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Lesson 16 Situation Analysis: Tensions and Climates

Ask yourself, “What situation do I live in?” Answer this question in an orderly way. Describe your situation clearly in terms of your age, sex, work, home life, health, and friends. For each situation especially notice the strongest or most unpleasant tensions you feel, and try also to distinguish the emotional moods or “climates” you live in. A “climate” is a diffuse, pervasive, and sometimes irrational negative emotional mood or feeling. Examples of climates are feelings of desolation, violence, loneliness, injustice, oppression, insecurity, etc. Clearly see your present situation with regard to age, sex, work, etc. and discover which tensions act in each situation. Then, think about which climates you experience in each situation. First discuss these topics with the other participants, and then write down your conclusions in the following exercise:

Exercise 1 Leave several lines of your notebook for each situation listed above: age, sex, work, home life, health, and friends. Write briefly and precisely your actual present situation for each one. When you finish this chart, write a synthesis of it. Here is an arbitrary example. Notice that both the tensions and climates are included for each situation:

AGE: 50 years. Annoyed as I experience a gradual loss of energy. Afraid of losing my present job. Feel desolation when I think of the future. Becoming reconciled with myself through experience gained. Frustrated by many wasted opportunities, etc.

SEX: Female. View my marriage dispassionately. Tension because I want my children to achieve what I could not do. A climate of need for some undefined support, perhaps from my husband, etc.

WORK: Well paid. Afraid of being pushed aside by subordinates. Feel inner violence about the lack of recognition I receive for my abilities. Undefined climate of “walls closing in,” etc. HOME LIFE: House lacks intimacy because friends of my children and husband are always present. Feel a need to live further from downtown. Feel a climate of suffocation I attribute to the smog problem. Feel horrified by dirt and contamination, etc.

HEALTH: I am the strongest in the family which creates tension in me because I have more responsibilities than the rest. I feel guilty because of the frailty of others. Afraid of a fatal illness in myself and have little faith that I would receive support in case of illness. Ambivalence, etc.

FRIENDS: Few, except for friends of other members of the family, whom I do not find totally free of fault. Participate coldly with co-workers from my company in formal social gatherings, parties and meetings. Participate coldly with acquaintances in religious ceremonies -weddings or funerals. Dislike birthday parties or New Year’s celebrations. Climate of nostalgia for lost friends from my youth, etc.

SYNTHESIS: Annoyed with myself for not having had another kind of life. Feel tension because of lack of recognition for myself. Feel climates of fear of the future, loneliness, self-enclosure. Have desperate and confused feelings about having a fatal illness. Feel a sense of reconciliation through experience gained and because of a few achievements. Would like to overcome resentment towards many things and people in the past. I need to dissipate my fear of the future which is growing stronger each day, etc.

When you complete this exercise, draw conclusions about your situation and formulate useful resolutions. It is important to remember that it is not useful to struggle against your negative factors; on the contrary, the best way to make your situation develop is to build on and amplify the positive qualities you discover.