The secret of equanimity consists not so much in repressing the fear or worry, as in _dropping_ or ignoring it--that is, diverting and controlling the attention. It does no good to carry a mental burden. "Forget it!" The main art of mental hygiene consists in the control of attention. Perhaps the worst defect in the Occidental philosophy of life is the failure to learn this control. The Oriental is superior in such self-training. The exceptional man in Western civilization who learns this control can do the most work and carry the most responsibility. On much the same principle as the Indians used when their young men were trained to endure pain self-inflicted, we might well devote a few minutes each day to the difficult task of changing at will our attention from the thing which is engrossing it to anything else we choose; or, what is more difficult still, to blank nothingness. When we have sufficiently strengthened this power, we can turn off the current of our thoughts as we turn off the lights and lie down to sleep in peace, as a trained sailor does in a storm. [Sidenote: Making Up One's Mind] If a person's work is drudgery but has to be endured, the making up of the mind to endure it cheerfully, the relinquishment of the doubtful but fascinating pleasure of dwelling upon one's misery, is found to largely obviate the burden. It is the making up of the mind which presents the difficulty. The truth is that we instinctively shrink from making, _without reservation_, important decisions as to our future course of conduct. We balk even at really committing ourselves not to worry. A man who, when he complained of his lot, was advised to "grin and bear it," replied that he'd have to bear it, but he'd be hanged if he'd grin! [Sidenote: Intensity of Desires] The decision which is perhaps the hardest to make and, at the same time, the most important from the standpoint of health and working-power, is the decision _not to care too much_ about the objects we are seeking to achieve. We need not subscribe to the Nirvana philosophy. A certain intensity of desire is normal, but modern life tends to a morbid frenzied intensity. Most of us need, in the interest of mental health or sanity, to moderate our desires. A business man who had set his heart on fulfilling a large responsibility nearly wrecked his health from worry over the outcome. His wise physician prescribed that, before sitting down to his desk each day, he should spend five minutes repeating and impressing on his mind the words, "I don't give a hang! I don't give a hang!" The truth is many people fail because of over-anxiety lest they fail. Some invalids die from an exaggerated desire not to die. [Sidenote: Ruling Ourselves]