Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1888-11-30
LOOK OUT AND NOT IN.
How to Cure Self Consciousness and the
EVIL Disposition 1t Produces.


bottom of the well that they are oDliv-
ious of the splendid procession in the
heavens; who are SO given to the habit
of finding all truth within themselves
that they miss the great movement
and inspiration of the larger life
without. There is kind of introspec-
ton which is thoroughly healthful and
profitable, which brings a man to self
knowledge and makes clear to him the
strong and weak points of his charac-
ter. This kind of introspection is one
OF the processes by which men reach
well-developed and harmonious life.
But there is another kind of intro
specticn which is thoroughly I'M
healthy and demoralizing; a habit
into which many fall unconsciously,
and which grows by what it feeds up
on. In a sound life self-consciousnes
Is not q predominant mood. Such
life is so engrossed in dealing with the
questions that are presented to it by
the opportunities and duties of each
day, and by the scope and necessity of
its work, that it has small time for
measuring it's gifts and estimating its
resources in comparison with those in
the possession of other men. One of
the most unhappy men in the world
Is he who, instead of measuring
has strength against his work,
Is always mcasurinig it against
the strength of other men.
This habit, Is soon rs formed becomes
tyrannical, develops jealousy, discon-
tent, morbiduess, and brings forth in
the end almost every form of mean
ness which can be expressed in
action.
DR.. Hale's motto thoroughly prac-
ticed is an immense aid to moral and
intellectual health. 1t frees one from
envy, hatred and malice, and most of
the observation-disclosures which is the bane
of society. The man of morbid self
consciousness rarely sees any thing in
d pure atmosphere; acts and words
come to him through distorted me-
dunn. He can look at nothing apart
from himself. He studies his friends
as If they might at any moment be-
come his enemies; weighing every
word, scrutinizing every action, prone
to constant misinterpretatiOn. He can
not bear that any one else should re-
ceive the attention which he thinks
ought to be exclusively his own. #
that which he thinks ought to be Civ
en- to him is given to another, he be-
comes cynical, and declares that there
i ,lN
ship in the world. He makes no al
lowance for the breadth OF other mems
interests, the largeness of their SYM
pathies, or the extent of their needs of
companionship. Instead of asking
himself whether he can supply all
that his friend needs, he assumes that
every need satisfied apart from himself
is a sign of conscious disloyalty. Such
men are to be found in every COM
munity. and their presence involves "a
waste of energy which they have no
right to exact. They can never be
approached as men of more heath
full nature, by the presentation
of the principles or aims of
plan in which their cooperation is
solicited; they must always be care
fully studied, and their prejudices,
animosities and morbid self-conscious-
ness carefully taken into account.
One of the first elements of growth
is To get rid of an undue sense of per-
sonality; is to be able to sink ones
personality in the consideration of
larger and more important interests.
TO be always thinking of how "a ques-
ton is going to affect one personally,
or how other men are going to treat
one, is to lose grip on the real interests
of life and to put ones self in false
attitude toward them. A man ought
TO have too much self-respect to be
continually asking himself the ques-
ton whether other men are giving him
his due. Not until one gets rid of this
morbid Self-consciousness can he truly
enjoy any thing which life has TO offer.
The charm of friendship lies in the alb
sence of this spirit of demand
ing and measuring, lies in the
Inconsistencies with which one
gives and receives. A man ought to
friends, and then cease to think about
the matter. Scarcely less vicious and
demoralizing is the habit, which grows
out of morbid circumstances, of
measuring every thing out of our own
standards, and demanding that all men
shall conform to our own habits and
meet our own self-created require
ments. This is q large world, and its
life is so vast and varied that the man
who tries to measure it by his own
yardsticI discloses only his own little
ness. One comes to understand life
! thoroughly and to enter into it health
fully only when he makes large allow
! ance for the standards of other men,
and comedies in his action as well as
| his thought that other methods and