The Untroubled MindHall, Herbert J. (Herbert James)
Philosophy
The Untroubled Mind
Hall, Herbert J. (Herbert James)
Mental health
It is, after all, not so much the things we do as the way we do them,
and what we think about them, that accomplishes nervous harm. Strangely
enough, the sense of effort and the feeling of our own inadequacy damage
the nervous system quite as much as the actual physical effort. The
attempt to catch up with life and with affairs that go on too fast for
us is a frequent and harmful deflection from the rules of the game. Few
of us avoid it. Life comes at us and goes by very fast. Tasks multiply
and we are inadequate, responsibilities increase before we are ready.
They bring fatigue and confusion. We cannot shirk and be true. Having
done all you reasonably can, stop, whatever may be the consequences.
That is a rule I would enforce if I could. To do more is to drag and
fail, so defeating the end of your efforts. If it turns out that you are
not fit for the job you have undertaken, give it up and find another, or
modify that one until it comes within your capacity. It takes courage to
do this--more courage sometimes than is needed to make us stick to the
thing we are doing. Rarely, however, will it be necessary for us to give
up if we will undertake and consider for the day only such part of our
task as we are able to perform. The trouble is that we look at our work
or our responsibility all in one piece, and it crushes us. If we cannot
arrange our lives so that we may meet their obligations a little at a
time, then we must admit failure and try again, on what may seem a
lower plane. That is what I consider the brave thing to do. I would
honor the factory superintendent, who, finding himself unequal to his
position, should choose to work at the bench where he could succeed
perfectly.
The habit of uncertainty in thought and action, bred, as it sometimes
is, from a lack of faith in man and in God, is, nevertheless, a thing to
be dealt with sometimes by itself. Not infrequently it is a petty habit
that can be corrected by the exercise of a little will power. I believe
it is better to decide wrong a great many times--doing it quickly--than
to come to a right decision after weakly vacillating. As a matter of
fact, we may trust our decisions to be fair and true if our life's
ideals are beautiful and true.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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