Dr. Suess
LAUGHTER
"The only real laughter comes from despair."
Groucho Marx in 'The Groucho Letters'.
SPINNING
(How To Make Space Around You)
Pick a crowd you would like to thin,
Stretch out your arms
and spin.
In moments of extreme despair,
crouch and gradually rise
to clear a column in the air.
if the crowd is slow in thinning,
keep spinning.
Anne Spencer Lindbergh
Pick a crowd you would like to thin,
Stretch out your arms
and spin.
In moments of extreme despair,
crouch and gradually rise
to clear a column in the air.
if the crowd is slow in thinning,
keep spinning.
Anne Spencer Lindbergh
SMALL VICTORIES
“And I got out of there without punching anyone,
kicking anyone,
or breaking down in tears.
Some days the small victories are all you achieve.”
Molly Ringle in 'Relatively Honest'
kicking anyone,
or breaking down in tears.
Some days the small victories are all you achieve.”
Molly Ringle in 'Relatively Honest'
