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Show oo l V TO CULTIVATE SERENITY ' By H. Addington Bruce Everybody nowaday knows or ought to know, so much has been 'y written on the subject that the cul tivation of a calm, serene attitude 'of mind is one of the surest ways to '. healthy and efficient living. 'Don't i ; "worry," is emphatically the7 sogan of the modern health movement, ji But, as a correspondant has re ft cently reminded -me, it is one thing to recognize the importance of not ' worrying and quite another thing to overcomo a tendency to worry. The cultivation of serenity presents a problem many people find it difficult diffi-cult to solve. They will be helped to Us solution if they will only keep in mind, and act in accordance with a few facts of modern psyhological and physiological physi-ological knowledge. While worry Is notoriously a cause of physical ill-health, it often is also an effect of physical ill-health. In such cases the fact that pbysical ill-health ill-health is present is frequently overlooked over-looked by tho worrier. He 'does not dream, for Instance, that his tendency to mako mountains moun-tains out of molehills may be definitely defi-nitely associated with eye-strain, with tooth decay, with weakened abdominal muscles, or iperhaps with Imperfect elimination of the waste producing of the food he eats. Llkowiso It will surprise him to learn that possibly his habit of working work-ing and sleeping in poorly ventilated rooms, of drinking too much alcohol, tea, or coffee, of smoking tco much tobacco, to-bacco, and of neglecting to take outdoor out-door exercise, has so affected the nutrition of his brain as to make worry a symptom of impaired brain functioning. In other words, one of the first essentials In the cultivation of serenity se-renity Is to lead a decent, hygienic life, and, If necessary, to resort to skilled medical aid for the overcoming of any organic conditions of Ill-health Ill-health that may be present. Every worrier, in fact, when beginning be-ginning his fight against worry, will find It profitable to have a thorough medical examination made by a competent com-petent puyslcian, and to follow that physician's advice with regard to any special dietetic or hygienic precautions pre-cautions he should take. The sounder sound-er the physique, the less the liability to worry. Not that dieting, medicine and exercise ex-ercise will of themselves always, or usually, conquer worry. Even when faulty physical conditions condi-tions are responsible, worrying may persist after they have been corrected cor-rected For the victim has by that time allowed worry to become a habiL Its break-up then calls for psychial rather than physical treatment. treat-ment. There must be a gradual reeducation re-education of the wily, having for Its great aim the development of a determined de-termined purpose to look on the dark. One great help in this direction is a vigorous expanding of personal i interests. I Self can be forgotten in an absorbing absorb-ing Interest in one's work, in some hobby, and especially in activities having for object the rendering of service to other people. And the forgetting for-getting of self is indispensable in the conquest of worry. The practice of self-denial In small things by disciplining and developing develop-ing will power, is another great help Strength and confidence, grow in proportion as moral control comes more and more In evidence. And as a further and most potent antldoto to worry and upbuilder of serenity, learn to make ever greater uso of the resources of religion. Go to church regularly. Let prayer become habitual with you. As that eminent Boston physician, Dr. Richard Rich-ard Cabot, has rightly said: 'The man who prays sincerely will thereby open to himself powers which ho might otherwise never be able to draw upon." By such means as these the goal of scrently can unfailingly bo attained. |