We hear of many miraculous achievements in the building of health and
the cure of disease through mental influence. The mind is unquestionably
a master-force. I will not go so far as to say it is limitless, for
certainly a hungry man cannot imagine he is eating a dinner and
secure the same benefits that he would from the meal itself. Nor can a
man who is passing away into the other world, through a definite vital
defect, bring back life through mental force.
But we should remember that many diseases are to a great extent
imaginary. And some of those not actually imaginary may at least be
brought about through fears that are the results of abnormal delusions.
And where such diseases are combated by mental forces of the right sort,
a cure can be effected in many instances. In numerous cases, also, it
is well to remember that the mental state is the actual cause of
disease. You become blue, hopeless and to a certain extent helpless.
You see nothing in the future. Life is dull. Ambition, enthusiasm, have
all disappeared. It would not be at all difficult for this state of mind
to bring about disease in some form.
Health, strength, vitality of the right sort, should radiate all the
elements and forces associated with life's most valuable
possessions. Happiness and health are close friends. It is very
difficult to be gloomy and miserable if you are healthy. It is perhaps
even more difficult to be healthy if you are gloomy and mentally ugly.
Therefore it is a wise precaution to cultivate a hopeful spirit. If the
day is gloomy, if the sun is obscured by clouds, then develop the
sunshine in your own spirit. Try to radiate good cheer. By seeking to
cheer up others you will cheer yourself up, for always when we
help others, we inevitably help ourselves, though this should not be our
main purpose in the action. When we try to build up the characters,
improve the morals and add to the mental and physical stability of
others our efforts develop our own powers. Therefore, the best way to
help yourself is to help others.
We have a remarkable exemplification of the value of mental influence in
what is known as Christian Science. Even the most prejudiced enemy of
this cult will admit that many remarkable cures have been accomplished
through the principles it advocates. These cures alone indicate
clearly that the mind is a dominating force that works for good or for
evil. They prove that your thoughts are building up or tearing down
your vital forces; that to a certain extent "Thoughts are things," that
good thoughts are a real tangible influence for developing mental
or physical force, and-that bad thoughts have an opposite influence. It
is well for each one of us to determine clearly whether the thoughts
that fill our minds each day are constructive or destructive in
nature.
Your thoughts can actually destroy you. They can kill you as unerringly
as a bullet fired from a rifle. Keep this fact very definitely before
you, and try to make your thoughts each day the means of adding to your
life forces. There are many emotions that are harbored on occasions,
which are devitalizing and destructive.
We are all, to a certain extent, slaves of habit, whether good or bad.
For instance, there is the worrying habit, for worry is really a
habit. Therefore, it is a splendid plan to become slaves of good habits.
One who has acquired the chronic habit of worrying needs a mental
antiseptic. Worry never benefited anyone; it has brought thousands to an
untimely grave. To give prolonged and grave thought to a problem that
may come into your life, with the view of forming an intelligent
conclusion, should not be called worry, but anxiety. There is a very
great difference between worry and concentrated study of a vexing
problem. The characteristic of worry is a tendency to brood anxiously
over fancied troubles. The typical worrying mind will take mere
trifles and magnify them until they become monumental difficulties. Many
acquire the habit of going over and over again, and still again, the
various unpleasant experiences which they have passed through during
life. This inclination is baneful in its influence, To such persons I
would say, eliminate the past. Try the forgetting habit, cultivate
health and along with it good cheer. Make your mind a blank so far as
the past is concerned, and fill it with uplifting thoughts for the
present and the future. Worry is a mental poison, the toxic element
produced in the mind by retention of waste matter, thoughts of the dead
past that should have been eliminated with the passing of out-worn
periods of existence.
Self-pity is another evil. It is closely allied to worry. There are many
who cultivate a mental attitude of this sort because of the sorrows
through which they have passed. Such individuals find their chief
delight in portraying, in vivid details, the terrific sufferings which
they have had to endure. No one has suffered quite so much as they have.
They harrow their friends by going over frequently and persistently
the long, gruesome details of their "awful" past. This habit is
destructive to an extreme degree. Why harbor past experiences that
only bring sorrows to mind? Why add to the bitterness of your daily
life by dragging up the lamentable past? Why pass along to
your friends and acquaintances pain, sorrow and gloom? Each human
entity is a radiating power. You have the capacity of passing around
pain or happiness. As a rule, when you ask a friend to "have
something with you" your offer is supposed to bring good cheer. You
surely would not ask a friend to have pain with you, or share with you
the gall of bitter, experiences through which you have lived. Therefore,
if you are the victim of self-pity and if your own past sufferings
discolor your every pleasant thought, at least do not taint the minds of
your friends. At least keep your direful broodings to yourself if you
are determined to retain them. It is, however, far wiser and manlier to
avoid such thoughts, in which case your memory of these torturing
experiences will gradually fade away. Live in the future and forget the
past. The man or woman who lives in the future, and for the
future, will invariably be optimistic and cheerful. It is a good habit
to cultivate.
