We spend far too much thought on the weather, a subject that really
deserves little attention except by those whose livelihood and safety
depend upon it. Suppose a runaway passes the window at which we are
sitting, with collar off, handkerchief to our heated brow, squirming to
escape our moist and clinging garments, and being generally miserable. We
rush out of doors to watch his course, and for the next few minutes we do
not know whether it is hot or cold, perspiring less during our exertions, I
strongly suspect, than we did while sitting in the chair. At all events, it
is obvious that our thoughts played quite as great a part in our discomfort
as did the heat of the day.
Suppose now, instead of devoting all our attention to the weather we should
reason somewhat as follows:
As long as I live on this particular planet, I shall be subject perhaps
three days out of four, to atmospheric conditions which do not suit me.
Is it worth my while to fret during those three days and to make it up by
being elated on the fourth? Why not occupy myself with something else and
leave the weather for those who have no other resource? Or, as someone has
said, why not "make friends with the weather?" If one will cultivate this
frame of mind he will be surprised to find that a certain physical relief
will follow. In the first place, he will lessen the excessive perspiration
which is the invariable accompaniment of fret, and which in its turn
produces more discomfort than the heat itself.
We have selected, so far, the comparatively unimportant sources of mental
discomfort, fret, and worry. The reader who can truthfully say that such
annoyances play no part in his mental tribulations may pass them and accept
congratulations. The reader who cannot be thus congratulated, but who is
impatient to attack the major sources of worry, must be reminded at this
point that he must practice on the little worries before he can accomplish
anything with the great. The method is the same. The philosophy that will
make us content with the weather will do something toward establishing the
mental poise which shall enable us to withstand with comparative equanimity
the most tragic of misfortunes that may fall to our lot.
To draw an example from the more serious disorders, let us consider the
hypochondriac, who harbors the insistent thought that he must be always
perfectly well, that each of his sensations must conform to his ideal, and
that each function must follow regulations imposed by himself. If he
can learn to ignore this thought by realizing that an acute illness is
preferable to life-long mental captivity; if he can learn to do what others
do, and to concentrate his energies on outside affairs which shall displace
the question of health; if he can learn to say "What I am _doing_ is more
important than how I am _feeling_;" he will have cured his hypochondria.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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