Common Sense
f you are suffering from
physical
ills, ask yourself if it is not your
own fault.
There is scarcely one person in
one hundred who does not over
eat or drink.
I know an entire family who complain of
gastric troubles, yet who keep the coffee pot con-
tinually on the range and drink large quantities
of that beverage at least twice a day.
No one can be well who does that. Almost
every human ailment can be traced to foolish
diet.
Eat only two meals in twenty-four hours. If
you are not engaged in active physical labor,
make it one meal. Drink two or three or four
quarts of milk at intervals during the day to
supply good blood to the system.
You will thrive upon it, and you will not
miss the other two meals after the first week.
And your ailments will gradually disappear.
Meantime, if you are self supporting, your
bank account will increase.
Think of the waste of money which goes into
indigestible food! It is appalling when you con-
sider it. Heaven speed the time when men and
women find out how little money it requires to
sustain the body in good health and keep the
brain clear and the eye bright!
The heavy drinker is to-day looked upon with
pity and scorn. The time will come when the
heavy eater will be similarly regarded.
Once find the delight of a simple diet, the
benefit to body and mind and purse, and life will
assume new interest, and toil will be robbed of
its drudgery, for it will cease to be a mere
matter of toiling for a bare existence.
Again, are you unhappy? Stop and ask
yourself why. If you have a great sorrow, time
will be your consoler. And there is an ennobl-
ing and enriching effect of sorrow well borne.
It is the education of the soul. But if you
are unhappy over petty worries and trials, you
are wearing yourself to no avail; and if you are
allowing small things to irritate and harass you
and to spoil the beautiful days for you, take
yourself in hand and change your ways.
You can do it if you chose. It is pitiful
to
observe what sort of troubles most unhappy
people are afflicted with. I have seen a beauti-
ful young woman grow care lined and faded just
from imagining she was being "slighted" or
neglected by her acquaintances.
Some one nodded coldly to her, another one
spoke superciliously, a third failed to invite her,
a fourth did not pay her a call, and so on--
always a grievance to relate until one is pre-
pared to look sympathetic at the sight of her.
And such petty, petty grievances for this
great, good life to be marred by!
And all the result of her own disposition.
Had she chosen to look for appreciation and
attention and good will she would have found it
everywhere.
Then, about your temper? Is it flying loose
over a trifle? Are you making yourself and
everyone else wretched if a chair is out of
place, or a meal a moment late, or some mem-
ber of the family is tardy at dinner, or your shoe
string is in a tangle or your collar button mis-
laid?
Do you go to pieces nervously if you are
obliged to repeat a remark to some one who did
not understand you? I have known a home to
be ruined by just such infinitesimal annoyances.
It is a habit, like a drug or alcohol habit--
this irritability.
All you need do is to stop it. Keep your
voice from rising, and speak slowly and calmly
when you feel yourself giving way to it. Realize
how ridiculous and disagreeable you will be if
you continue, what an unlovely and hideous old
age you are preparing for yourself. And realize
that a loose temper is a sign of vulgarity and
lack of culture.
Think of the value of each day of life, how
much it means and what possibilities of happi-
ness and usefulness it contains if well spent.
But if you stuff yourself like an anaconda,
dwell on the small worries and grow angry at
the least trifle, you are committing as great and
inexcusable a folly as if you flung your furniture
and garments and food and fuel into the sea in a
spirit of wanton cruelty. You are wasting life
for nothing. Every sick, gloomy day you pass is
a sin against life. Get health, be cheerful, keep
calm.
Clear your mind of every gloomy, selfish
angry or revengeful thought. Allow no resent-
ment or grudge toward man or fate to stay in
your heart over night.
Wake in the morning with a blessing for
every living thing on your lips and in your soul.
Say to yourself: "Health, luck, usefulness, suc-
cess, are mine. I claim them." Keep thinking
that thought, no matter what happens, just as
you would put one foot before another if you had
a mountain to climb. Keep on, keep on, and
suddenly you will find you are on the heights"
luck beside you.
Whoever follows this recipe cannot fail of
happiness, good fortune and a useful life. But
saying the words over once and then drifting back
to anger, selfishness, revenge and gloom will do
no good.
The words must be said over and over, and
thought and lived when not said.
The Heart of the New Thought by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
Chicago : The Psychic Research Company, c1902.
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