Then there is a mental poison called anger. Avoid it as you would a
venomous snake. It has indeed been said by scientists that the venom of
the snake is developed through anger, induced by impure circulation, for
in reptiles the pure arterial blood mixes in the imperfectly formed
heart with the impure venous blood. Scientists have also stated that
anger produces a poison in the perspiration that emanates from the
human body. This may or may not be true, but there is no question,
however, about anger being a mental poison. It represents a tremendous
waste of nervous energy. To be sure, there may be occasions when anger
is justified, when it is actually desirable, but such occasions are
rare. Learn to master such emotions. Get control of your feelings and
mental states. Avoid useless anger definitely and finally. It usually
indicates a lack of mental control, and should be recognized as a
destructive force to be carefully avoided.
Hate is, to a certain extent, synonymous with anger. One may call it
anger in a chronic form. Hate and the personal enmities associated with
it develop emotions and characteristics that unquestionably have a
destructive influence. Why hate anybody? Why waste your nervous
energies by trying to "get even" with a fancied enemy? A tremendous
amount of human energy is wasted in this manner. You may be impressed
with the idea that someone has wronged you. You lie awake at night
forming plans for "getting even." Every mental effort spent in this
direction is not only destructive to body, mind and character, but it
represents a waste of nervous energy. One's life should be so filled
with useful activities that no time will be left for a waste of this
sort. Show me a man who spends his time and efforts trying to "get even"
with his supposed enemies, and I will show you a shining example of
failure. No man can succeed who wastes his nervous forces in this
manner.
Then there is the poison of avarice. Financial gain seems to be the one
end and aim of many ambitious men. They struggle day after day and year
after year in the whirlpool of perverted enthusiasm, looking
continuously for wealth and still more wealth. But there is something
more in life than money. Health, for instance, is worth a thousand
times, and self-respect should be rated a million times, more than
money. Do not allow a struggle of this sort to enslave you. Do not
allow pursuits of any sort to interfere with the development and
maintenance of those powers that indicate superior manhood and
womanhood. It is also well to avoid the complaining and critical spirit.
You will find frequent references in the Good Book to what might be
termed the thankful spirit. It commands us to be thankful for what we
have received. And whether or not the tenets of theology appeal to you,
the thought presented is of the greatest value. If you can be thrilled
each day with gladness because of the remembrance of pleasures that you
have enjoyed the previous day the mental influence will be invaluable.
Being thankful for what you have received does not necessarily indicate
that you should not strive for more and better things. Dissatisfaction
or discontent is not always necessary to spur one on to added powers and
responsibilities. Avoid the complaining spirit, which will add gloom and
despair to your life, no matter what may be your environment. Be
thankful for the favors and opportunities that may have come to you, be
they large or small, and your mental attitude in this respect will
represent a potent health-building influence.
Envy is another evil it will be well to avoid, largely because it is
inspired by selfish attributes. Do not envy others the joy of
possessions that may be theirs. Happiness, after all, is worth but
little if it comes unearned. Life's greatest pleasures are
secured only through intelligent and diligent efforts. They come as
the results of hard work. A man who inherits great wealth secures little
or no benefit from it. It adds but little to his pleasure in life, for
the greatest possible happiness comes from the pursuit rather than the
attainment of an object. More happiness comes from the pursuit of
wealth or pleasure than from its actual attainment. Let the attainment
of truth be your aim. Truth is magnificent. It is tremendously
weighted with power. Whatever your ambitions or hopes in life may be,
seek for the truth. In some cases the road that leads to this goal may
be devious and hard to follow. Dangers of all sorts may beset you, as
you struggle along the rugged pathway that leads to truth, but the
rewards will amply repay you for every effort.
Don't be a leaner. Try to stand alone. Be yourself. Bring out your own
personal characteristics, do not be a stereotype, a parrot, a copy.
Let others live their own lives, but you see to it that you live yours.
Many of our public schools are turning out factory-made human beings;
each pupil, as far as possible, a duplicate of every other. They are
educational brick factories tuning out their products stamped exactly
alike. Individuality is crushed out. Now the child is not so much like
clay to be molded into any form, as it is like a precious crystal, that
must be shaped with regard to its original nature. Each human soul is
an uncut diamond. It often has within it capacities and powers
which, if developed, might achieve results which we now expect only
from exceptional human beings. Therefore; be yourself. Hold up your
head, throw back your shoulders; remember that the earth and all that
is thereon belongs to you. Anyway, it is well to be inspired by such a
thought. It is the proper mental attitude. Life is a hard battle, and
the rewards are to the strong and courageous. Be inspired by the
dominating determination to get all there is in your life. Develop all
your capacities and powers to their utmost limit, and then you can rest
assured, that every thought that stirs your soul will be upbuilding
rather than destructive in nature.