ASSIGNMENTS:
|
|
"Self-Cure for Lovesickness"
John Kierulf
London, UK
|
|
REPORTS:
PREVIOUS NEXT
|
|
Lovesickness seems to be an underestimated debility. I was struck with it rather suddenly and unexpectedly in October 2006, and have not recovered fully since. But the following regime has proven useful.
[1] Read technical manuals of some kind -- ones that would interest you anyway. Try to become absorbed in as much detail as possible. In my case, revising the Indo-European background of Sanskrit and Greek morphology proved useful.
[2] Go for longish walks, especially if the weather is challenging. I have found it helpful if it is especially windy, or the path is steep and clogged with exposed roots. These circumstances in combination would be exquisite; only a gibbous moon glancing through a rapidly scudding rack of threatening cloud could enhance the overall effect.
[3] Listen to music. This works only if you really listen, I mean listen closely. To do this, unless you have a conductor's ears, the music should be relatively simple. I recommend string quartets (Haydn, of course, but also Beethoven and Bloch). Smoking a cigar can help.
[4] Write. There are at least two kinds of writing that can help here: so-called 'creative' writing and expository. But at times such as these, when you are trying to exorcise the love demon, you will find them difficult to distinguish. Don't write all your love poems to or about your loved one (and never send them all to her/him). In inverse but similar fashion, don't write only about things not related to love.
[5] Cook elaborate and strange new dishes, preferably ones involving nuts, fruits, and spices from at least three different major cultural areas of the globe. Serve them, in a friendly, expansive way, to guests who normally do not eat experimentally.
In time -- although you will still be in love -- you will doubtless recover from lovesickness, in the sense that you will live. Unless something else gets you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
