author - "Annie Payson Call"
of the trouble, the invalidgets "well" only to drag out a miserable existence or to get veryill again.
Although any nervous suffering is worth while if it is the means ofteaching us how to avoid nervous strain, it certainly is farpreferable to avoid the strain without the extreme pain of a nervousbreakdown.
To point out many of these pernicious habits and to suggest apractical remedy for each and all of them is the aim of this book,and for that reason common examples in various phases of every-daylife are used as illustrations.
When there is no organic trouble there can be no doubt that _defectsof character, inherited or acquired, are at the root of all nervousillness._ If this can once be generally recognized and acknowledged,especially by the sufferers themselves, we are in a fair way towardeliminating such illness entirely.
The trouble is people suffer from mortification and an unwillingnessto look their bad habits in the face. They have not learned thathumiliation can be wholeso
rewhat might perhaps be called the outside elements of life. Theseonce normally faced, cease to exist as impediments, dwindle away,and finally disappear altogether.
Thus we are enabled to get nearer the kernel, and have a growingrealization of life itself.
Civilization may give a man new freedom, a freedom beyond any powerof description or conception, except to those who achieve it, or itmay so bind him body and soul that in moments when he recognizes hisnervous contractions he would willingly sell his hope of immortalityto be a wild horse or tiger for the rest of his days.
These stones in the way are the result of a perversion ofcivilization, and the cause of much contraction and unnecessarysuffering.
There is the physical stone. If the health of the body were attendedto as a matter of course, as its cleanliness is attended to by thoseof us who are more civilized, how much easier life might be! Indeed,the various trippings on, and endeavors to encircle, this physicalstone, raise man
hand,strengthens the will and increases strength of purpose as the pettyobstacles of mere self-love are removed. Concentration alone cannotlong remain wholesome, for it needs the light of growingself-knowledge to prevent its becoming self-centred. Yielding aloneis of no avail, for in itself it has no constructive power. But ifwe try to look at ourselves as we really are, we shall find greatstrength in yielding where only our small and private interests areconcerned, and concentrating upon living the broad principles ofrighteousness which must directly or indirectly affect all thosewith whom we come into contact.
I
The Freedom of Life
I AM so tired I must give up work," said a young woman with a verystrained and tearful face; and it seemed to her a desperate state,for she was dependent upon work for her bread and butter. If shegave up work she gave up bread and butter, and that meantstarvation. When she was asked why she did not keep at work andlearn to do it witho
of the trouble, the invalidgets "well" only to drag out a miserable existence or to get veryill again.
Although any nervous suffering is worth while if it is the means ofteaching us how to avoid nervous strain, it certainly is farpreferable to avoid the strain without the extreme pain of a nervousbreakdown.
To point out many of these pernicious habits and to suggest apractical remedy for each and all of them is the aim of this book,and for that reason common examples in various phases of every-daylife are used as illustrations.
When there is no organic trouble there can be no doubt that _defectsof character, inherited or acquired, are at the root of all nervousillness._ If this can once be generally recognized and acknowledged,especially by the sufferers themselves, we are in a fair way towardeliminating such illness entirely.
The trouble is people suffer from mortification and an unwillingnessto look their bad habits in the face. They have not learned thathumiliation can be wholeso
rewhat might perhaps be called the outside elements of life. Theseonce normally faced, cease to exist as impediments, dwindle away,and finally disappear altogether.
Thus we are enabled to get nearer the kernel, and have a growingrealization of life itself.
Civilization may give a man new freedom, a freedom beyond any powerof description or conception, except to those who achieve it, or itmay so bind him body and soul that in moments when he recognizes hisnervous contractions he would willingly sell his hope of immortalityto be a wild horse or tiger for the rest of his days.
These stones in the way are the result of a perversion ofcivilization, and the cause of much contraction and unnecessarysuffering.
There is the physical stone. If the health of the body were attendedto as a matter of course, as its cleanliness is attended to by thoseof us who are more civilized, how much easier life might be! Indeed,the various trippings on, and endeavors to encircle, this physicalstone, raise man
hand,strengthens the will and increases strength of purpose as the pettyobstacles of mere self-love are removed. Concentration alone cannotlong remain wholesome, for it needs the light of growingself-knowledge to prevent its becoming self-centred. Yielding aloneis of no avail, for in itself it has no constructive power. But ifwe try to look at ourselves as we really are, we shall find greatstrength in yielding where only our small and private interests areconcerned, and concentrating upon living the broad principles ofrighteousness which must directly or indirectly affect all thosewith whom we come into contact.
I
The Freedom of Life
I AM so tired I must give up work," said a young woman with a verystrained and tearful face; and it seemed to her a desperate state,for she was dependent upon work for her bread and butter. If shegave up work she gave up bread and butter, and that meantstarvation. When she was asked why she did not keep at work andlearn to do it witho